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Pygmy peoples

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Baka dancers in the East Province of Cameroon

Pygmies (singular: Pygmy) refers to various peoples of central Africa whose adults have an average height less than 5 feet (152 centimeters). The term is also sometimes applied to the so-called Negrito peoples of Asia.[1][2][3], and occasionally indiscriminately to individuals of unusually short stature.[1]

Members of so-called Pygmy groups often consider the term derogatory, instead preferring to be called by the name of their ethnic groups.[4] Nevertheless, the term is widely used as no other term has emerged to replace "Pygmy".[5]

Etymology

Main article: Pygmy (mythology)

The term pygmy derives from Greek Pygmaio and Latin Pygmaei (sing. Pygmaeus) which literally was a measure of length corresponding to the distance between the elbow and knuckles, used to refer to diminutive people. In Greek mythology the word describes a tribe of dwarfs, first described by Homer, and reputed to live in either India or Ethiopia.[6]

African Pygmies

African pygmies and Prof. K. G. Murphy.

Origins

A commonly held view is that the Pygmies are the original inhabitants of the central African rainforest, where they lived for millennia as hunters and gatherers before the arrival of Central Sudanic, Adamawa-Ubangian and Bantu-speaking agriculturists. This view is increasingly coming under challenge as there is no archaeological or biological evidence to directly link modern day Pygmies with the Late Stone Age peoples who lived in central Africa before the agriculturists arrived.[7] [8]

Some scientists assert that it is plausible that Pygmies are simply the descendants of Bantu or Adamawa-Ubangi speakers who took up forest dwelling at some point in the past, considering that genetically there is no evidence that Pygmies are distinct from other Africans. Similarly – linguistically and culturally, Pygmies cannot be considered more distinctive from other central Africans.[8][9]

Sub groups

Pygmies live in several ethnic groups in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.[4] Most pygmy communities are hunter-gatherers, live partially but not exclusively on the wild products of the rainforest. They trade with neighbouring farmers to acquire cultivated foods and other material items.[4]

There are several Pygmy groups in Central Africa, including:

Asian pygmies (Negritos)

Some "Negrito" peoples of Malaysia, India, Thailand, the Philippines and the Andaman Islands are often called "pygmies". Although these groups, which include the Batak and the Aeta of the Philippines, the Andamanese of the Andaman Islands, and the Semang of the Malay Peninsula, share common physical features with African pygmy populations, they are not closely related. Studies suggest that their ancestors arrived during migrations from Africa to Southeast Asia and Oceania as much as 60,000 years ago, making them by far the earliest inhabitants of their lands.[10][11]

The name "Negrito" comes from the Spanish or Portuguese "little Negro" and was given by early explorers who assumed the Andamanese they encountered were from Africa. This assumption was discarded when anthropologists noted that apart from dark skin and curly hair, they had little in common with any African population, including the African pygmies.

References

  1. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.
  2. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica: Pygmy
  3. ^ HighBeam Encyclopedia: Pygmy
  4. ^ a b c Forest peoples in the central African rain forest: focus on the pygmies
  5. ^ Hewlett, Barry S. "Cultural diversity among African pygmies." In: Cultural Diversity Among Twentieth-Century Foragers. Susan Kent, ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  6. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
  7. ^ Genetics and linguistics in sub-Saharan Africa
  8. ^ a b Klieman, Kairn A. The Pygmies Were Our Compass: Bantu and BaTwa in the History of West Central Africa, Early Times to c. 1900, Heinemann, 2003.
  9. ^ Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca, ed. African Pygmies. Orlando, Fla.: Academic Press, 1986
  10. ^ Thangaraj, Kumarasamy (21 January 2003). "Genetic Affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a Vanishing Human Population" (PDF). Current Biology. 13, Number 2: 86-93(8). {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Survival International, 2002, Siberia to Sarawak: Tribal Peoples in Asia

See also

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