Pygmy is a representative of one of the peoples living in the equatorial forests of Africa. This word is of Greek origin and means "a man the size of a fist." This name is quite reasonable, given the average height of the representatives of these tribes. Find out who the pygmies of Africa are and how they differ from others on the hottest continent.

Who are the pygmies?

These tribes live in Africa, near Ogove and Ituri. In total, there are about 80 thousand pygmies, half of whom live off the banks of the Ituri River. The growth of representatives of these tribes varies from 140 to 150 cm. Their skin color is somewhat atypical for Africans, because they have it a little lighter, golden brown. Pygmies even have their own national dress. Thus, men wear a fur or leather belt with a small apron made of wood in the front and a small bunch of leaves in the back. Women are less fortunate, often they only have aprons.

Houses

The buildings in which the representatives of this people live are made of twigs and leaves, holding everything together with clay. Oddly enough, the construction and renovation of the hut here is the concern of women. The man, having conceived the construction of a new house, must go to the elder for permission. If the elder agrees, he gives his visitor a nyombikari - a bamboo stick with a peg at the end. It is with the help of this device that the boundaries of the future dwelling will be outlined. This is done by a man, all the rest of the construction work falls on the shoulders of the woman.

Life style

A typical pygmy is a forest nomad who does not stay in one place for a long time. Representatives of these tribes live in one place for no more than a year, as long as there is game around their village. When the fearless animals run out, the nomads take off in search of a new home. There is another reason why people often move to a new location. Any pygmy is an extremely superstitious person. Therefore, the entire tribe, if one of its members dies, migrates, believing that the forest does not want someone to live in this place. The deceased is buried in his hut, a commemoration is held, and the next morning the whole settlement goes deep into the forest to build a new village.

Mining

Pygmies feed on what the forest gives them. Therefore, in the early morning, the women of the tribe go there to replenish supplies. On the way, they collect everything edible, from berries to caterpillars, so that every pygmy fellow tribe is well fed. This is a well-established tradition, according to which a woman is the main earner in the family.

Outcome

Pygmies are accustomed to the traditions of their lives that have been established over the centuries. Despite the fact that the government of the state tries to teach them a more civilized life, cultivation of the land and a sedentary existence, they continue to remain far from it. Pygmies, photo taken by many researchers studying their customs, abandon any innovations in their everyday life and continue to do what their ancestors did for many centuries.

Pygmies differ from other African tribes in their height, which ranges from 143 to 150 centimeters. The reason for such a small growth of the pygmies is still a mystery to scientists, although some researchers believe that their growth is due to their adaptability to the difficult conditions of life in the rainforest.

Pygmies were sold to zoos!

The origin of the pygmies is still a mystery to scientists. Nobody knows who their distant ancestors were and how these little people ended up in the equatorial forests of Africa. There are no legends or myths to help answer these questions. There is an assumption that in ancient times the pygmies occupied the entire central part of the Black Continent, and were later driven out by other tribes into the rainforests. From Greek, pygmies are translated as "people the size of a fist", the scientific definition interprets the pygmies as a group of undersized Negroid peoples living in the forests of Africa.

Pygmies are mentioned in ancient Egyptian sources of the 3rd millennium BC. e., later Herodotus and Strabo wrote about them, Homer in his "Iliad". Aristotle considered the pygmies to be a very real people, although in ancient sources a lot of fantastic things were written about them: for example, Strabo listed them along with the big-headed, noseless, cyclops, psoglavets and other mythical creatures of the ancient period.

It is worth noting that because of their height, pygmies have suffered a lot of disasters and humiliations for a long time. The taller Africans drove them out of the most favorable places and drove them into the green hell of the equatorial forests. Civilization also brought them a little joy, especially at the beginning of contact with white people. Some travelers and colonial officials captivated the pygmies and, as a curiosity, took them with them to Europe and the United States. It got to the point that pygmies, especially their children, in the late 19th - early 20th centuries were sold as living exhibits to Western zoos ...

It would seem that now this people can live much calmer and more confident in their future, but, alas, this is not so. It's hard to believe, but during the 1998-2003 civil war in the Congo, it quite often happened that pygmies were caught and eaten like wild animals. In the same area, the sect of "erasers" still operates, whose members are hired to clean up the territory from pygmies, if mining is supposed to be there. Cultists kill pygmies and feed on their flesh. The Enlightenment has not yet penetrated into the deep layers of the African population, so many inhabitants of the Black Continent believe that by eating a pygmy, they acquire some kind of magical power that protects them from witchcraft.

The presence of a considerable number of peculiar pygmy slaves will also seem incredible, although slavery is legally prohibited in all countries. Pygmies become slaves in the same Republic of the Congo, and they are even inherited, according to the tradition existing here, representatives of the Bantu people are their masters. No, pygmies do not walk in shackles, but their master can simply take away from the slaves the fruits and meat obtained in the forest, sometimes he still gives them some food, tools and metal for arrowheads. Amazingly, the pygmies are not satisfied with any uprisings against the slave owners: as some researchers say, without maintaining relations with the Bantu, they can only get worse,

Why are they so small?

The growth of pygmies ranges from 140 to 150 cm.The smallest people in the world are the pygmies of the Efe tribe, in which the average height of men does not exceed 143 cm, and for women - 130-132 cm.Of course, as soon as scientists learned about the existence of pygmies, they have the question immediately arose - what is the reason for their so insignificant growth? If small pygmies were only a small part of their tribe, their diminutiveness could be explained by a genetic malfunction. However, due to the overall low growth, this explanation had to be discarded immediately.

Another explanation, it would seem, lies right on the surface - pygmies lack adequate nutrition, and they are often malnourished, which is reflected in their growth. The study showed that the diet of African pygmies is almost the same as that of neighboring farmers (the same Bantu), but their daily intake of food is very small. It is possible that this is why their bodies, and accordingly their height, have decreased from generation to generation. It is clear that less food is enough for a small person to survive. Even a very curious experiment was carried out: for a long time a small group of pygmies was fed to the bone, but, alas, neither the pygmies themselves nor their offspring grew up because of this.

There is also a version about the effect of lack of sunlight on the growth of pygmies. Spending their whole life under the canopy of a dense forest, pygmies do not receive enough sunlight, which leads to a slight production of vitamin D.

Some researchers believe that the diminutiveness of pygmies is caused by an evolutionary process that adapts them to life in dense thickets. It is clear that it is much easier for a small and brisk pygmy to wade through a palisade of trees, fallen trunks, entangled in vines, than for a tall European. It is also known about the addiction of pygmies to collecting honey. Looking for honey, pygmy men spend about 9% of their life in trees in search of habitats for wild bees. Of course, tree climbing is easier for a person of small stature and weighing up to 45 kilograms.

Of course, the pygmies were thoroughly studied by doctors and geneticists, they found that the concentration of growth hormone in their blood does not differ much from the average indicators of an ordinary person. However, the level of insulin-like growth factor was 3 times lower than normal. According to the researchers, this explains the small growth of newborn pygmies. In addition, the low concentration of this hormone in the blood plasma prevents the onset of a period of active growth in adolescent pygmies, who completely stop growing at the age of 12-15 years. By the way, genetic research made it possible to call the pygmies the descendants of the most ancient people that appeared on Earth about 70 thousand years ago. But scientists did not reveal any genetic mutations in them.

The small growth of pygmies is also explained by the short duration of their life. Alas, these small people live on average from 16 to 24 years, reaching 35-40 years among them are already long-livers. Due to the short life cycle in pygmies, early puberty occurs, causing inhibition of body growth. Puberty in pygmies begins at the age of 12, and the highest fertility in women is noted at 15.

As you can see, there are many factors that contribute to the small growth of pygmies. Perhaps one of them is the main one, or maybe all of them act together. Yes, due to their short stature, some scientists are even ready to single out the pygmies as a separate race. It is curious that in addition to growth, pygmies have other differences from the Negroid race - they are light brown skin and very thin lips.

"Lilliputians" from the rainforest

Now pygmy tribes can be found in the forests of Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic. The life of these little people is constantly connected with the forest, they spend the main part of their life in it, find food for themselves, give birth to children and die. They are not engaged in agriculture, their main occupations are gathering and hunting. Pygmies lead a nomadic life, they leave their camp as soon as there is no game, no fruit, no edible plants, or honey around the camp. The resettlement takes place within the boundaries established with other groups, hunting in a foreign land can become a pretext for conflict.

There is another reason for relocation. It happens if someone dies in a small village of pygmies. Pygmies are very superstitious, they believe that since death has visited them, it means that the forest does not want them to continue to live in this place. The deceased is buried right in his hut, funeral dances take place at night, and in the morning, leaving their simple buildings, the pygmies move to another place.

The main occupation of pygmy men is hunting. Unlike "civilized" hunters who come to Africa to indulge their pride and get hunting trophies, pygmies never kill a living creature if there is no need for it. They hunt using bows with arrows poisoned with vegetable poison and spears with metal tips. Birds, monkeys, small antelopes and deer become their prey. Pygmies do not store meat for future use, they always share the spoils fairly. Despite the usual luck of undersized hunters, the meat obtained makes up only 9% of their diet. By the way, pygmies often hunt with dogs, they are very hardy and, if necessary, are ready at the cost of their lives to protect the owner from the most ferocious beast.

Honey and other gifts of the forest make up a significant share in the diet of pygmies. Honey is mined by men who are ready to climb the tallest trees for it, but the gifts of the forest are collected by women. Around the camp, they look for fruits, wild roots, edible plants, do not disdain worms, larvae, snails, frogs and snakes. All this goes into food. However, at least 50% of the diet of pygmies consists of vegetables and fruits, which they exchange from farmers for honey and other gifts of the forest. In addition to food, by exchange, the pygmies get the fabrics, pottery, iron and tobacco they need.

Every day, a part of the women remain in the village, making a kind of material from tree bark called "tana", it is from this that the famous aprons of the pygmies are made. In men, such an apron is attached to a leather or fur belt; at the back they wear a bunch of leaves. But women wear only aprons. However, sedentary pygmies that have already appeared often wear European clothes. Civilization is slowly but persistently penetrating the way of life and life of the pygmies, their culture and traditions, perhaps in a few decades, will become a thing of the past.

Pygmies (Greek Πυγμαῖοι - "people the size of a fist") are a group of undersized Negroid peoples living in the equatorial forests of Africa.

Testimonies and mentions

Mentioned already in the ancient Egyptian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium BC. e., at a later time - in ancient Greek sources (in the "Iliad" by Homer, Herodotus and Strabo).

In the XVI-XVII centuries. they are referred to as "matimba" in descriptions left by researchers in West Africa.

In the 19th century, their existence was confirmed by the German researcher Georg August Schweinfurt, the Russian researcher V.V. Juncker and others, who discovered these tribes in the rainforests of the Ituri and Uzle river basins (various tribes under the names: Akka, Tikitiki, Obongo, Bambuti, Batwa) ...

In 1929-1930. expedition P. Shebest described the pygmies bambuti, in 1934-1935 researcher M. Guzinde found the pygmies Efe and Basua.

At the end of the 20th century, they live in the forests of Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Rwanda.

The earliest mention of pygmies is contained in the story of the Egyptian Khirhuf, a nobleman of the Old Kingdom, who boasted that he had managed to bring a dwarf from his campaign for the amusement of the young king. This inscription dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. NS. In the Egyptian inscription, the dwarf brought by Khirhuf is called dng. This name has survived to this day in the languages ​​of the peoples of Ethiopia: in Amharic, the dwarf is called deng, or dates. Ancient Greek writers tell all sorts of stories about African pygmies, but all of their messages are fantastic.

Pygmies lead a hunting lifestyle. In the pygmy economy, gathering seems to occupy the first place and mainly determines the nutrition of the entire group. Most of the work is done by women, since it is women’s business to obtain plant foods. Women of the whole group living together daily, accompanied by children, gather wild roots, leaves of edible plants and fruits around their camp, catch worms, snails, frogs, snakes and fish.

The pygmies are forced to leave the camp as soon as all suitable plants have been eaten in the vicinity of the camp and the game has been destroyed. The entire group moves to another area of ​​the forest, but wanders within the established boundaries. These boundaries are known to everyone and are strictly observed. Hunting in foreign lands is not allowed and can lead to hostile clashes. Almost all groups of pygmies live in close contact with the tall population, most often with the Bantu. Pygmies usually bring game and forest products to villages in exchange for bananas, vegetables, and iron spearheads. All groups of pygmies speak the languages ​​of their tall neighbors.


House of pygmies made of leaves and sticks

The primitive nature of the culture of the pygmies sharply distinguishes them from the surrounding peoples of the Negroid race. What are pygmies? Is this the autochthonous population of Central Africa? Do they constitute a special anthropological type, or is their origin the result of the degradation of the tall type? These are the main questions that constituted the essence of the Pygmy problem, one of the most controversial in anthropology and ethnography. Soviet anthropologists believe that pygmies are the aborigines of tropical Africa of a special anthropological type, of independent origin.

Growth from 144 to 150 cm for adult males, the skin is light brown, the hair is curly, dark, the lips are relatively thin, the body is large, the arms and legs are short, this physical type can be classified as a special race. The possible number of pygmies can range from 40 to 280 thousand people.

In appearance, the Negritos of Asia are close to them, but genetically there are strong differences between them.

According to dictionaries, pygmies are a very small group of peoples in Central Africa, the total number of which is about 390 thousand people. They speak Bantu languages. Most of the tribes maintain a wandering lifestyle and adhere to traditional beliefs. Their culture is very archaic.

Pygmies photo (clickable)

The name of this people comes from the Greek word pygmaios - "the size of a fist." So, Homer in his immortal "Iliad" called dwarfs who fought with cranes. The little dancers who entertained the pharaohs of Egypt were also called. The European colonialists who came to Africa, faced with this short tribe of Africans, whose average height is about 150 cm, considered them to be the descendants of the ancient ones and borrowed the name.

Where do pygmies live? Pygmies live in rugged places and are extremely reluctant to come into contact with strangers. At the end of the "harvesting" at one site and the end of the hunting season, they move to a new location.

The main male occupation of this people is hunting, and in all its varieties. Pygmies of Africa perfectly comprehended all the secrets of the forest and the habits of animals that are in the area where they currently live. Hunters set up snares and traps, use arrows and bows; if big game is driven, the “weak” half of the tribe also takes part.

Children, upon reaching the age of ten, build their own separate dwelling and begin to live independently from their parents. The tribe is led by elders. They do not have theft, they treat liars and unfaithful spouses with contempt, and solve all problematic issues at a general council.

Pygmies: photos of women (clickable)

Unjust sharing or withholding food, spoiling water, damaging trees, and unnecessarily hunting animals are considered misconduct, up to and including prohibition of joint hunting and even expulsion.

Women always carry a specially made bag with them. Everything that can serve as food is added to it: plants, roots and stems of edible herbs, seeds, fruits and berries, insects, nuts, caterpillars - everything goes into action.

Some members of the pygmy tribe are engaged in fishing. As fishing rods, they use flexible tree branches with a wire attached to the end in the form of a hook.

African pygmies exchange their prey and "gifts of nature" for agricultural products and other things. They are mainly attracted to metal products - knives, arrowheads and spearheads, axes and wire, which they use to make primitive tools or decorate weapons with it.

Attempts to consolidate this people on certain plots of land have failed - modern pygmies, like their ancestors, continue to lead a nomadic lifestyle, although in the Democratic Republic of the Congo they are trying to give them primary education and provide medical care.

Small video: pygmies hunting and fishing

Baka pygmies inhabit the rain forests in the southeast of Cameroon, in the north of the Republic of the Congo, in northern Gabon and in the southwest of the Central African Republic. In February 2016, photographer and journalist Susan Schulman spent several days among the Buck pygmies, making a short report on their lives.

Tropical rainforests are their natural habitat. The main occupations are hunting and gathering, in this harmonious unity with nature they live for centuries, and their world is determined by the presence of a forest. Pygmy tribes are scattered across Africa on an area of ​​178 million hectares.

Pygmies differ from representatives of other African tribes in their diminutiveness - their height rarely exceeds 140 cm. In the photo above, members of the tribe conduct a traditional hunting ceremony.

Susan Schulman became interested in the life of the Baka pygmies after hearing about Louis Sarno, an American scientist who has lived among the Baka pygmies for 30 years in Central Africa, in the rain forest between Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.

Louis Sarno is married to a tribal woman and has spent all these years studying, helping and treating the Baka pygmies. According to him, half of the children do not live to be five years old, and if he left the tribe for at least a year, he would be scared to return, because he would not find many of his friends alive. Louis Sarno is now in his early sixties, and the average life span of the Buck pygmies is forty years.

Louis Sarno not only provides medicine, but also does other things: he acts as a teacher for children, lawyer, translator, archivist, writer and chronicler for a community of 600 Baka pygmies in the village of Yandubi.

Louis Sarno came to live with the pygmies in the mid-80s, after one day he heard their music on the radio and decided to go and record more of this music, as much as possible. And he doesn't regret it a bit. He has the opportunity to regularly visit America and Europe, but always returns to Africa. We can say that the song led him to the heart of Africa.

The music of the Baka pygmies is a yodling-like polyphonic chant set against the background of the natural sounds of the rainforest. Imagine the polyphony of 40 female voices and a drum beat by four men on plastic drums.

Louis Sarno claims that he has never heard anything like it before, and it is divine.

Their hypnotic music usually acts as a prelude to the hunt, as the tribe sings to summon a forest spirit named Boby and ask him for permission to hunt in his forest.

Dressed in a suit of leaves, the "spirit of the forest" grants permission to the tribe and blesses those who take part in tomorrow's hunt. In the picture above, a pygmy is about to go hunting with a net.

The basis of the tribe's diet is the meat of a monkey and blue duker - a small forest antelope, but recently these animals in the forest are becoming less and less. This stems from poaching and logging.

“Poachers hunt at night, they scare the animals with torches and calmly shoot them while they are paralyzed by fear. Tank pygmy nets and arrows cannot compete with poachers' firearms.

Deforestation and poachers seriously devastate the forest and greatly harm the way of life of the tank pygmies. Many of these poachers are from the neighboring Bantu ethnic group, which makes up the majority of the population in the region, ”says Susan Shulman.

As a result of the gradual depletion of the rain forests in which the Baka tribe live, the future of their forest home is in question, as it is not clear where this will all lead.

Historically, the Bantu tribe viewed Baka pygmies as “subhuman” and discriminated against them. Currently, relations between them have improved, but some echoes of the past still make themselves felt.

As the traditional life of the Baka pygmies becomes more difficult and problematic day by day, the younger generation has to look for work in cities dominated by Bantu.

“Young people are now at the forefront of change. There are very few opportunities for them to earn money. As forest resources are depleted in terms of hunting, you have to look for other opportunities - and this is usually just a temporary job for the Bantu, who offer, say, five days of hunting $ 1 - and even then they often forget to pay, ”says Susan.