The Kola people, ''Bakola'', also known as the Koya, ''Bakoya'', are
pygmies
In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...
of the NE
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
–
Congo border area. They speak the Bantu
Ngom language
Kele is a Bantu language of Gabon. Dialects of the Kele language are scattered throughout Gabon.
*West Kele (Kili) is spoken by the Kele people, scattered in Middle Ogooué Province, Mimongo
Mimongo is a place in the region of Province de ...
.
They are distinct from the
Gyele people
The Gyele (''Bagyele / Bajele''), also known as the Kola (''Bakola'') or Koya (''Bakoya''), are the pygmies of southern Cameroon and adjacent areas of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. They live among Bantu patrons, the Mvumbo and Bassa. They speak ...
of coastal Cameroon, a subgroup of which also goes by the name ''Bakola / Bakoya''.
References
*Beatriz SOENGAS, "Preliminary Ethnographic Research on the Bakoya in Gabon
''African Study Monographs'', 30(4): 187–208, December 2009
{{Africa-ethno-group-stub
African Pygmies