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The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Batwa, ''Abatwa'' or ''Ge-Sera'', are a pygmy people who are generally assumed to be the oldest surviving population of the Great Lakes region of central Africa, though currently they live as a Bantu caste. Current populations are found in the states of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2000, they numbered approximately 80,000 people, making them a significant minority group in these countries.〔(Minorities Under Siege ): Pygmies today in Africa IRIN In-Depth (article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. )〕 Apart from anthropological literature, the term "Twa" generally refers to the Twa of the Great Lakes region. There are a number of other Twa populations in the Congo forest, as well as southern Twa populations living in swamps and deserts where there has never been forest, but these are little known in the West. ==History== Traditionally, the Twa have been semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers of the mountain forests living in association with agricultural villages, much as other Pygmy peoples do. When the Hutu, a Bantu-speaking people, arrived in the region, they subjugated 'bush people' (hunter-gatherers) they called ''Abatwa'', which are generally assumed to be the ancestors of the Twa today, though it may be that the Twa arrived alongside the Hutu, and either were a distinct people from the original inhabitants, or have mixed ancestry.〔 Blench, Roger. 1999. "Are the African Pygmies an Ethnographic Fiction?" pp 41–60 in Biesbrouck, Elders, & Rossel (eds.) ''Challenging Elusiveness: Central African Hunter-Gatherers in a Multidisciplinary Perspective''. Leiden.()〕 Around the 15th century AD, the pastoralist Tutsi arrived and dominated both the Hutu and the Twa, creating a three-caste society with the Tutsi governing, the Hutu the bulk of the population, and the Twa at the bottom of the social scale, simultaneously despised, admired, and feared. For several hundred years, the Twa have been a small minority in the area, currently 1% in Rwanda and Burundi, and have had little political role, though there were at times Twa in the government of the Tutsi king. Unusually for Pygmies, who generally trade meat for agricultural products, iron, and pottery, the Twa are themselves potters. The Twa are often ignored in discussions about the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis, which reached its height in the Rwandan genocide of 1994.〔 About 30% of the Twa population of Rwanda died in the violence. The Twa of Uganda lived in the mountains of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest until 1992, when it was made a World Heritage Site for the endangered Mountain Gorilla. At that time they were expelled from the forest and placed in settlements. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Great Lakes Twa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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