Before 15,000 BCE: (The Geography of the First Two Afrasian Divergences Compellingly Locating the Family’s Origin in the Horn of Africa — The Omotic Branch E…

Before 15,000 BCE: (The Geography of the First Two Afrasian Divergences Compellingly Locating the Family’s Origin in the Horn of Africa — The Omotic Branch Entirely Restricted to the Ethiopian Highlands as One Offspring of the Very First Divergence, the Cushitic Sub-Branch Coming to Be Spoken Entirely in Regions in or Adjacent to the Horn Contiguous with and Extending Outward from Omotic Lands, the Center of Diversity Principle Identifying the Horn as the Locus of the Earliest Periods of Divergence): The historical implications of the geography of the two earliest stages of divergence in Afrasian are decisive. The Omotic primary branch of the family, one offspring of the very first divergence, is entirely restricted to the Ethiopian Highlands. The second period in the divergence of the family — into proto-Cushitic and proto-North Erythraic — had a comparable outcome: the languages of the Cushitic sub-branch, over the long course of history, came to be spoken entirely in regions in or adjacent to the Horn of Africa, in lands contiguous with and extending outward from the lands of the Omotic speakers. The center of diversity principle thus compellingly identifies the Horn of Africa as the locus of the first two periods of divergence in the family. Both of the deepest branches — Omotic and Cushitic — remain rooted in the Horn. They never left. They are still there, spoken by millions of people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Kenya. The family’s oldest members never moved, and the principle of fewest moves says that the place where the oldest branches still sit is the place where the family began. The Horn of Africa is not merely a candidate for the Afrasian homeland. It is the only location that satisfies both principles simultaneously.