![]() All are primarily made by the men of the village. Much of the art is either used for their masquerades, or function as reliquaries and effigies. Discovery of Fang artwork was source of inspiration for much of the European avant-garde artwork created during the 20th century. Their wooden masks and idol carvings are on display at numerous museums of the world. The art works of Fang people, particularly from wood, iron and steatite, are regionally famous. One of the syncretic traditions among Fang people is called Bwiti, a monotheistic religion that celebrates Christian Easter but over four days with group dancing, singing and psychedelic drinks. However, after independence their interest in their own traditional religion, called Biere, also spelled Byeri, has returned, and many practice syncretic ideas and rites. Under French colonial rule, they converted to Christianity. They are traditionally farmers and hunters, but became major cocoa farmers during the colonial era. The independence of villages from each other is notable, and they are famed for their knowledge of animals, plants and herbs in the Equatorial forests they live in. Polygamy was accepted in the culture of the Fang people. They are exogamous, particularly on the father's side. The villages have been traditionally linked through lineage. They have a patrilineal kinship social structure. Society and cultureĪ head dress of the Fang people with embedded artwork. Later ethnologists who actually spent time with the Fang people later discovered that the Fang people were not cannibalistic, the human bones in open and wooden boxes were of their ancestors, and were Fang people's method of routine remembrance and religious reverence for their dead loved ones. When their villages were raided, thousands of their wooden idols and villages were burnt by the slave raiders. They were stereotyped as cannibals by slave traders and missionaries, in part because human skulls and bones were found in open or in wooden boxes near their villages, a claim used to justify violence against them and their enslavement. The Fang people were victims of the large transatlantic and trans-Saharan slave trade between the 16th and 19th century. Using Glottochronology, historians have situated Proto-Fang speakers in the Southern Cameroon rainforest more than 4,000 years ago Their migration may be related to an attempt to escape the violence of slave raiding by the Hausa people, but this theory has been contested. Combination of evidence now places them to be of Bantu origins who began moving back into Africa around the seventh or eighth century possibly because of invasions from the north and the wars of West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Įarly ethnologists conjectured them to be Nilotic peoples from the upper Nile area or even ancient egyptians, but that has been debunked. The Fang people are relatively recent migrants into the Equatorial Guinea, and many of them moved from central Cameroon in the 19th century. Many Fang people are fluent in Spanish, French, German and English, a tradition of second language they developed during the Spanish colonial rule in Equatorial Guinea, the French colonial rule in Gabon and the German-later-French colonial rule in Cameroon. They have preserved their history largely through a musical oral tradition. Their largest presence is in the southern regions, up to the Ogooué River estuary where anthropologists refer them also as "Fang proper". ![]() The Fang language is similar and intelligible with languages spoken by Beti-Pahuin peoples, namely the Beti people to their north and the Bulu people in central. The language is a Northwest Bantu language belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages. The Fang people speak the Fang language, also known as Pahouin or Pamue or Pangwe. In other countries, in the regions they live, they are one of the most significant and influential ethnic groups notably in Cameroon, where the Fang are part of the Ekang, a tribe that dominates Cameroonian politics with, President Paul Biya belonging to this ethnic group. The Fang are also the largest ethnic group in Gabon, making up about a quarter of the population. Representing about 85% of the total population of Equatorial Guinea, concentrated in the Río Muni region, the Fang people are its largest ethnic group. The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon. ![]() Fang language, French, Spanish, Portuguese, EnglishĬhristianity, some syncretic with Traditional African religion
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