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ATLA/TLOK Ethnicities phylogeny, NOTE: Humans in ATLA probably evolved in…

- - - - Northern Water Tribe
        The sister ethnic group to the Southern Water Tribe. They are quite similar appearance-wise, and there is probably some gene flow between the two tribes, although they remain culturally and genetically somewhat distinct. Following their departure from the Earth Kingdom, the ancestors of each tribe spread out in search of new lands, with the Northerners coming to inhabit the North Pole. Perhaps they received their ability to waterbend before the split.
        
        Southern Water Tribe
        Not much else to be said other than what I said about the Noethern Tribe, although they ventured South rather than North, and remain culturally and genetically distinct somewhat.
      - Foggy Swamp Tribe
        The people of the Foggy Swamp Tribe are hard to pin down, because they probably have a lot of gene flow from Earth Kingdom peoples by the time we are introduced to them. My current theory is that they were an early offshoot of the Seafaring peoples who stayed in the Earth Kingdom. Perhaps they received Waterbending alongside their Northern and Southern Kin before they left the continent, or perhaps they received it independently.
        This also explains why they look so different from the other water tribe members, as they have interbred with Earth Kingdom peoples and made their bloodlines more genetically diverse.
  - - - Proto-Air Nomad/Northern Earth Kingdom Plateau Peoples
        These people were probably the ancestors of the Air Nomads. If this theory is true, this would suggest that the Northern Air Nomads were the first and maybe most basal of all the Air Nomads before they spread around the world.
        Also we may have actually seen these guys in Wan's Flashback if they weren't already their own thing.
      - Main EK group
        This group encompasses most of the incredibly diverse people of the Earth Kingdom.
        
        Eastern Earth Kingdom Peoples
        People originating from the Northeastern Earth Kingdom. Their range is vast, stretching from the upper West Coasts across the Great Divide, through the Savannahs and hot steppes of the upper interior, and across the Eastern Coasts as a result of diversification and migration.
        
        Ba Sing Plains Peoples
        People from the Ba Sing Plains Civilisatiom (Made up ancient settlement, but Ba Sing Se had to start from something right?)
        These people are usually what you think of when envisioning Earth Kingdom culture. Their complexions range from pale to tanned, and they inhabited most of the Northeast Earth Kingdom, from Grasslands, Savannahs, and Humid Subtropical Forests along the Eastern Coasts.
        
        Eastern Earth Peoples/Kyoshi Group(?)
        People from the Eastern Earth Kingdom. Although I said the Kyoshi People might be related to the Southwest Coast Group along with Earth Kingdom Firebenders/Wan's People, it is also just as possible that they are from the Eastern Earth Kingdom.
        
        Southwest Coast Group
        
        Bhanti Tribe
        Not much is known about these guys, so my best guess is that they are an offshoot of the earliest EFB peoples, being more closely related to Wan's People than they are to the Sun Warriors, however they probably have some gene flow from them.
        
        Earth Kingdom Firebenders/Wan's People
        The Earth Kingdom Firebenders (EFB) or "Wan's People" peoples were probably the ancestors of the dominant ethnic group in the Fire Nation we see today. My reason for believing they originally descend from Earth Kingdom People is as follows below.
        The Fire Nation people we typically think of are predominantly based off of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese culture. In our history, Non-Ainu Japanese people are actually non-native. They descend from the Yayoi people, who came from China roughly 3500 years ago or so, displacing the native Ainu population. Something similar could have happened in the ATLA world, as we know that the Sun Warriors are a precursor civilisation (and probably native) to the Fire Nation.
        Geographically this makes sense, as we see in the Era of Raava that the lion turtle they (Wan's people) live on lives in a tropical area, meaning it's somewhere in the Equator, and inside the Earth Kingdom. This is because we see Avatar Wan travelling across large swathes of land without crossing any oceans, so we can conclude that he was probably traversing the vast Earth Kingdom. Anyway, following the humans becoming independent and entering the world, these firebenders lived in the Earth Kingdom for a while before populating the Fire Nation Archipelago, and over millenia, slowly became the dominant ethnic and cultural group and displacing the Sun Warrior cultures.
        As for their bending, the Sun Warriors probably got their bending independently.
        
        Southern Earth Kingdom People/Kyoshi Group (?)
        This group came to inhabit the grasslands of the Southern Earth Kingdom, maybe within the past few thousand years. This group would include the village that worshipped Chin the Conqueror, as well as the people from what we now call Kyoshi Island.
        It's also possible the people od Kyoshi descend from the Eastern Earth People group, so this placement is tentative.