View source for Twa

{{short description|Group of Central African peoples}}
{{About||the Twa people of the Great Lakes region|Great Lakes Twa|TWA as an acronym|TWA (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
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|image=[[File:Twa peoples (Hewlett & Fancher).png|250px]]<br />Twa populations according to Hewlett & Fancher. From west to east: Ntomba, Kasai, [unidentified], Great Lakes, Nsua [not clear if Nsua is Twa].<br />[[File:Twa peoples (Stokes).png|250px]]<br />Twa populations according to Stokes. Only a few groups are shown, but these include several between the Kasai and Great Lakes Twa.<br />[[File:Twa per Cavalli-Sforza.png|250px]]<br />Twa/pygmoid populations according to Cavalli-Sforza. Several southern groups are added.<br />[[File:Twa (Blench) small.png|250px]]<br />Twa populations scattered through shaded area, according to Blench. Several southern Twa areas are shown.
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{{infobox ethnonym|Mutwa|Batwa|(NA)|Butwa {{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}|Twa}}
The '''Twa''', often referred to as '''Batwa''' or  '''Mutwa''' (singular), are indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa, recognized as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. Historically and academically, the term “Pygmy” has been used to describe these groups, however, it is considered derogatory, particularly by the Twa themselves. While some Batwa activists accept the term as an acknowledgement of their indigenous status, most prefer specific ethnic labels such as Bambuti (for  the Ituri Forest region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Baaka (Lobaye Forest, Central African Republic), and Bambendjelle (Ndoki Forest, Congo-Brazzaville and Central African Republic).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Jerome |title=The Batwa Pygmies of the Great Lakes Region |date=2000 |publisher=Minority Rights Group International |location=London |page=5}}</ref>
==Relation to the Bantu populations==
All Pygmy and Twa populations live near or in agricultural villages. Agricultural Bantu peoples have settled a number of [[ecotone]]s next to an area that has game but will not support agriculture, such as the edges of the rainforest, open swamp, and desert. The Twa spend part of the year in the otherwise uninhabited region hunting game, trading for agricultural products with the farmers while they do so.
Roger Blench has proposed that Twa (Pygmies) originated as a [[caste]] like they are today, much like the [[Blacksmiths of western Africa|''Numu'' blacksmith castes of West Africa]], economically specialized groups which became [[endogamous]] and consequently developed into separate ethnic groups, sometimes, as with the [[Ligbi language|Ligbi]], also their own languages. A mismatch in language between patron and client could later occur from population displacements. The short stature of the "forest people" could have developed in the millennia since the [[Bantu expansion]], as happened also with Bantu domestic animals in the rainforest. Perhaps there was additional selective pressure from farmers taking the tallest women back to their villages as wives. However, that is incidental to the social identity of the Pygmy/Twa.{{clarify|date=January 2018}}<ref name="Blench">{{citation |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |editor1-last=Biesbrouck |editor2-last=Elders |editor3-last=Rossel |title=Challenging Elusiveness: Central African Hunter-Gatherers in a Multidisciplinary Perspective |date=1999 |publisher=Universiteit Leiden |pages=41–60 |url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Anthropology/Africa/Pygmies%20an%20ethnographic%20fiction.pdf |access-date=October 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126111442/http://www.rogerblench.info/Anthropology%20data/Text/Pygmies%20an%20ethnographic%20fiction.pdf |archive-date=January 26, 2012 |contribution=Are the African Pygmies an Ethnographic Fiction?|isbn=9057890186 }}</ref>
==Congo==
{{main|Great Lakes Twa|Mongo Twa}}
Twa live scattered throughout the [[Democratic Republic of Congo|Congo]]. In addition to the [[Great Lakes Twa]] of the dense forests under the [[Rwenzori Mountains|Ruwenzori]]s, there are notable populations in the [[Western Congolian swamp forests|swamp forest]] around [[Lake Tumba]] in the west (about 14,000 Twa, more than the Great Lakes Twa in all countries), in the forest–[[savanna]] swamps of [[Kasai-Occidental|Kasai]] in the south-center, and in the savanna swamps scattered throughout [[Katanga (province)|Katanga]] in the south-east, as in the [[Upemba Depression]]<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Dlamini |first=Nonhlanhla |date=2014 |title=The early inhabitants of the Upemba depression, the Democratic Republic of Congo |type=PhD |publisher=[[University of Cape Town]] |url=https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/12758}}</ref><!--This according to the map only--> with its [[floating island]]s, and around [[Kiambi]] on the [[Luvua River]].
The island of [[Idjwi]] has a native population of approx 7000 BaTwa.<!--
<ref>https://cas.uab.edu/peacefulsocieties/2017/01/26/mbuti-hardships-idjwi/ {{Bare URL inline|date=May 2022}}</ref>--> According to [[UNHRW]] more than 10,000 BaTwa are displaced from [[Virunga National Park|Virunga Park]] in the Northern Kivu province's refugee camps such as Mugunga and Mubambiro due to decades of war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2010/5/4bf6570e6/looking-solutions-north-kivus-vulnerable-pygmies.html|title=Looking for solutions for North Kivu's vulnerable Pygmies|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|last=Refugees|website=UNHCR}}</ref>
The term Batwa is used to cover a number of different cultural groups, while many Batwa in various parts of the DRC call themselves Bambuti.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://minorityrights.org/minorities/batwa-and-bambuti/|title=Batwa and Bambuti|website=Minority Rights Group|date=19 June 2015}}</ref>
Arab and colonial accounts speak of Twa on either side of the [[Lomami River]] southwest of  [[Kisangani]], and on the [[Tshuapa River]] and its tributary the "Bussera".{{clarify|date=July 2011}}
Among the [[Mongo people|Mongo]], on the rare occasions of caste mixing, the child is raised as Twa. If this is a common pattern with Twa groups, it may explain why the Twa are less physically distinct from their patrons than the Mbenga and Mbuti, where village men take Pygmy women out of the forest as wives.<ref>{{Citation | last =Hiernaux | first =Jean | contribution =Adaptation of the African to the rainforest | year =1977 | title =Population Structure and Human Variation | editor-last =Harrison | editor-first =G. A. | volume =1 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/populationstruct0000unse/page/187 187–218] | publisher =Cambridge University Press | isbn =9780521213998 | url-access =registration | url =https://archive.org/details/populationstruct0000unse/page/187 }}</ref> The Congolese variant of the name, at least in Mongo, Kasai, and Katanga, is ''Cwa''.{{efn|A local variant of ''Twa'' in Congo. Pronounced {{IPA-all|tʃwa|}}.}}
== Uganda==
{{see also|Echuya Batwa}}
The Batwa of Uganda were forest dwellers who lived by gathering and hunting as their main source of food. [[File:Dancing Batwa, Uganda.jpg|alt=Dancing Batwa in Uganda.|thumb|Dancing Batwa in Uganda]]They are believed to have lived in the [[Bwindi Impenetrable]] and [[Mgahinga]] National parks that border the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)]] and [[Rwanda]] living mainly in areas bordering other Bantu Tribes.
In 1992 the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest became a national park and a [[World Heritage Site]] to protect the 350 endangered [[mountain gorillas]] within its boundaries. As a result, the Batwa were evicted from the park. Since they had no title to the land, they were given no compensation. The Batwa became [[conservation refugees]] in an unforested environment  unfamiliar to them. Poverty, drugs and alcohol abuse were rampant, as well as a lack of education facilities, HIV as well as violence and discrimination against women and girls were higher among Batwa communities than among the neighboring Bantu communities.<ref>{{cite AV media | people =Vice News | title =Forced Out of the Forest: The Lost Tribe of Uganda | medium =video | publisher =YouTube | date =July 17, 2015 | url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITzWIBHEPqA }}</ref>
==Rwanda==
===History and Culture===
The Twa People of [[Rwanda]] are connected to a broader population of Twa Peoples, and one of three main ethnic groups, alongside the [[Hutu]] and the [[Tutsi]].<ref name="Lewis2006">{{cite book | last = Lewis | first = Jerome | title = The Twa Pygmies: Rwanda's Ignored People | publisher = Dept. of Anthropology, University College London | year = 2006 | location = London | pages = 2 }}</ref>[[File:Twa dancers.jpg|thumb|300px|Twa dancers performing in Rwanda, symbolizing the community's rich cultural heritage and historical significance.]]
While their population numbers have decreased significantly–comprising around 0.2-0.7% of the population, with estimates ranging from 20,000 to 36,000 individuals according to various sources.<ref name="LewisPage3">{{cite book | last = Lewis | first = Jerome | title = The Twa Pygmies: Rwanda's Ignored People | publisher = Dept. of Anthropology, University College London | year = 2006 | location = London | pages = 3 }}</ref><ref name="InuiPage60">{{cite journal | last = Inui | first = Toshie | title = The Status of the Twa Minority in Rwanda in the Past and the Present: A Post-Genocide Policy Challenge | journal = Global Resource Management Journal | volume = 2 | pages = 60 }}</ref><ref name="UPRPage3">{{cite report | title = Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Rwanda | publisher = Minority Rights Group International, African Initiative for Mankind Progress Organization (AIMPO), First People Development Organization (FPDO), Women’s Organization for Promoting Unity (WOPU) | year = 2021 | location = Geneva | pages = 3 }}</ref>
The Twa in Rwanda have been designated as “Historically Marginalized People (HMP) a term that reflects their history of discrimination, prejudice, and exclusion. Their vulnerability is underscored by reports that highlight their status as one of the most disadvantaged groups in the country.<ref name="InuiPage58">{{cite journal | last = Inui | first = Toshie | title = The Status of the Twa Minority in Rwanda in the Past and the Present: A Post-Genocide Policy Challenge | journal = Global Resource Management Journal | volume = 2 | pages = 58 }}</ref><ref name="UPRPage2">{{cite report | title = Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Rwanda | publisher = Minority Rights Group International, African Initiative for Mankind Progress Organization (AIMPO), First People Development Organization (FPDO), Women’s Organization for Promoting Unity (WOPU) | year = 2021 | location = Geneva | pages = 2 }}</ref>
The Twa today make up less than one percent of Rwanda’s population. Historically, however, they held a greater presence in the region. Oral history and anthropological evidence substantiate their Indigenous status, showing no signs of a prior migration. The arrival of the Hutu and the Tutsi (as they are ethnically acknowledged today)  around 1100 AD marked the onset of Twa subjugation, a practice that was sustained during precolonial and colonial periods and into the era of post-colonial conflict<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meyer |first1=Travis |title=Eternal Victims: The Sufferings of the Twa People from Their First Contact with Other Peoples until the Present Day |journal=The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing |date=2020 |volume=49 |pages=2 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol49/iss1/10}}</ref>
As largely hunter gatherer populations, the Twa were experts of the woodland landscape, well versed in acquiring both plant and animal food sources for hundreds of years before herders and farmers began to clear large sections of forests—decimating arable land for agriculture and livestock. This decimation led to a significant decrease in livelihood for the Twa, who sustained themselves by providing forest resources and goods to other populations–as these populations no longer relied on the Twa for access and woodland territories decreased, the dependence on agricultural and pastoral resources increased, and a number of Twa struggled to maintain their way of life.<ref name="LewisPage3" />
Twa historical contributions and their indigeneity to the land constitute a vital foundation in the building of the socio-cultural landscape that currently exists in Rwanda today. Twa culture plays a major role in the oral traditions of history and mythology of neighboring groups as an autochthonous people–the earliest settlers of the land–they occupied critical positions of power in governance and presided over ceremonial traditions to honor the vitality of the earth, reflecting their long-standing and influential impact on the region.<ref name="LewisPage3" />
==Angola and Namibia==
Southern [[Angola]] through central [[Namibia]] had Twa populations when Europeans first arrived in the 16th century. Estermann writes,
{{blockquote|The southern Twa today live in close economic symbiosis with the tribes among which they are scattered—[[Ngambwe]], [[Havakona]], [[Zimba people|Zimba]] and [[Himba people|Himba]]. None of the individuals I have observed differs physically from the neighboring Bantu.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Estermann |first=Carlos |title=The Ethnography of Southwestern Angola |date=1976 |publisher=Africana Publishing Company |editor-last=Gibson |volume=I}}</ref>}} These peoples live in desert environments. Accounts are limited and tend to confuse the Twa with the [[San people|San]].<ref name=Blench/>
==Zambia and Botswana==
{{main|Kafwe Twa|Lukanga Twa|Bangweulu Batwa}}
The Twa of these countries live in swampy areas, such as the [[Bangweulu Batwa|Twa fishermen]] of the [[Bangweulu Swamps]], [[Lukanga Swamp]], and [[Kafue Flats]] of [[Zambia]]; only the Twa fish in [[Southern Province, Zambia|Southern Province]], where the swampy terrain means that large-scale crops cannot be planted near the best fishing grounds.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lehmann |first=D. |title=Development and Ecology in the Lower Kafue Basin in the Nineteen Seventies |pages=41–46 |year=1977 |editor-last=Williams |editor-first=Geoffrey |contribution=The Twa: People of the Kafue Flats |publisher=University of Zambia}}</ref>
{{anchor|Taabwa Twa}}The geneticist [[Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza|Cavalli-Sforza]] also shows Twa near [[Lake Mweru]] on the Zambia–Congo border. There are two obvious possibilities: the [[Luapula Swamps]], and the swamps of [[Lake Mweru Wantipa]]. The latter is Taabwa territory, and the Twa are reported to live among the Taabwa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kazadi |first=Ntole |date=2011 |title=Meprises et admires: l'ambivalence des relations entre les Bacwa (Pygmees) et les Bahemba (Bantu) |journal=Africa |language=fr |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=836–847 |doi=10.2307/1159357 |jstor=1159357|s2cid=145198759 }}</ref> The former is reported to be the territory of Bemba-speaking Twa.<ref name="clark">{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=J. Desmond |title=The Stone Age Cultures of Northern Rhodesia: With Particular Reference to the Cultural and Climatic Succession in the Upper Zambezi Valley and Its Tributaries |date=1950 |publisher=The South African Archaeological Society |location=South Africa}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Pygmies]]
*[[Classification of Pygmy languages]]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{Cite thesis |last=Francis |first=Michael |date=2007 |title=Explorations in Ethnicity and Social Change among Zulu-speaking San Descendents of the Drakensberg Mountains, KwaZulu-Natal |type=PhD |publisher=University of KwaZulu-Natal |access-date=31 October 2018 |url=http://ccms.ukzn.ac.za/files/articles/PhD_theses/francis%20phd.pdf }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Francis |first=Michael |date=2009 |title=Silencing the past: historical and archaeological colonisation of the Southern San in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |journal=[[Anthropology Southern Africa]] |volume=32 |issue=3–4 |pages=106–116 |doi=10.1080/23323256.2009.11499985 |s2cid=143103640 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Francis |first1=Michael |editor1-last=Downing |editor1-first=John D.H. |date=2011 |contribution=Eland Ceremony, Abatwa People's (Southern Africa) |title=Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media |publisher=SAGE Publications |page=172 |doi=10.4135/9781412979313.n83 |access-date=31 October 2018 |url=http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/socialmovement/n83.xml }}
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[[Category:African Pygmies]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Angola]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Botswana]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Namibia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Zambia]]