Maya (East Africa)

The Maya are an extinct ethnic group native to the old Wej province in Ethiopia. The Mayas were a Cushitic-speaking nomadic pastoralist people and their livelihood was with their cattle, who were feared and dreaded by their neighbors for their use of deadly poisoned arrows. By the end of the 16th century the Mayas were overrun by the Oromos who had equipped themselves with big stiff oxhide shields as a special protection from against arrows. Before they totally disappeared from the historical scene, either by physical extermination or assimilation. According to professor Ulrich Braukämper, Maya were related to the Hadiyans.