The smallest peoples of Africa. Interesting facts about the smallest people that you did not know before. Pygmies in mythology

Dwarfism and gigantism are opposites of the human world that attract attention. In addition to 190 cm giants, Africa is home to the smallest people in the world. And this is not just a glitch in genetics - there is a whole set of factors here that everyone will be interested in learning about.

The smallest people in Africa are called pygmies or negrillies.. Translated from Greek, “people the size of a fist.” Their height ranges from 124 to 150 cm (and dwarfism is considered height below 147 cm).

Pygmies are well adapted to life in tropical rainforests - it is easy for them to move in impassable wilds, their organisms cool better in hot climates and require much less calories for food.

On the mainland there is a fairly large community of pygmies (about 280 thousand people), widespread in equatorial forests Central Africa on the territory of 5 states. They are conventionally divided into Western and Eastern.

Pygmies can be found on all continents: the Philippines, Brazil, Australia, Bolivia, Indonesia, the Fiji and Adaman Islands. Except, tropical forests, the smallest people in the world live in other places (for example, the African Twa pygmies live in the desert).

Pygmies in history

The first mentions of pygmies are found among the ancient Greeks (III millennium BC) and Egyptians (II millennium BC). And officially the world became acquainted with the pygmies after the independent travels in Africa of the German G. Schweinfurt and the Russian V. Juncker in the 1870s.

In the 60s of the twentieth century, the Belgian researcher J.P. Alle lived for several months in one of the pygmy communities, Efe. He made 2 about the aborigines documentaries and founded charitable foundation. Now this organization provides real help of this people in the Congo, providing them with land for farming.

Genetics, anthropology of pygmies

Many researchers identify pygmies as a special race. Men with a height of one and a half meters are considered giants, and the average height of women is around 133 cm. African pygmies have light brown skin, a small head with a wide forehead and nose, black and curly hair, and thin lips.

It is interesting that in appearance the Negritos inhabiting the south and southeast of Asia, as well as the islands of Melanesia and the north of Australia are closest to the pygmies. But genetically the differences are quite large.

Pygmies still have the Neanderthal gene (up to 0.7%). These human ancestors lived from 600 to 350 thousand years ago, and modern man this gene has mutated and is practically not found.

Origin hypotheses

Reasons for short stature

• Hormones

It is not surprising, but the pituitary gland secretes growth hormone in pygmies in the same way as in ordinary people. But Africans do not experience growth acceleration, since the secretion of hormones during puberty does not occur at the proper level.

Already in childhood, strong differences are visible between the same Europeans and pygmies. A five-year-old pygmy is the same in height as a 2-year-old European. And in adolescence (12-15 years), pygmies simply stop growing.

• Malnutrition

Pygmies are not only small, but also extremely delicate. Their nutrition depends largely on luck. For example, the pygmy tribe in the Philippines is considered the thinnest of all human populations. Infant mortality in this tribe accounts for half of the total birth rate.

Therefore, in order to survive, the size of the pygmies decreased from generation to generation.

• Living near the equator

The tropics are characterized by a hot and humid climate. In such conditions (if we add forests here), the body will definitely overheat. People usually sweat and thus can avoid heatstroke.

But when high humidity You just won't be able to sweat a lot. Pygmies were able to reduce muscle mass and thus improve thermoregulation.

• Sun deficiency

Thick rainforests prevent sufficient penetration sunlight(and the formation of vitamin D in the body). Therefore, the skeleton of pygmies is smaller - calcium is not absorbed enough and bone growth is inhibited.

• Lifestyle

One of the main activities of the aborigines in Africa is collecting honey. Pygmies have been doing this for several millennia, so they have evolved into small and agile people, weighing up to 45 kg, who can climb vertically on branches that can support their weight. Among the Batwa pygmies, even the feet can bend at an angle of 45 degrees, although in ordinary people - only up to 18.

Pygmies even managed to enter into a kind of symbiosis with bees. Bees almost never bite people, and the latter practically do not react to minor stings. But it's worth showing up nearby to the white man and sweat a little - he will have no mercy.

• Small century

Unfortunately, the smallest people in the world live very short lives. Their average life expectancy is only 24 years, and 40-year-olds are already considered elders. Pygmies survive only due to frequent changes of generations.

Puberty occurs very early in them, simultaneously with growth inhibition. Men begin to reproduce at the age of 12, and the peak birth rate for women is at 15.

Pygmies in the modern world

Modern African pygmies live in forests, obtaining everything they need through hunting and gathering. They kill animals with a bow and arrow.

At the same time, until recently, they did not know how to make fire (they carried it when changing camps) and did not make tools (they exchanged them with neighboring tribes).

A large segment of nutrition (up to 30%) is occupied by collecting fruits and honey. And the pygmies exchange the rest of the food and things (metal, tobacco, clothes, dishes) from nearby farmers for honey and other forest provisions.

Pygmies are constantly wandering. This is due to the custom - when a member of the tribe dies, he is left in the hut where he lived. In this case, the entire community moves to a new place.

Pygmies are very good at medicinal plants. Therefore, no one can prepare a medicinal or poisonous mixture better than them. Even the bulk of the pygmy vocabulary consists of similar words.

Pygmies catch fish in an interesting way. They produce a poison that causes all the fish in the pond to float upside down. But over time, the poison loses its potency and the fish can be eaten.

Slavery and cannibalism

It turns out that slavery still exists in the Republic of the Congo. The neighboring tribe, the Bantu, has pygmy slaves in their families and passes them on by inheritance.

Pygmies obtain food for their masters in the forest in exchange for goods necessary for survival. To be fair, it is worth noting that slaves may well be in the service of several farmers.

And in the province of North Kivu there is still a belief that by eating the flesh of a pygmy you can get magical power.

Video

Baka pygmies inhabit rainforests in southeastern Cameroon, northern Republic of Congo, northern Gabon and southwestern Central African Republic. In February 2016, photographer and journalist Susan Shulman spent several days among the Baka pygmies, reporting on their lives.

Tropical rain forests - their natural environment a habitat. Their 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 forests. Pygmy tribes are scattered across Africa over an area of ​​178 million hectares.

Pygmies are distinguished from representatives of other African tribes by their miniature size - their height rarely exceeds 140 cm. In the photo above, members of the tribe are conducting a traditional hunting ceremony.

Susan Shulman became interested in the life of the Baka pygmies after hearing about Louis Sarno, an American scientist who has been living among the Baka pygmies in Central Africa, V rain forest between Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.

Louis Sarno is married to a woman from the tribe, and all these years he has been 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 afraid to return, because he would not find many of his friends alive. Louis Sarno is now in his early sixties, and the average life expectancy of Baka pygmies is forty years.

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

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

Baka Pygmy music is yodeling-like multi-sound chanting set to the natural sounds of the rainforest. Imagine the polyphony of 40 female voices and a drum beat tapped by four men on plastic barrels.

Louis Sarno claims he's never heard anything like it before, and it's divine.

Their hypnotic music usually acts as a prelude to a hunt, as the tribe sings to summon the forest spirit called Bobi 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 will take part in tomorrow's hunt. In the photo above, a pygmy is about to go hunting with a net.

The diet of the tribe is based on the meat of monkey and blue duiker, a small forest antelope, but in Lately There are fewer and fewer of these animals in the forest. This is due to poaching and logging.

“Poachers hunt at night, they scare the animals with torches and calmly shoot them while they stand paralyzed with fear. The nets and arrows of the tank pygmies can't compete with firearms poachers.

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

As the rainforests in which the Baka live are gradually depleted, the future of their forest home is in doubt as it is unclear where this will all lead.

Historically, the Bantu tribe considered the Baka pygmies to be “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 the Bantu-dominated cities.

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

And etc.; formerly supposed pygmy languages

Traditional Beliefs

Negrillian type of the large Negroid race

Pygmies(Greek Πυγμαῖοι - “people the size of a fist”) - a group of short Negroid peoples living in the equatorial forests of Africa. Other name African pygmies- negrilli.

Evidence

Mentioned already in ancient Egyptian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium BC. e., more late time- in ancient Greek sources (in Homer’s Iliad, Herodotus and Strabo).

Pygmies in mythology

Physical type

Among the Efe and Sua peoples living east of the Baka, small children are initially born - the growth limiter is activated during intrauterine development. Baka children are born normal, but in the first two years of life, Baka children grow noticeably slower than Europeans.

Occupation

Pygmies are forest dwellers, and for them the forest is the source of everything they need for life. The main occupations are hunting and gathering. Pygmies do not make stone tools; previously they did not know how to make fire (they carried the source of fire with them). The hunting weapon is a bow with arrows with metal tips, and these tips are often poisoned. Iron is exchanged with neighbors.

Language

Pygmies usually speak the languages ​​of the peoples around them - Efe, Asua, Bambuti, etc. There are some phonetic differences in the Pygmy dialects, but with the exception of the Baka people, the Pygmies have lost their native languages.

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Notes

Literature

• Putnam E. Eight Years Among the Pygmies / Anne Putnam; With a preface and ed. B. I. Sharevskaya; Artist B. A. Diodorov. - M.: Publishing House of Oriental Literature, 1961. - 184 p. - (Travel to Eastern countries). - 75,000 copies.(region)

Links

• Culture, music and photography

Excerpt characterizing the Pygmies

- (Pygmaei, Πυγμαι̃οι). Mythical people of dwarfs, the size of πηγμή, τ. i.e. height no more than the distance from elbow to fist. According to Homer, they lived on the shores of the Ocean; Subsequently, the sources of the Nile, as well as India, began to be considered their location. Current... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

PYGMIES- a group of peoples belonging to the Negrill race, the indigenous population of tropical Africa. They speak the languages ​​Bantu (Twa, 185 thousand people, 1992; Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire), Adamaua of the eastern group (Aka, Binga, etc., 35 thousand people; Congo, Central African Republic) and Shari... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Pygmies- (foreign language) people are morally insignificant. Wed. For the crowd he is great, for the crowd he is a prophet; For himself he is nothing, for himself he is a pygmy!... Nadson. “Look, there he is!” Cf. In the midst of his wanderings, he loved his poor Fatherland. She is surrounded by blizzards, She is surrounded by pygmies... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

PYGMIES Modern encyclopedia

Pygmies- From ancient Greek: Pigmaios. Literally: The size of a fist. IN ancient Greek mythology Pygmies were the name given to the fairy-tale people of dwarfs who were so small that they often became victims of cranes, like frogs. Therefore, the dwarfs had to... ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

PYGMIES- a people of dwarfs who, according to the legendary tales of the Greeks, lived on the shores of the ocean (Homer) and on the sources of the Nile (late writers), where they waged a constant struggle with cranes. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. Pygmies ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Pygmies- (Pugmaioi), own. people the size of a fist in Greek mythology, a fabulous people of dwarfs living in Libya. The Iliad (III, 6) tells about their battles with the cranes (cf. L. v. Sybel, Mythologie der Ilias, 1877, and L. F. Voevodsky, Introduction to Mythology ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Pygmies- PYGMIES, a group of peoples: Twa, Binga, Bibaya, Gielli, Efe, Kango, Aka, Mbuti with a total number of 350 thousand people belonging to the Negrill race, indigenous population Tropical Africa. The name comes from the Greek pygmaios (literally the size of... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

pygmies- a group of peoples in Central Africa. Total number 390 thousand people (1995). They speak Bantu languages. Many pygmies retain a wandering lifestyle, archaic culture, and traditional beliefs. * * * PYGMIES PYGMIES, a group of peoples belonging to ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

PYGMIES- (from the Greek “fist” or “distance” from the fist to the elbow) in Greek mythology, a tribe of dwarfs, symbolizing the barbaric world. The name is associated with the small stature of the pygmies and symbolizes a distorted perception of the true ethnic group. The Greeks determined... ... Symbols, signs, emblems. Encyclopedia

Books

• Kremlin pygmies against the titan Stalin, Sergei Kremlev. Although Putin and Medvedev are the same height as Stalin, in comparison with the titanic achievements of the Leader, the current owners of the Kremlin look like mere dwarfs. And the pygmies will always envy the political ones... Buy for 210 rubles
• Kremlin pygmies against the titan Stalin, or Russia, which must be found, Sergei Kremlev. Although Putin and Medvedev are the same height as Stalin, in comparison with the titanic achievements of the Leader, the current owners of the Kremlin look like mere dwarfs. And the pygmies will always envy political...

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

Pygmies were sold to zoos!

The origin of the pygmies still remains a mystery to scientists. No one 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 that help answer these questions. There is an assumption that in ancient times the pygmies occupied the entire central part of the Dark Continent, and were later forced out by other tribes into the tropical forests. Pygmies is translated from Greek as “people the size of a fist” scientific definition interprets the pygmies as a group of short 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, Homer wrote about them 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, dog-headed and other mythical creatures of the ancient period.

It is worth noting that because of their height, pygmies have suffered many disasters and humiliations since ancient times. Taller Africans drove them out of the most favorable places and drove them into green hell equatorial forests. Civilization also brought them some joy, especially at the beginning of contact with white people. Some travelers and colonial officials captured the pygmies and took them with them to Europe and the USA as a curiosity. It got to the point that pygmies, especially their children, were sold as living exhibits to Western zoos in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

It would seem that now these people can live much calmer and more confident in their future, but, alas, this is not so. It's hard to believe, but in the period 1998-2003 during civil war In the Congo, it often happened that pygmies were caught and eaten like wild animals. In the same area, a sect of “erasers” is still operating, whose members are hired to clear the territory of pygmies if mining is planned on it. Cultists kill pygmies and feed on their flesh. Enlightenment has not yet penetrated into the deep layers of the African population, so many inhabitants of the Dark 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, their owners are representatives of the Bantu people. No, pygmies do not walk in shackles, but their owner can simply take away from the slaves fruits and meat obtained in the forest, sometimes he still provides them with some kind of provisions, tools and metal for arrowheads. Amazingly, the pygmies do not organize any uprisings against slave owners: as some researchers say, without maintaining relations with the Bantu, things can only get worse for them,

Why are they so small?

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

Another explanation, it would seem, lies right on the surface - pygmies do not have adequate nutrition, and they are often malnourished, which affects their growth. The study showed that the diet of African pygmies is almost the same as that of their neighboring farmers (the same Bantus), but their daily amount of food consumed is very small. It is possible that this is why their bodies, and therefore their height, decreased from generation to generation. It is clear that little man Even less food is enough to survive. There was even a very interesting experiment: for a long time, a small group of pygmies was fed to their full capacity, 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 entire lives under the canopy of a dense forest, pygmies do not receive enough sunlight, which leads to insignificant production of vitamin D by the body. The lack of this vitamin causes inhibition of bone tissue growth, which is why pygmies end up with a very miniature skeleton.

Some researchers believe that the diminutiveness of pygmies is caused by evolutionary process, adapting them to life in dense thickets. It is clear that it is much easier for a small and nimble pygmy to make his way through a palisade of trees, fallen trunks, entangled in vines than for a tall European. It is also known that the pygmies are addicted to collecting honey. While searching for honey, pygmy men spend approximately 9% of their lives in trees in search of wild bee habitats. Of course, climbing trees is easier for a person of short stature and weighing up to 45 kilograms.

Of course, the pygmies were carefully studied by doctors and geneticists; they found that the concentration of growth hormone in their blood is not very different from the average ordinary person. However, the level of insulin-like growth factor was 3 times lower than normal. According to 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 pygmy adolescents, who completely stop growing at the age of 12-15 years. By the way, genetic research has made it possible to name the pygmies as descendants ancient people, which appeared on Earth about 70 thousand years ago. But scientists did not identify any genetic mutations in them.

The small stature of pygmies is also explained by their short life span. Alas, these little people live on average only from 16 to 24 years; those who reach 35-40 years old among them are already long-livers. Due to small life cycle in pygmies it occurs earlier puberty, causing inhibition of body growth. Pygmies reach puberty at the age of 12, and the highest birth rate in women is observed 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 they all act together. Yes, due to their short stature, some scientists are even ready to distinguish pygmies as a separate race. It is curious that in addition to height, pygmies have other differences from the Negroid race - light skin brown tint 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 lives in it, get their food, give birth to children and die. They do not engage in agriculture; their main activities are gathering and hunting. Pygmies lead a nomadic lifestyle; they leave their camp as soon as there is no game, fruit, edible plants, or honey left around the camp. Resettlement occurs within boundaries established with other groups; hunting on someone else's land can become a cause for conflict.

There is another reason for relocation. It happens when someone dies in a small pygmy village. Pygmies are very superstitious, they believe that since death visited them, it means that the forest does not want them to continue living in this place. The deceased is buried right in his hut, funeral dances are held at night, and in the morning, abandoning 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 stroke their pride and get hunting trophies pygmies never kill Living being, if there is no need for it. They hunt with bows with arrows poisoned with plant poison and spears with metal tips. Their prey includes birds, monkeys, small antelopes and deer. Pygmies do not store meat for future use; they always divide the spoils fairly. Despite the usual luck of small hunters, the meat they hunt makes up only 9% of their diet. By the way, pygmies often hunt with dogs; they are very hardy and, if necessary, are ready to protect their owner from the most ferocious beast at the cost of their lives.

A significant portion of the pygmies' diet consists of honey and other forest products. Honey is extracted by men who are ready to climb the most tall trees, but women collect the gifts of the forest. Around the camp they are looking 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 pygmies’ diet consists of vegetables and fruits, which they exchange with farmers for honey and other forest products. In addition to food, through exchange, the pygmies obtain the fabrics they need, pottery, iron and tobacco.

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