Pygmy

Member of any of several groups of small-statured, dark-skinned peoples living in the equatorial jungles of Africa. The most important groups are the Twa, Aka, Mbuti, Binga, Baka, Gelli Efé; their combined population is less than 200,000. They were probably the aboriginal inhabitants of the region, before the arrival of farming peoples from elsewhere. They live nomadically in small groups, as hunter-gatherers; they also trade with other, settled people in the area.

Pygmies have been known outside their own area since ancient Egyptian and Greek times, and are found in parts of the Central African Republic, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Burundi, Gabon, Rwanda, Sudan, and Ethiopia. They traditionally live in single-roomed, beehive-shaped structures made from sticks and leaves.