Baka people (Cameroon and Gabon)

The Baka people, known in the Congo as Bayaka (Bebayaka, Bebayaga, Bibaya), are an ethnic group inhabiting the southeastern rain forests of Cameroon, northern Republic of the Congo, northern Gabon, and southwestern Central African Republic. They are sometimes called a subgroup of the Twa, but the two peoples are not closely related. Likewise, the name "Baka" is sometimes mistakenly applied to other peoples of the area who, like the Baka and Twa, have been historically called pygmies, a term that is now considered derogatory.

Identity

thumb|Two indigenous women in Congo

Baka people are all hunter-gatherers, formerly referred to as pygmies, located in the Central African rain forest. Having average heights of 1.52 meters (5 feet) as well as living semi-nomadic lifestyles, the Baka are often discriminated against and marginalized from society. They reside in southeastern Cameroon, northern Gabon and in the northern part of the Republic of Congo. In Congo, the Baka people are otherwise known as the Bayaka. Some Baka are also found in southwestern Central African Republic. Although the Baka people are located throughout the Central African rain forest, they are mainly concentrated in Cameroon as the Baka community of Cameroon represents roughly 30 000 individuals.

thumb|Chief Baka in the dja reserve

The Baka are a semi-nomadic people, like other hunter-gatherers such as the Bagyeli and the Twa. However, due to the intensive deforestation of the Central African Rainforest they are gradually becoming more sedentary. Pressures from their taller and more dominant neighbors, the Bantu, have also limited the Baka people’s ability to live their traditional lifestyle.

The Baka have successfully maintained their language, also called Baka. Although their neighbors’ languages (Koozime, Bakoum and Bangandou) which have Bantu roots, a non-scientific source claims that Baka comes from a different language family, Ubangian.

References to "pygmy" peoples throughout history

The oldest reference to "pygmies" dates back to 2276 BCE when Pharaoh Pepi II described seeing a "dancing dwarf of the god from the land of spirits", in a letter to a slave trade expedition leader. In the Iliad, Homer described the "pygmies" as dark-skinned men who had to engage in annual warfare against cranes on the banks of the world-encircling river Oceanus. Contemporary Greek sources describe them as being as tall as a "pygme", meaning that they measured the length of an elbow to a knuckle, or about one and a half feet long. About three centuries later in 500 BCE, the Greek Herodotus reported that an explorer had seen, while travelling along the West African Coast, "dwarfish people, who used clothing made from the palm tree".

Culture

Hunting and gathering

The Baka people are considered the principal hunter-gatherers of the tropical rainforest of Central West Africa. However, no group has been shown to subsist entirely on foraging. Groups establish temporary camps of huts constructed of bowed branches covered in large leaves (though today more and more homes are constructed following other methods, such as mud and mud brick).

The Baka hunt and gather their own food. The men hunt and trap in the surrounding forest, using poisoned arrows and spears to great effect. The men also welcome the help of dogs when going on hunting excursions.

Fishing is very important in Baka culture as young boys are taught to use fishing rods at a young age.

Religion and belief systems

The Baka worship the forest spirit called Jengi (also known as Djengui or Ejengi). The Baka thus compare Jengi to a protecting father or guardian.

Many Baka people have had ebola but none have been reported to have displayed any symptoms.

Challenges

Relations

In socio-economic and political spheres, the Baka people are not seen as equal to the Bantu villagers. This makes it difficult for the Baka to assimilate to the political landscapes of Gabon and Cameroon. According to anthropologist Alec Leonhardt, the Baka people are deprived of their human rights; Leonhardt explains that the fight for Baka rights is not on Cameroon and Gabon's political agendas and neither is it on the "policy agenda" of the UN, despite their drafting of a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a document whose purpose is to fight for the rights of indigenous peoples throughout the world.

Survival International has recently set up an initiative to help the Baka people survive the extreme deforestation of their homes.

Deforestation impacts the Baka significantly, as the forest is their home. Anthropologist Shiho Hattori recorded about 100 instruments that the Baka use daily for cooking, hunting and gathering, rituals, and so on. After reports of abuses, the United Nations Development Programme carried out a report into the proposed 1,345 sq km Messok Dja national park in the Republic of the Congo. It found that the Baka were in a state of "deep distress" and that there was "credible evidence of violence against the Baka people. In May 2025, African Parks admitted that its rangers carried out human rights abuses against the Baka.

References

External links

Baka Pygmies culture, music and rites with photos and soundscapes
The Baka Forest People emphasis on their music with photos, videos and sound clips
Baka Pygmies of Cameroon with photos and ethnographic notes
Mauro Campagnoli - Fieldworks Anthropological researches among Baka Pygmies
Baka Pygmies, the Turning point CNRS/IRD film 40mn - Baka Pygmies - East Cameroun