Human Use and Impact on the Congo Rainforest
The Indigenous Peoples of the Congo Rainforest
The people of the Congo Rainforest are mostly indigenous. Such as the Mbendjele Yaka pygmies of Congo-Brazzaville, rely on the forest for their livelihood and are hunter gatherers meaning that they hunt animals and they gather foods from the rainforest.
Others clear patches of rainforest and plant crops growing small produce, for example; cassava ( a woody, edible shrub), corn and yams. They also grow peanuts, rice, coffee beans and oil palms to sell as produce and for trade.
Many cultures build shelters are made from young trees woven together. (which the women collect). The women also collect caterpillars, grubs and honey to eat along with a variety of plants that they use for food and medicine. Meat is exchanged between farmers for vegetables, grains and other produce.
Within the rainforest itself about 130,000 to 170,000 indigenous people live . The indigenous people of Africa are noticeably smaller then those of the Savannah and other Indigenous groups.
Most societies are broken up into tribes, which consist of 15 to 70 people in a group depending on the hunting in an area. Most tribes are nomadic, which means that they move to new parts of the forest several times a year and carry their possessions on their backs.
FACT: The nomadic lifestyle means that the tribe uses the resources in one discrete area and then move to another area and use the resources there, whilst the former area recovers.
The African tribes of today are small in number and their homelands are highly threatened by destruction and official government policies to end their forest traditions.
Others clear patches of rainforest and plant crops growing small produce, for example; cassava ( a woody, edible shrub), corn and yams. They also grow peanuts, rice, coffee beans and oil palms to sell as produce and for trade.
Many cultures build shelters are made from young trees woven together. (which the women collect). The women also collect caterpillars, grubs and honey to eat along with a variety of plants that they use for food and medicine. Meat is exchanged between farmers for vegetables, grains and other produce.
Within the rainforest itself about 130,000 to 170,000 indigenous people live . The indigenous people of Africa are noticeably smaller then those of the Savannah and other Indigenous groups.
Most societies are broken up into tribes, which consist of 15 to 70 people in a group depending on the hunting in an area. Most tribes are nomadic, which means that they move to new parts of the forest several times a year and carry their possessions on their backs.
FACT: The nomadic lifestyle means that the tribe uses the resources in one discrete area and then move to another area and use the resources there, whilst the former area recovers.
The African tribes of today are small in number and their homelands are highly threatened by destruction and official government policies to end their forest traditions.