In Every Aspect of History There Are a Variety of Cultures

In every aspect of history there are a variety of cultures. These cultures in general can represent a person, people, or villages as a whole. The tribe of interest is the Mbuti. Mbuti are a foraging society, with a variety of things that will and can impact many parts of their culture to including; political organization, environment, food supply, gender relations, rituals and traditions, and kinship.

The Mbuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. They are also known as the Bambuti (Ichikawa, 2001). Their society has no ruling groups or lineage, no overlaying political organization, and little social structure. The Mbuti society believes in equality, in which the band is the highest form of social organization. The leadership form is from a display of hunting treks. Men and women have equal power.

The nuclear family is the basic political unit, while the bands are the highest political structure (Ichikawa, 2001). Political decisions in the bands are concluded using a consensus where every adult is included, this also include the women. The older people of the band are drawn to for advice because of experience. These meeting are called to help decide when and who is going to hunt, they are also called to resolve conflicts among the Mbuti. The conflicts are decided through the adult members sitting around a fire and come to a unanimous decision. This political structure is also associated with the mode of subsistence since most of the decisions are addresses by this structure.

Most forging communities are mobile as with the Mbuti tribe. The season variation affects the plants, animals and those living in the area.

Most of the Mbuti can be found in or near rainforests. One popular rainforest containing the tribe is the Ituri. The Ituri is a tropical rainforest, covering about 70,000 km of the north/northeast portion of Zaire. This particular rainforest is one of filtered sunlight under a tall, dense canopy of tree, where the sounds are exaggerated by many birds and animals that share the rainforest with the Mbuti. The temperature of the rainforest it warm, plentiful rainfall, dampen air, and rich soiled that help produce most of the Mbuti's diet. Large amounts of rainfall can cause a diminish in food supply and can cause famine among the Mbuti. This problem can also produce a dip in the population of the bands. With proper planning and well thought-out preparations for the rainy season the Mbuti are able to survive these harsh times.

The rainforest is the grounds means of which the Mbuti's life flourishes. The Ituri is sometimes referred to as mother or father because of the how it provides food, water, shelter and clothing for the Mbuti. Not only is the rainforest viewed as a way to survive, but as sacred grounds in which they give thanks through ritual ceremonies, including the molimo.

The Ituri rainforest seems dense and impenetrable to outsiders, the Mbuti are comfortable. They know passageways, valleys and rivers thoroughly. Their endurance is outstanding allowing them to travel long distances easily. The hunting ability of the Mbuti has allowed them to kill animals and birds with great success. Gathering many types of vegetation and various dietary foods comes as second nature to the people of Mbuti. (Turnbull, C.M., 1961)

The Mbuti live in small groups of families and communities. They build campsites of small round huts from pliable saplings, covered with large leaves to keep the rain out (Abruzzi, 1979). A typical family contains a husband, wife, and the children. The Mbuti is constructed of social units called bands. These bands usually contain several families known as communities. The bands are usually large enough to make hunt and building hut easier throughout. The huts are not built for permanent use, but temporary because the tribe moves from place to place often in search of a better variety of food and vegetation. During settlement most of the bands do not store a lot of items, storing items is prohibited because it slows movement of the tribes when it is time to move.

In the tropical rainforest environments where there is little if any seasonality, Mbuti move for many reasons. They might move to collect trading items, but otherwise their movement is based on leaving an area while resources remain to allow for their regeneration of the band. (Nowak & Laird, 2010).

Since it rains most of the year, the bands diets are usually the same for many months out of the year. During the rainy season, there's usually plenty of food and therefore the bands remain in their respective villages as food can easily be food in the periphery of the rainforest (Carpaneto& Germini, 1989). During the dry season of the Ituri the food is scarce and food is not easily found. During this time each band is forced due to the condition, to move deeper in the forest, where they will form camps until the dry season it over. Mbuti are primarily hunter-gathers. Their diets include crab, shellfish, ants, snails, pigs, antelopes, fish and honey. The vegetable portion of their diet includes wild yams berries, fruits, roots, leaves, and cola nuts. Each band has their own territory for hunting and gathering, it's usually not invaded by other bands, but the territory is not clearly defined and the food is shared either way.

After departure of the huts, they are fair game to whoever desires to acquire them. Each new camp site is usually built close in view of the rain forest to provide access to the particular Bantu village, with which each Mbuti group has a political and economic relationship.

Mbuti has a great abundance of knowledge for survival. Living in rainforests and moving to gather food and supplies can be demanding. Continuous preparation helps them to survive the rough months of the year. Their kinship is different from many societies but allows them to build a strong relationship with each other.

For the Mbuti, hunting only occurs when meat is needed for consumption or trade with