Editing Nilotic peoples (section)

==Name==
[[File:Shanqella.jpg|thumb|Ethiopian painting depicting a battle between the "[[Amhara people|Amhara]] and the ''[[Shanqella]]''", 1920]]
The terms "Nilotic" and "Nilote"' were previously used as [[racial]] subclassifications, based on [[Anthropology|anthropological]] observations of the supposed distinct body morphology of many Nilotic speakers. Twentieth-century [[Social science|social scientists]] have largely discarded such efforts to classify peoples according to physical characteristics, in favor of using linguistic studies to distinguish among peoples. They formed ethnicities and cultures based on a shared language.{{sfn|Kidd|2006}} Since the late 20th century, however, social and physical scientists are making use of data from population genetics.{{sfn|Tishkoff|Reed|Friedlaender|Ehret|2009|pp=1035–44}}{{verify source|date=May 2021}}

Nilotic and Nilote are now mainly used to refer to the various disparate people who speak languages in the same Nilotic language family. Etymologically, the terms Nilotic and Nilote (singular nilot) derive from the [[Nile Valley]]; specifically, the [[Upper Nile, Sudan|Upper Nile]] and its tributaries, where most Sudanese Nilo-Saharan-speaking people live.{{sfn|Encyclopædia Britannica:Nilot}}