The Bongo people, also called Babongo or Bazimba, are an agricultural people of

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

in equatorial

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

who are known as "forest people" due to their recent

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

economy. They are not to be confused with the autocrat leadership of

Omar Bongo Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon from 1967 until Death and state funeral of Omar Bongo, his death in 2009. A member of the Gabonese De ...

. As foreigners, the dictatorship of the Bongo family, selected this name to become familiar representatives of a nation. The name originates, respectfully, in consideration of Mbenga Pygmies, though they are not particularly short. They are originators of the Bwiti religion, based on consumption of the intoxicating hallucinogenic iboga plant. There is no one Bongo language. They speak the languages of their Bantu neighbors, with some dialectical differentiation due to their distinct culture and history; among these are Tsogo (the Babongo-Tsogho), Nzebi (the Babongo-Nzebi), West Téké (the Babongo-Iyaa), and Lumbu (the Babongo-Gama), and Myene (the Babongo-Akoa). Yasa in Gabon is reportedly spoken by "Pygmies"; Yasa-speakers speak a different language than their patrons, unlike any other group in Gabon apart from the Baka. The Barimba, Bagama, and Akoa live in the southern coastal provinces. Bahuchet (2006) confirms three languages, each with dialectical differentiation from their non-Pygmy speakers: Tsogho in the central region (living with the Akele, Tsogo, Simba, Sango, Sira), and Teke and Kaning'i in the southeast (living among the Akele, Ka, ningi, Teke, Wumbu and the Obamba, Teke, respectively). The Rimba variety of Massango, however, has recently (2010) reported to have a core of non-Niger–Congo words and therefore should be considered unclassified. The Babongo have recently changed from being nomadic

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

s to settled villagers with

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...

supplemented by hunting. In the early 20th century they were fully nomadic and physically distinct from their Bantu neighbors, but by the mid 20th century they were starting to settle and to become physically indistinguishable. They have radio but not television in their small village communities and the few metal implements they possess come from the outside world. They are otherwise self-sufficient in their villages.

References

*Serge BAHUCHET, 2006. "Languages of the African Rainforest « Pygmy » Hunter-Gatherers: Language Shifts without Cultural Admixture

In ''Historical linguistics and hunter-gatherers populations in global perspective''. Leipzig. *Judy KNIGHT, November 2003. "Relocated to the roadside: Preliminary observations on the forest peoples of Gabon". In ''African Study Monographs,'' Suppl. 28: 81–12

*Naoki MATSUURA, May 2006. "Sedentary lifestyle and social relationship among Babongo in southern Gabon". In ''African Study Monographs'', Suppl. 33: 71–9

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231903/http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_suppl/abstracts/pdf/ASM_s33/7.%20Matsuura.pdf , date=2016-03-03 *Naoki MATSUURA, September 2009. "Visiting patterns of two sedentarized Central African hunter gatherers: Comparison of the Babongo in Gabon and the Baka in Cameroon". In ''African Study Monographs'', 30(3): 137–15

External links

African Forest Peoples
Pygmy groups of Central Africa, with photos and sounds
BBC: Babongo Tribe
African Pygmies