The Bashada number 3,000 souls in the Southern Omo Zone, or Omo Valley, near the Kenyan border. They speak an Omotic language, like their neighbors: the Hamar, the Tsamai, the Karo, and the Banna.

Bashada can hardly be distinguished from the Hamar. They look the same, live in the same region, speak a similar language, produce the same products, keep the same cattle, and visit the same markets. They wear the same clothes, as far they wear clothes: most men go naked, while most women use not much more than a small leather apron, which also serves as a blanket at night. Most other traditions are exactly the same, like the initiation rites. See Hamar for more information about this. They do tend to wear less jewellery and cosmetic products. What makes them another people is, as often with very small peoples, the simple fact that they cherish their own identity and that all of the surrounding peoples see them as a separate people.

They were given their name by their neighbors: Bashada means 'poor'. The name stems from a time when they were the poorest of the region, but that time has long gone. They now have the largest hurds and a good reputation for their pottery, which is much more durable than that of their 'competitors': a Bashada pot lasts five years on average, against the one to two years lifespan of the others. Logically, they make more money with their ceramic work in the marketplaces. Bashada pottery is traditionally sold inside and outside the region, and even exported to the Turkana of Kenya and Sudan.