Pygmies: the smallest people in the world. Who are the Pygmies  Tribe of undersized people

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

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

Pygmies are well adapted to life in tropical rainforests - it is easy for them to move around in impenetrable wilds, organisms cool better in hot climates and require much fewer calories to feed.

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

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

Pygmies in history

The first mentions of pygmies are found among the ancient Greeks (3rd millennium BC) and Egyptians (2nd millennium BC). And officially the world got acquainted with the pygmies after independent travels in Africa by 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 documentaries about the natives and founded a charitable foundation. Now this organization is providing real assistance to this people in the Congo, providing them with land for farming.

Genetics, anthropology of the pygmies

Many researchers distinguish pygmies as a special race. Men one and a half meters tall 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.

Interestingly, outwardly, the Negritos, who inhabit the south and southeast of Asia, as well as the islands of Melanesia and the north of Australia, are closest to the pygmies. But the genetic 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 in modern humans this gene has mutated and is practically not found.

Origin hypotheses

Reasons for small growth

• Hormones

Surprisingly, the growth hormone in pygmies is secreted by the pituitary gland in the same way as in ordinary people. But there is no growth acceleration in Africans, since the secretion of hormones during puberty is not 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 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 slender. Their food largely depends on luck. For example, the Pygmy tribe in the Philippines is considered the thinnest of all human populations. Infant mortality in this tribe is half of the entire 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. Under such conditions (if forests are added here), the body will definitely overheat. Usually people sweat and thus can avoid heat stroke.

But with high humidity, sweating hard just won’t work. Pygmies were able to reduce muscle mass and, thus, establish thermoregulation.

• Sun deficiency

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

• Lifestyle

One of the main activities of the aborigines in Africa is the collection of honey. Pygmies have been doing this for several millennia, so they have evolved into small and agile people weighing up to 45 kg, able to vertically climb branches that can withstand their weight. Among the Pygmies of the Batwa tribe, 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 do not bite people, and the latter practically do not react to minor bites. But as soon as a white man appears next to him and sweats a little, he will not be spared.

• small age

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

Puberty occurs in them very early, simultaneously with inhibition of growth. Males start breeding at the age of 12, and females peak at 15.

Pygmies in the modern world

Modern African pygmies live in the forests, obtaining everything they need through hunting and gathering. Animals are killed with bows and arrows.

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

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

Pygmies constantly roam. This is due to the custom - when a member of the tribe dies, he is left in the hut where he lived. At the same time, the entire community moves to a new place.

Pygmies are very well versed in medicinal plants. Therefore, no one can prepare a medicinal or poisonous mixture better than them. Even the bulk of the pygmy vocabulary consists of such words.

Pygmies catch fish in an interesting way. They make poison, thanks to which all the fish in the pond will float up belly up. But after a while, the poison loses its strength 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. In fairness, it should be noted 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 powers.

Video

Do you know how the word "pygmies" is translated? Fist-sized people. This is the smallest people on the planet.

Most people understand the word "pygmies" as people of short stature living in Africa. Yes, this is partly true, but even African pygmies are not one people. Various nationalities live on the Black Continent: pygmies Batwa, Bakiga, Baka, Aka, Efe, Sua, and this is not the whole list. The height of an adult male usually does not exceed 145 centimeters, and women - 133 cm.

How do the smallest people on the planet live?

The life of the pygmies is not easy) They live in temporary villages in the forests. Why temporary, you ask? The smallest people have a nomadic lifestyle, they are constantly in search of food and look for places rich in fruits and honey. They also have ancient customs. So, if a person dies in a tribe, then they bury him under the roof of a hut and leave the settlement forever.

Near temporary villages, pygmies hunt deer, antelopes and monkeys. They also collect fruits and honey. With all this, meat makes up only 9% of their diet, and they exchange the bulk of the production for garden vegetables, metal, fabrics, and tobacco from people who keep farms near the forest.

Little people are considered excellent healers: they prepare medicinal and poisonous potions from plants. It is because of this that they are disliked by other tribes, as they are credited with magical powers.

For example, the pygmies have a curious way of catching fish: first, they poison the pond, which causes the fish to float to the surface. And that's it, fishing was a success, it remains only to collect the catch. No gatherings with fishing rods on the shore or harpoon fishing. After a few hours, the poison ceases to act and again the lively fish returns to its usual life.

The life expectancy of pygmies is very short: from 16 to 24 years. People who have lived to 40 years old are real centenarians. Accordingly, they also reach puberty much earlier: at the age of 12. Well, they acquire offspring at the age of fifteen.

Still in bondage

Africa is the most controversial continent. Slavery has long been banned around the world, but not here. So, for example, in the Republic of the Congo, according to the established tradition, pygmies are inherited from the Bantu people. And these are the real slave owners: the pygmies give them their prey from the forest. But, unfortunately, a small nation is forced to endure such treatment, as the "owners" give them the products and goods necessary for survival, without which it is unrealistic to live in the forest. Moreover, the pygmies go to tricks: they can be "enslaved" by several farmers at the same time in different villages. If one owner did not give food, then, perhaps, another will make happy.

Pygmy Genocide

The smallest people for many centuries have been under constant pressure from other tribes. And here we are talking not only about slavery, but even about ... cannibalism! And in our modern world, in the XXI century. So, during the civil war in the Congo (1998-2003), pygmies were simply caught and eaten. Or, for example, in one of the provinces of Africa, North Kivu, at one time a grouping was operating to prepare the territory for mining. And they killed and ate pygmies in the process of cleaning up. And some peoples of the Black Continent generally believe that the flesh of a pygmy will give magical power, and communication with a woman from some undersized tribes will relieve diseases. Therefore, rape happens here very often.

Of course, all this affects the life of a small people: there are no more than 280 thousand of them left, and this figure is decreasing every year.

Why such a small stature

In fact, the miniaturization of these peoples is explained by evolution. And in different peoples, the reasons are different, scientists came to this conclusion. So, genetic analyzes have shown that in some tribes (for example, among the pygmies Sua and Efa) already in the womb, the growth limiter of the child is turned on and babies are born very small. And in other peoples (baka), children are born normal, the same as those of representatives of European races, but in the first two years they grow very slowly. All these changes at the genetic level are provoked by various factors.

So, poor nutrition contributes to short stature: the body of the pygmies has decreased in the process of evolution. The fact is that they need much less food to survive than larger nations. It is also believed that the tropics also “helped” small growth: after all, body weight affects the amount of heat produced, so large nations have a much greater chance of overheating.

Well, another theory says that miniature makes life easier in the tropics, making the pygmies more nimble, because in impenetrable forests this is an excellent quality. This is how evolution helped little people adapt to lifestyle and climate.

Interesting Facts About Pygmies You Didn't Know Before

Fact #1. Many people believe that pygmies live in forests. However, this is not always the case: for example, the Twa pygmies live in deserts and swamps.

Fact #2. Moreover, some anthropologists classify dwarf peoples as pygmies, where a man’s height does not exceed 155 centimeters. In their opinion, pygmies live in different parts of the world: in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Bolivia and Brazil. Here, for example, Filipino pygmies:

Fact #3. Most of the words among the pygmies are associated with honey and plants. In general, they have lost their native language and now speak the languages ​​of the peoples surrounding them.

Fact #4. Some researchers believe that the pygmies are representatives of an ancient people that existed more than 70 thousand years ago.

Fact #5. Pygmies were known in ancient Egypt. So, black dwarfs were brought as a gift to rich nobles.

Fact #6. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pygmy children were sold to zoos and Europe as exhibits.

Fact #7. The smallest people in the world are the Efe and Zaire pygmies. The height of women does not exceed 132 cm, and men - 143 cm.

Fact #8. In Africa, not only the shortest people live, but also the tallest. In the Dinka tribe, the average height of a man is 190 cm, and that of a woman is 180 cm.

Fact #9. Pygmies still do not use the calendar today, so they do not know the exact age.

Fact #10. A Caucasoid child at the age of 2.5 years is about the same height as a five-year-old pygmy.

- (Pygmaei, Πυγμαι̃οι). The mythical people of dwarfs, the size of πηγμή, τ. e. growth is not more than the distance from the elbow to the fist. According to Homer, they lived on the shores of the Ocean; subsequently, their residence began to be considered the sources of the Nile, as well as India. Current… … Encyclopedia of mythology

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

pygmies- (inosk.) 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. “You see, there he is!” Cf. He loved his poor Fatherland among his wanderings. She was wrapped in mules, Her pygmies ... ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

pygmies Modern Encyclopedia

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

pygmies- the people of dwarfs, who lived, according to the legendary legends of the Greeks, on the shores of the ocean (Homer) and at the sources of the Nile (late writer), where he fought constantly with cranes. Dictionary of 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 are a fabulous people of dwarfs living in Libya. Iliad (III, 6) tells of their battles with cranes (cf. L. v. Sybel, Mythologie derIlias, 1877, and L. F. Voevodsky, Introduction to mythology ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

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

pygmies- a group of peoples in Central Africa. The total number is 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 barbarian world. The name is associated with the small growth of the pygmies and symbolizes a distorted perception of the true ethnic group. The Greeks defined... Symbols, signs, emblems. Encyclopedia

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The name "pygmies" literally translates as "people the size of a fist." In equatorial Africa, there are many ethnic groups whose height could be defined as "a meter in a cap" if these people wore traditional hats. The record holders among the "forest midgets" are Mbuti, their height usually does not exceed 135 cm!

Having visited the Mbuti tribe, any Slav will feel like a giant. Acquaintance with undersized nomads will be interesting, since the Mbuti culture is original, and the structure of society is fundamentally different from the models we are used to. The total number of this ethnic group reaches about 100 thousand people. All Mbuti live in harmony with nature, hunt and gather, but take from the forest only as much as they need to survive. The basis of their worldview is a thrifty attitude to resources.

Mbuti do not have a social hierarchy, they live in large groups, consisting of at least 7 families. There is no leader in the group, everyone has their own responsibilities depending on gender and age. All members of the tribe take part in the hunt: men set up nets, women and teenagers drive the beast, children and elders stay in the camp to build a sacred fire.

Mbuti constantly change their places of deployment, they build dwellings very quickly, using tree shoots and leaves for this. They traditionally made clothes from the bark of trees, kneading it with an elephant tusk. Among the inhabitants of the tribe, loincloths were especially popular. Modern Mbuti do not refuse ordinary clothes, which are exchanged for game from the inhabitants of nearby settlements.

Mbuti consider themselves an integral part of the forest, and react painfully to cutting down trees and poaching. All their amulets and amulets are made of natural materials, at the birth of a baby they bathe in forest water, special magical rituals using amulets woven from vines and tree bark are performed by men going hunting.

The first mention of pygmies was made in ancient Egyptian records dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. Later, ancient Greek historians wrote about the pygmies Herodotus, Strabo, Homer. The real existence of these African tribes was confirmed only in the 19th century by a German traveler. Georg Schweinfurt, Russian researcher Vasily Junker and others.

The growth of adult male pygmies is from 144-150 cm in height. Women - about 120 cm. They have short limbs, light brown skin, which serves as excellent camouflage in the forest. Hair dark, curly, lips thin.

Occupation

Pygmies live in the forests. The forest for them is the highest deity - the source of everything necessary for survival. The traditional occupation for most pygmies is hunting and gathering. They hunt elephants, antelopes and monkeys. They use shortbows and poisoned arrows for hunting. In addition to various meats, pygmies are very fond of wild bee honey. In order to get to their favorite delicacy, they have to climb 45-meter trees, after which they use ash and smoke to disperse the bees. Women collect nuts, berries, mushrooms and roots.

Pygmies live in small groups of at least 50 members. Each group has a special area for building huts. Marriages between members of different tribes are quite common here. Also, absolutely any member of the tribe, when he wishes, is free to leave and join another tribe. There are no formal leaders in the tribe. Issues and problems that have arisen are resolved through open negotiations.

Weapon

Weapons are a spear, a small bow, arrows (often poisoned). Pygmies barter iron for arrowheads from neighboring tribes. Various traps and traps are widely used.

Pygmies are the most famous dwarf tribes living in the forests of tropical Africa. The main areas of concentration of pygmies today: Zaire (165 thousand people), Rwanda (65 thousand people), Burundi (50 thousand people), Congo (30 thousand people), Cameroon (20 thousand people) and Gabon (5 thousand people).

Mbutis- a tribe of pygmies living in the Ituri forest in Zaire. Most scientists believe that they were most likely the first inhabitants of this region.

Twa (batwa)- a tribe of pygmies in equatorial Africa. They live both in the mountains and on the plains near Lake Kivu in Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda. They maintain close ties with neighboring pastoral tribes and know how to make pottery.

Tswa (batswa)- This large tribe lives near the swamp south of the Congo River. They, like the Twa tribe, live in cooperation with neighboring tribes, adopting their culture and language. Most of the Tswa hunt or fish.