Mbuti People - Overview

Overview

The Mbuti population lives in the Ituri Forest, a tropical rainforest covering about 70,000 km2 of the north/northeast portion of Zaire. Bambuti are pygmy hunter-gatherers, and are one of the oldest indigenous people of the Congo region of Africa. The Bambuti are composed of bands which are relatively small in size, ranging from 15 to 60 people. The Bambuti population totals about 30,000 to 40,000 people. There are four distinct cultures within the Bambuti. These are

1. The Efé, who speak the language of a neighboring Sudanic people, Lese.
2. The Sua AKA Kango AKA Mbuti, who speak a dialect (or perhaps two) of the language of a neighboring Bantu people, Bila.
3. The Asua, the only Mbuti people with their own language, which is closely related to that of the neighboring Sudanic Mangbetu.

The term BaMbuti (Mbuti) is therefore confusing, as it has been used to refer to all the pygmy peoples in the Ituri region in general, as well as to a single subgroup in the center of the Ituri forest.

Around 2500 BCE, the Ancient Egyptians made reference to a "people of the trees" that could have been the Mbuti.