The Bedzan people (singular Medzan), also known as the Tikar, are a

pygmy 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 ...

(or perhaps pygmoid) people of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. The Bedzan community is primarily located in the village of Yoko, on the Tikar Plain, in the

Mbam-et-Kim Mbam-et-Kim is a department of Centre Region in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 25,906 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 64,540. The capital of the department lies at Ntui. Subdivisions The department is divided administr ...

department of the Centre Region, and its population is estimated to be between 250 and 1,200. They live at the interface of the forest and the

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, and their language is a dialect of

Tikar The Tikar (also Tikari, Tige, Tigar, Tigre, Tikali) are a central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau in Cameroon. They are known as great artisans and storytellers. Once a nomadic people, some oral traditions trace the origin of ...

, which is related to the

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The t ...

. The Bedzan Pygmies also refer to themselves ''Tikar'', a name inspired by the Tikar people of Bamenda Grassfields. The Bedzan may have been subjects of the Tikar fondom at one point in the past, which could explain why they speak a dialect of Tikar. Although not particularly short in stature—at least any longer—the Bedzan are considered pygmies because of their historical ties to the forest and cultural features, such as their music.''Bedzan Pygmies From The Tikar Plain'', CD, 2000.

References

External links

Bedzan Pygmies
at Pygmies.org: Photos and sound files. African Pygmies {{Cameroon-ethno-group-stub