Notes on the Distribution and Settlement Pattern of Hunter-Gathererss in Norwestern Congo

Abstract

This report describes the distribution, population, and residential pattern of hunter-gatherers in the Sangha Region, of northwestern Congo. The author identified five linguistic groups of hunter-gatherers: the Baka (Bangombe), Mikaya, Baluma, Bambenjele, and Bakola. Almost all these groups in the study area built sedentary settlements along roads or on the banks of a river and tended their own fields. They still engaged in hunting, and considered to be hunters by themselves and by the neighboring farmers. In the Souanke District in the western part of the Region, 664 Baka lived in 15 settlements. The data on birth place suggest that the Baka in the area originally had a close relationship with the Baka in Cameroon. Some Baka informants said that there were a total of 22 Baka settlements in the Sambe District in the center of the Region. In the Mokeko District in the eastern part, the author confirmed 25 settlements, and another 11 settlements were counted by the local informants. The inhabitants of these settlements included all five linguistic groups. Several cases of fission and fusion of Baka settlements with farmer villages in Souanke demonstrate the socio-economic relationships between the two groups.