Pygmy is a term used for various
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
s worldwide whose average height is unusually low; anthropologists define pygmy as any group whose adult males grow to less than 150 cm (4 feet 11 inches) in average height. A member of a slightly taller group is termed pygmoid. The best known pygmies are the Aka,
EféThe Efé are a group of part-time hunter-gatherer people living in the Ituri Rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the depths of the forest they do not wear much clothing, using only grass huts as shelter for their bodies in the intense heat. The Efé are Pygmies, and one of the shortest...
and
MbutiMbuti or Bambuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their language belongs to the Central Sudanic subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan phylum.-Overview:...
of
central AfricaCentral Africa is a core region of the African continent often considered to include Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
. There are also pygmies in
ThailandThe Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia.It is bordered to the north by Laos and Burma, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Burma...
,
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
,
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
,
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
, and
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. The term also includes the
NegritoThe term Negrito refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of Southeast Asia.Their current populations include the Aeta, Agta, Ayta, Pygmies, Ita, Baluga, Ati, Dumagat and at least 25 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, the Mani of Thailand and 12 Andamanese...
s of
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
. The remains of at least 25 miniature humans, who lived between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago, were found on the islands of
PalauPalau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles south of Tokyo. Having emerged from United Nations trusteeship in 1994, it is one of the world's youngest and smallest sovereign states...
in Micronesia.
The term "pygmy" is often considered
pejorativePejoratives are terms which have a negative connotation. Sometimes a term may begin as a pejorative word and eventually be adopted in a non-pejorative sense...
. However, there is no single term to replace it that covers all African pygmies. Many so-called pygmies prefer instead to be referred to by the name of their various
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
s, or names for various interrelated groups such as the
AkaThe Aka are a nomadic African pygmy people who live by hunting. Although the Aka people call themselves BiAka, they are also known as Babenzele....
(Mbenga),
BakaThe Baka, also known as Bebayaka, Bebayaga, Bibaya, or Babinga, are an ethnic group inhabiting the southeastern rain forests of Cameroon, northern Republic of Congo, northern Gabon, and southwestern Central African Republic. They are sometimes mistakenly called a subgroup of the Twa, but the two...
,
MbutiMbuti or Bambuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their language belongs to the Central Sudanic subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan phylum.-Overview:...
, and
TwaThe Twa, also known as Batwa, are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of central Africa. Current populations are found in the nations of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo...
. The term
Bayaka, the plural form of the Aka/Yaka, is sometimes used in the
Central African RepublicThe Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa...
to refer to all local Pygmies. Likewise, the
KongoKikongo is the Bantu language spoken by the Bakongo and Bandundu people living in the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo and Angola. It is a tonal language and formed the base for Kituba, a Bantu creole and lingua franca throughout much of west...
word
Bambenga is used in
CongoThe Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
.
Etymology
The term pygmy, as used to refer to diminutive people, derives from
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
Pygmaioi via
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
Pygmaei (sing.
Pygmaeus), a measure of length corresponding to the distance between the elbow and knuckles. (See also Greek pechus). In
Greek mythologyGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
the word describes a tribe of
dwarvesDwarfism is a medical disorder, the term being used to describe a person of short stature. It is sometimes defined as a person with an adult height under 4 feet 10 inches...
, first described by
HomerHomer is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey...
, and reputed to live in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and south of modern day
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
.
Origins
Various theories have been proposed to explain the short stature of pygmies. One explanation points to the low ultraviolet light levels in rainforests. This might mean that relatively little vitamin D can be made in human skin, thereby limiting calcium uptake from the diet for bone growth and maintenance, and leading to the evolution of the small skeletal size characteristic of pygmies.
Other explanations include lack of food in the rainforest environment, low calcium levels in the soil, the need to move through dense jungle, adaptation to heat and humidity, and most recently, as an association with rapid reproductive maturation under conditions of early mortality. A recent study has suggested that growth in these populations is held back by smaller amounts of IGF (Insulin-like Growth Factor) during adolescence. Other evidence points towards a mutation in the IGF1 receptor causing short stature
African Pygmies
Pygmies live in several ethnic groups in
RwandaThe Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approaching 10 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom...
,
BurundiBurundi , officially the Republic of Burundi, is a country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of...
,
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
, the
Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa, with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country in Africa...
, the
Central African RepublicThe Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa...
,
CameroonThe Republic of Cameroon is a unitary republic of central and western Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of...
,
Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. With an area of 28,000 km
2 it is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It has a population estimated at half a million...
,
GabonGabon is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with the Gulf of Guinea to the west, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and Cameroon to the north, with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. Its size is almost 270,000 km² with an estimated population...
, the Republic of Congo,
AngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the...
,
BotswanaThe Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are called "Batswana" , regardless of ethnicity. Formerly a British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
,
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in Southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the east, and South Africa to the south and east...
, and
ZambiaThe Republic of Zambia is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is...
. Most Pygmy communities are partially hunter-gatherers, living partially but not exclusively on the wild products of their environment. They trade with neighbouring farmers to acquire cultivated foods and other material items, and there is no evidence that they ever lived independently of their agricultural neighbors. It is estimated that there are between 250,000 and 600,000 Pygmies living in the Congo rainforest.
Groups
There are several Pygmy groups, the best known being the Mbenga (Aka and Baka) of the western
Congo basinThe Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
, the Mbuti (Efe
etc.) of the
Ituri RainforestThe Ituri Rainforest is located in the Ituri region of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo formerly called Zaire. The forest's name derives from the nearby Ituri River which flows through the rainforest, connecting firstly to the Aruwimi River and finally into the Congo.- Geography :The Ituri...
, and the Twa of the
Great LakesThe Great Lakes of Africa are a series of lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world in terms of surface area, and Lake Tanganyika, the world's second...
.
- Mbenga or Ba-Mbenga (AKA Ba-Binga [derogatory]) (west Congo basin)
- Aka
The Aka are a nomadic African pygmy people who live by hunting. Although the Aka people call themselves BiAka, they are also known as Babenzele....
or Mò-Áka (AKA (Ba-)Yaka, Ba-Yaga, Gba-Yaka, Bi-Aka, Beká, Yakwa, Yakpa, Yakpwa) (Central African Republic, Republic of Congo) speak a Bantu language close to LingalaLingala is a Bantu language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a large part of the Republic of the Congo , as well as to some degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. It has over 10 million speakers...
- M-Benzélé or Ba-Benzélé (Western Aka, Central African Republic)
- Ba-Sese (Eastern Aka)
- Baka
The Baka, also known as Bebayaka, Bebayaga, Bibaya, or Babinga, are an ethnic group inhabiting the southeastern rain forests of Cameroon, northern Republic of Congo, northern Gabon, and southwestern Central African Republic. They are sometimes mistakenly called a subgroup of the Twa, but the two...
(AKA Bi-Baya) (Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo) speak closely related Ubangian languagesThe Ubangian languages form a fairly close-knit language family of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango....
of the NgbakaThe dozen Ngbaka languages are a family of Ubangian languages spoken in the Central African Republic and neighboring areas. It includes Pygmy languages such as Baka...
branch
- Baka proper
- Ganzi
- Gundi or Ngondi
- Gyele or Ba/Bo-Gieli (AKA Bonjiel(i), Ba-Ko, Be-Koe, Ba-Kola, Ba-Kuele, Li-Koya) (Cameroon) speak a Bantu language of the Makaa-Njem
The Makaa-Njyem languages are a group of related Bantu languages spoken in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo. The group includes:
-Notes:-References:...
branch
- Mbuti
Mbuti or Bambuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their language belongs to the Central Sudanic subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan phylum.-Overview:...
or Bambuti (IturiIturi may refer to:* Ituri Province, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo* Ituri Rainforest* Ituri River* Ituri Conflict...
rainforest, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Efé
The Efé are a group of part-time hunter-gatherer people living in the Ituri Rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the depths of the forest they do not wear much clothing, using only grass huts as shelter for their bodies in the intense heat. The Efé are Pygmies, and one of the shortest...
speak a Central Sudanic languageCentral Sudanic is a family of about thirty languages which have also been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Congo , and Cameroon...
related to Mangbutu
- Asua or Asoa (AKA Aka) speak a Central Sudanic language
Central Sudanic is a family of about thirty languages which have also been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Congo , and Cameroon...
related to MangbetuThe Mangbetu are a people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, living in Orientale Province. The majority live in the villages of Rungu, Poko, Watsa, Niangara, and Wamba.-Language:...
- Kango or Ba-Kango (AKA Ba-Tchua
The Wochua were/are a pygmy people of Africa, living in the forests of the Mabode district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, south of the Welle. They were first described in the Western world in 1880-1883 by Dr. W. Junker....
) speak a Bantu languageThe Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree. By one estimate, there are 513 languages in the Bantu grouping, 681 languages in Bantoid,...
related to Komo
- Twa
The Twa, also known as Batwa, are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of central Africa. Current populations are found in the nations of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo...
or Ba-Twa (AKA Ge-Sera) (Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda) speak the KirundiKirundi is a Bantu language spoken by some 6 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Tanzania and Congo-Kinshasa, as well as in Uganda...
and Kinyarwanda languages
- Elsewhere in Africa some of the San (Bushmen
The indigenous people of southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, Kung, or Khwe...
) of the Kalahari are of Pygmy size.
There are a number of
TwaThe Twa, also known as Batwa, are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of central Africa. Current populations are found in the nations of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo...
populations along the southern border of
AngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the...
and neighboring countries, living in swamps and deserts far from the forest. They are little studied, and it is not known if they are indigenous to the area or more recent migrants from the forest.
Ancestral relationship
A commonly held belief is that African Pygmies are the direct descendents of the
Late Stone AgeThe Late Stone Age refers to a period in African prehistory that is contemporaneous with the Upper PaleolithicThe LSA follows the Middle Paleolithic beginning about 50,000 years ago. Like the Upper Paleolithic, the LSA is characterized by a much wider variety in stone artifacts than the previous...
hunter-gathererA hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either...
peoples of the central African rainforest, who were partially absorbed or displaced by later immigration of agricultural peoples, and adopted their
Central SudanicCentral Sudanic is a family of about thirty languages which have also been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Congo , and Cameroon...
,
Adamawa-UbangianThe Adamawa-Ubangi languages are spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan, by a total of about 12 million people...
, and
Bantu languagesThe Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree. By one estimate, there are 513 languages in the Bantu grouping, 681 languages in Bantoid,...
. This view has no archaeological support, and ambiguous support from genetics and linguistics.
Some 30% of the Aka language is not Bantu, and a similar percentage of the Baka language is not Ubangian. Much of this vocabulary is botanical, deals with honey collecting, or is otherwise specialized for the forest and is shared between the two western Pygmy groups. It has been proposed that this is the remnant of an independent western Pygmy (Mbenga or "Baaka") language.
Genetic evidence for origins
Genetically, the western
Mbenga pygmies are extremely divergent from all other human populations, suggesting they have an ancient indigenous lineage. They represent the most ancient divergence right after that of
KhoisanKhoisan is a unifying name for two major ethnic groups of Southern Africa. Historically, they have been referred to as the Capoid race because they can be visually distinguished from most other sub-Saharan Africans by way of their relatively lighter skin color and their epicanthic folds...
's. The overall genetic picture suggests that the original Mbenga population, possessing Y-chromosome
haplogroup BIn human genetics, Haplogroup B is a Y-chromosome haplogroup.-Distribution:Haplogroup B is localized to sub-Saharan Africa, especially to tropical forests of West-Central Africa. After Y-haplogroup A, it is the second oldest and one of the most diverse human Y-haplogroups...
and mtDNA
haplogroup L1In human mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup L1 is a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup.-Origin:Haplogroup L1 is believed to have first appeared in East Africa approximately 150,000 to 170,000 years ago. Haplogroup L1 is a daughter of Mitochondrial Eve like haplogroup L0...
, was slightly influenced by gene flow from Bantus.
The closest relatives of eastern
MbutiMbuti or Bambuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their language belongs to the Central Sudanic subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan phylum.-Overview:...
pygmies appear to be the
HadzabeThe Hadza people, or Hadzabe'e, are an ethnic group in central Tanzania, living around Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Plateau. The Hadza number just under 1000...
, who live in the savannas east of the forest and were quite short in stature, before heavy recent intermarriage with their taller neighbors.
Reports of genocide
In 2003, Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of Mbuti pygmies, told the UN's Indigenous People's Forum that during the
Congo Civil WarThe Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power...
, his people were hunted down and eaten as though they were game animals. In neighbouring North Kivu province there has been
cannibalismCannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other humans.The word can be extended into zoology to mean any species consuming members of its own kind, and used outside of biological fields in a metaphorical sense: "Cannibalization" refers to the reuse of parts or ideas, such as...
by a group known as
Les Effaceurs ("the erasers") who wanted to clear the land of people to open it up for mineral exploitation. Both sides of the war regarded them as "subhuman" and some say their flesh can confer
magicalMagic, sometimes known as sorcery, is the practice of consciousness manipulation and/or autosuggestion to achieve a desired result, usually by techniques described in various conceptual systems...
powers. Makelo asked the UN Security Council to recognise cannibalism as a crime against humanity and an act of
genocideGenocide is the mass killing of a group of people. It is defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:...
. According to Minority Rights Group International there is extensive evidence of mass killings, cannibalism and rape of Pygmies and have urged the
International Criminal CourtThe International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .The court came into being on 1 July 2002 — the...
to investigate a campaign of extermination against pygmies. Although they have been targeted by virtually all the armed groups, much of the violence against Pygmies is attributed to the rebel group, the
Movement for the Liberation of CongoThe Movement for the Liberation of Congo is a political party in Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was a rebel group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo that fought the government throughout the Second Congo War. It subsequently took part in the transitional government and is now the...
, which is part of the transitional government and still controls much of the north, and their allies.
Slavery
In the Republic of Congo, where Pygmies make up 5 to 10% of the population, many Pygmies live as slaves to Bantu masters. The nation is deeply stratified between these two major ethnic groups. The Pygmy slaves belong from birth to their Bantu masters in a relationship that the Bantus call a time-honored tradition. Even though the Pygmies are responsible for much of the hunting, fishing and manual labor in jungle villages, Pygmies and Bantus alike say Pygmies are often paid at the master's whim; in cigarettes, used clothing, or even nothing at all. As a result of pressure from UNICEF and human-rights activists, a law that would grant special protections to the Pygmy people is awaiting a vote by the Congo parliament.
Negritos
Negritos in
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
(including the
BatakThe Batak are one of about 70 indigenous peoples of the Philippines. They are located in the northeastern portions of Palawan, a relatively large island in the southwest of the archipelago. There are only about 500 Batak remaining. Also called Tinitianes, the Batak are considered by anthropologists...
and
AetaThe Aeta , Agta or Ayta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines...
of the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
, the
AndamaneseThe Andamanese is a collective term to describe the adivasi peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which is the northern district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The term includes the...
of the
Andaman IslandsThe Andaman Islands are a group of archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India. The Andaman Archipelago is an oceanic continuation of the Burmese Arakan Yoma range in the North and of the Indonesian Archipelago in the South...
, and the
SemangThe Semang are a Negrito ethnic group of the Malay Peninsula. Lowland Semang tribes are also known as Sakai. They are probably the indigenous peoples of this area. They have been recorded to have lived here since before the 200s Common Era...
of the
Malay PeninsulaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
), and occasionally Papuans and Melanesians in adjacent
OceaniaOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
, are sometimes called pygmies (especially in older literature).
Negritos share some common physical features with African pygmy populations, including short stature and dark skin. The name "Negrito", from the
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
adjective meaning "small and black", was given by early explorers.
The explorers who named the Negritos assumed the
AndamaneseThe Andamanese is a collective term to describe the adivasi peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which is the northern district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The term includes the...
they encountered were from Africa. This belief was, however, discarded by anthropologists who noted that apart from dark skin and curly hair, the Andamanese had little in common with any African population, including the African pygmies. Their resemblance to some Africans, it is generally believed, is due to adaptation to a similar environment, rather than shared origins.
Their origin and the route of their migration to Asia is still a matter of great speculation. They are genetically distant from Africans, and have been shown to have separated early from Asians, suggesting that they are either surviving descendants of settlers from an early out-of-Africa migration, or that they are descendants of one of the founder populations of modern humans.
Rampasasa
The Rampasasa of Flores in Indonesia are short-statured without being dark-skinned. They have been indicated as suggestfully resembling
Homo floresiensisHomo floresiensis is a possible species in the genus Homo, remarkable for its small body and brain and for its survival until relatively recent times. It was named after the Indonesian island of Flores on which the remains were found...
.
T'rung
Frank Kingdon-Ward in the early 20th century, Alan Rabinowitz in the 1990s, P. Christiaan Klieger in 2003, and others have reported a tribe of pygmy Tibeto-Burman speakers known as the
T'rungThe T'rung , a Nungish-speaking tribe, some 5,000 in population, dwelling in a very deep canyon , this canyon being named Dulongjiang, in eastern Tibet. They are pygmies in stature, Mongoloid in race...
inhabiting the remote region of Mt. Hkakabo Razi in Southeast Asia on the border of
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
(
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
and
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
), Burma, and
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. A Burmese survey done in the 1960s reported a mean height of an adult male T'rung at 1.43 m (4'6") and that of females at 1.40 m (4'5"). These are the only "pygmies" noted of clearly
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
n origin. The cause of their diminutive size is unknown, but diet and endogamous marriage practices have been cited. The population of T'rung pygmies has been steadily shrinking, and is now down to only a few individuals.
Barrineans
Short statured aboriginal tribes inhabited the rainforests of North
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, of which the best known group is probably the Tjapukai of the Cairns area. These rainforest people, collectively referred to as Barrineans, were once considered to be a relict of the earliest wave of migration to the Australian continent, but this theory no longer finds much favour. The Rainforest People tended to live in the first variety of Jykabita, a wood and mud structure renowned for incubation of plants.
See also
- Negrito
The term Negrito refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of Southeast Asia.Their current populations include the Aeta, Agta, Ayta, Pygmies, Ita, Baluga, Ati, Dumagat and at least 25 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, the Mani of Thailand and 12 Andamanese...
- Hunter gatherers
- Indigenous peoples
The term indigenous peoples can be used to describe any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number...
- Pygmy music
The Pygmies are a broad group of people who live in Central Africa, especially in Congo, Central African Republic and Cameroon. Music is an important part of Pygmy life, and casual performances take place during many of the day's events...
- Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis is a possible species in the genus Homo, remarkable for its small body and brain and for its survival until relatively recent times. It was named after the Indonesian island of Flores on which the remains were found...
- Ota Benga
Ota Benga was a Congolese pygmy who was featured in a 1906 human zoo exhibit at New York City's Bronx Zoo. Benga came to the United States through the action of businessman and missionary Samuel Phillips Verner...
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