The Congo is the home to a nomadic group of hunters-gatherers known as the Mbuti.
The Mbuti are one of the oldest indigenous people of the Congo region of Africa. The Mbuti
is an egalitarian society, and the band is their highest form of socialization. Bands are based on
principles of teamwork and sharing. The bands are composed of about fifteen to sixty families.
The Mbuti reside in the Ituri forest, a tropical rainforest in the northern part of the Congo River
Basin. The forest is named after the Ituri River. The Mbuti have lived in the rainforest for more
than six thousand years. According to Turnbull (1968), “The first recorded reference to
the Mbuti dates back to a story of an expedition to the area by Egyptians around 2250 B.C.
where the Mbuti were referred to as people of the trees.” The Mbuti see the forest as mother and
father and themselves as its children. The Mbuti life cycle consists of birth, puberty, marriage,
and death. Each transition corresponds with the defining child, youth, adult, and elderly age
groups. Mbuti make three very significant transitions in life from childhood which includes
birth, to youth including puberty, to adulthood containing marriage, and finally old age which
eventually leads to death. The roles and duties found within each age group are important
because personal identity is defined by Mbuti’s role in society.
The term BaMbuti refers to all the different cultures within the Ituri forest. The forest region
has rivers and lakes, and also has a high amount of rain. The dry season is short, and lasts one to
two months. The country’s capital and larges...
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...d propagating the
Catholic faith and took Congolese to Portugal for study. The first missionary group arrived in
1491 and consisted of Franciscan and Dominican priests (Democratic Republic of the Congo,
2007) The Congo king was baptized and a large church was built at the royal capital, which was
renamed San Salvador. The King’s son was concerted and sent away for training to eventually
put the Catholic Church in power for many years. However, the Yaka invasion of the 16th
century shook the kingdom. Toward the end of the century, traders who began buying and selling
slaves drove missionaries out of the country. In the 19th century when the Belgians arrived there
was not a trace left of this once influential kingdom or the two and one-half centuries of Catholic
evangelism and church planting (Riddle, & McGavran, 1979).
o Herero's are the largest groups of in the Dobe area. They are Bantu speaking people.
Nomads of the Rainforest is a film which focuses on a tribe in Ecuador called the Waorani. The purpose of this documentary is to discover how this culture has maintained their cultural identity amidst Western culture and remained an enigma. The Waorani were known as savages and likely to attack any outside influence indiscriminately. These people were a mystery due to the fact that their savagery was brushed against the landscape of an egalitarian society in which all people were equal and must contribute to their society. The message of the film is to describe the Waorani lifestyle and how the rainforest is critical to their maintaining their nomadic lifestyle that has been a part of their culture for centuries.
The Mbuti pygmies of the Ituri rainforest are a fascinating people. They need their forest for food, shelter, and protection from other peoples of the world. How the Mbuti managed to survive the conquests of the Spanish and the English is beyond our knowledge. Their dense, uncharted forest has kept them a secret to many people to this day. The Mbuti probably are the most unchanged people still living on earth. As long as the Mbuti's forest isn't destroyed by the world's greed for money, they will more than likely remain there for decades to come.
...t from being able to openly worship and escape persecution as they belonged to minority religious groups. The combination of push and pull factors allowed for immigrants of the Holy Roman Empire to help the already established colonies of the New World.
Vanthemsche, Guy. The Historiography of Belgian Colonialism in the Congo. Pisa: Pisa University Press, 2006.
The Bwa are an indigenous African ethnic group currently residing across Burkina Faso and Mali in Western Africa (1). Despite French attempts at integrating Western Africa into the French Colonial Empire in the late 19th and early-20th centuries, the Bwa peoples have successfully continued to practice the cultural traditions of their distant ancestors (1).
Religion was a main motive for colonization in the 17th century. Many wanted to establish a godly nation and spread their religion. Over the next century, the extremely religious colonists died and their kin weren’t as religious. Understandably, many were more worried about their quality of life and wealth. The characteristics of religion and the colonists relationship with God caused concern from preachers, such as George Whitefield, during the mid-18th century. Religious leaders believed that religion had become more of an intellectual experience rather than a spiritual one. So, many preachers set out to convert people back to Christ. Starting in 1930, John Edwards began converting people in Northampton, Massachusetts and soon him, George
Colin Turnbull, author of the classic 1962 book, The Forest People, instantly dives into the direct relationship of cultural practices of the Mbuti, and as the reader, I as able to draw similar connections to our western civilization and the traits that are shared. Turnbull describes the closed world of the Mbuti (pg. 13) and how outsiders could view it as hostile, dangerous and unforgiving.
The history of the Belgian Congo is one of terrible sadness and seldom-noted human devastation. From 1885 to 1908 the Congo was ruled by one man as his sole, personal colony; a ruler ironically noted at the time for his philanthropy, King Leopold II of Belgium. Seeking his own colony, he founded the Congo Free State, a massive territory in the African interior that was larger than seventy-six times the size of his own country (Hochschild, 87). A “sober, respectable businessman” by the name of Edmund Dene Morel made a note of something about this colony that blew the cover of one of the largest collection of atrocities in human memory (Hochschild, 1). Working in Antwerp on business at the docks, he noticed that only soldiers were going towards the Congo while goods were being imported, a clear sign that no true legitimate trading was going on; he rightly deduced this to mean slavery (Hochschild, 2). This story is a culmination of unlikely heroes and villains from all walks of life, melding together in an unforeseen way that forever changed the world.
While Leopold II, the King of Belgium, desperately wanted an overseas colony, The Belgian people did not share his enthusiasm; which created the feelings of neglect and apathy Belgium had towards Congo. The Congo Free State, established “in the margins of the Berlin Conference” in 1885, allowed Leopold to “gain international recognition of his possession” which he had begun to take control of since the 1870s. However, while Leopold was securing control of the Congo, the Belgian people were not interested in controlling colonies, as they believed that colonies “would merely soak up resources that would be better used for social purposes at home.” Thus, the Belgian people decided to solve the problem of having an unwanted colony by separating the Belgian government from...
The Pygmies have a very intimate relationship with the rainforest. The reason being, is because the Pygmies have lived in, protected, and worshipped the rainforest for generations. The rainforest was their home, it is the source of their religion, and their identity in a way that nobody understands but the Pygmies. Originally, small groups of Pygmies moved to different places within the rainforest gathering different forest products like wild honey and exchanging different types of goods with other settled societies. Unlike the people in the United States, the Pygmies weren’t just handed food, they had to hunt. They used bows and arrows, spears, and nets to catch different types of animals. Many of the Pygmy groups were displaced because of logging, expansions of farms by farmers, and commercial activities. The Pygmies were very spiritual in their beliefs of t...
1 “Quick Guide: DR Congo,” BBC News. Updated Mar. 07 2005. BBC News, Accessed 06 March 2005,
Maasai have a relatively complex culture and traditions. In fact, for many years they were
The African pygmies are made up of four main groups called the Binga, Twa, the tribes of Rwanda, and the tribes of Ituri (Columbia). All of which are individually composed of several subgroups, and there are over 200 different languages spoken among these tribes (Milios). The diverse culture displayed among these groups serves as just one obvious reason for expected confrontation. Although, today they fight not against each other, but against one common enemy; the Bantu (Thomas). The Bantu people make up the majority of the population of Central Africa, and they have a normal body structure, much unlike the pygmies (Milios). Pygmy men generally do not grow taller than four feet and nine inches, while the women will average four feet...
The Maasai live throughout north central Tanzania and southern Kenya. Kenya Maasailand is presently located near the coast in the Narok and Kajiado districts. The territory in 1981 measured approximately 39,476 square kilometers. Details on the environment in this area are necessary in order to understand the Maasai people who depend upon it for their survival. The region is typical of arid and semi-arid lands. The Maasailand area has an extremely low amount of surface water, and shallow alkaline soils which proves to be a difficult problem for their cattle-raising practices, and the main reason why they have adapted pastoralism rather than agriculture. The amount of rainfall varies greatly (usually less than 500 mm a year) , with occasional violent storms erupting. The location of the rain may be very specific, effecting a very small area without touching a nearby location. The amount of rainfall fluctuates every year and droughts are frequent. The Maasai have adapted to their living co...