Great Lakes Twa
Mutwa with traditional bow and arrow
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (80,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Tanzania, Uganda | |
| Languages | |
| Rundi, Kiga, French, English | |
| Religion | |
| 7% Christian | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Hutu, Tutsi |
The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Batwa, Abatwa or Ge-Sera, are a pygmy people who are generally assumed to be the oldest surviving population of the Great Lakes region of central Africa, though currently they live as a Bantu caste. Current populations are found in the states of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2000, they numbered approximately 80,000 people, making them a significant minority group in these countries.
Apart from anthropological literature, the term "Twa" generally refers to the Twa of the Great Lakes region. There are a number of other Twa populations in the Congo forest, as well as southern Twa populations living in swamps and deserts where there has never been forest, but these are little known in the West.
Traditionally, the Twa have been semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers of the mountain forests living in association with agricultural villages, much as other Pygmy peoples do.
When the Hutu, a Bantu-speaking people, arrived in the region, they subjugated 'bush people' (hunter-gatherers) they called Abatwa, which are generally assumed to be the ancestors of the Twa today, though it may be that the Twa arrived alongside the Hutu, and either were a distinct people from the original inhabitants, or have mixed ancestry. Around the 15th century AD, the pastoralist Tutsi arrived and dominated both the Hutu and the Twa, creating a three-caste society with the Tutsi governing, the Hutu the bulk of the population, and the Twa at the bottom of the social scale, simultaneously despised, admired, and feared. For several hundred years, the Twa have been a small minority in the area, currently 1% in Rwanda and Burundi, and have had little political role, though there were at times Twa in the government of the Tutsi king.
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Wikipedia