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Semang

The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula. They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand. The Semang are among the different ethnic groups of Southeast Asia who, based on their dark skin and other perceived physical similarities, are sometimes referred to by the superficial term Negrito.

They have been recorded since before the 3rd century. They are ethnologically described as nomadic hunter-gatherers.

The Semang are grouped together with other Orang Asli groups, a diverse grouping of several distinct hunter-gatherer populations. Historically they preferred to trade with the local population. For more than one thousand years, some of the Semang people remained in isolation while others were either subjected to slave raids or forced to pay tribute to Southeast Asian rulers.

Name and status
In Malaysia, the term Semang (Orang Semang in Malay) is used to refer to the hunter-gatherers, that are referred to more generically as Negrito, Spanish for 'little negro'. In the past, eastern groups of Semang have been called Pangan. Semang are referred to as Sakai in Thailand, although this term is considered to be derogatory in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, the Semang are one of three groups that are considered to be Orang Asli, the hunter-gatherer people of the Peninsula. The other two groups are the Senoi and the Proto-Malay (Aboriginal Malay). The Semang have six sub-groups: Kensiu, Kintaq, Lanoh, Jahai, Mendriq and Batek. The Malaysian federal government has designated the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli, JAKOA) as the agency responsible for integrating the Orang Asli into the wider Malaysian society.

The three category division of the indigenous population was inherited by the Malaysian government from the British administration of the colonial era. It is based on racial concepts, according to which the Negrito were seen as the most primitive race leading the vagrant way of life of hunter-gatherers. The Senoi were considered more developed, and the Proto-Malay were placed at almost the same level with the Malaysian Malay Muslims.

In Thailand, the terms Semang and Orang Asli are replaced by the terms Sakai or Ngopa (Ngò 'Pa or Ngoh Paa, which literally means 'curly/frizzy (haired) people'). The first term is derogatory in Malaysia, with the connotation of savages, subjects or slaves. The Semang have had a degree of patronage from the royal family of Thailand.

Physical features
They have dark skin, often curly-hair, and are stockily built.

Ethnic groups
The Semang do not have a sense of common ethnic identity. The term Semang is applied on them from an outside view, however the Semang refer to themselves only with their tribes names.

In total there are at least ten tribes that are classified as Semang in Malaysia (not all of them are officially recognized by the Malaysian government):-
 * Kensiu live in the northern part of Kedah, near the borders with Thailand. Most of them settled in the district village, Kampung Lubuk-Legong, which is in Baling District, Kedah.
 * Kintaq also have only one village, which is located near the city Gerik in Hulu Perak District, Perak. Traditionally they wandered around Klian Intan in Hulu Perak District and near Baling District in Kedah.
 * Lanoh located in three villages situated in the Hulu Perak District in the northwest of Perak near Gerik. Among these people there are also distinct tribal groups such as the Lanoh Yir (probably nomadic), Lanoh Jengjeng (semi-settled) and possibly others.
 * Semnam are not included in the official list of JAKOA, however they are grouped with the Lanoh. They live at the Ayer Bal River near Kampung Kuala Kenering in the Hulu Perak District, west of Gerik.
 * Sabub'n are also grouped together with the Lanoh. The remnants of this nearly extinct tribe, along with other Lanoh groups, live near Lenggong and Gerik in Hulu Perak District.
 * Jahai live in the mountains separating the states of Perak and Kelantan, at south of the borders of Thailand. This is the only mountain that the Semang inhabit. Their settlements are mainly along rivers or near lakes. In Perak they live along rivers such as Sungai Banun, Sungai Tiang and near Temenggor Lake in the Hulu Perak District. In Kelantan, the Jahai are concentrated along rivers namely Sungai Rual and Sungai Jeli in Jeli District.
 * Mendriq live in several villages along the middle reaches of the Kelantan River in the remotes of Gua Musang District in the southern state of Kelantan.
 * Batek:-
 * Bateg Deq live mostly at the Aring River in southern Kelantan, partly in the neighbouring districts of Terengganu and Pahang. JAKOA does not distinguish between different Batek groups.
 * Bateg Nong, another Batek group, live in the Jerantut District of northern Pahang. In total, there are 7 villages in the Pahang state, of which 5 of them are in the Lipis District and the other 2 are in Jerantut District; while in Kelantan there are 4 hamlet villages in the Gua Musang District.
 * Mintil or "Mayah" live along the riverbanks of Sungai Tanum near Chegar Perah in north-central of Lipis District, Pahang. Officially, they are recognized as part of the Batek.

A few smaller groups of Semang live in the southern provinces of Thailand. These nomadic groups are mentioned under the names such as Tonga, Mos, Chong and Ten'en. They call themselves Mani, but their linguistic affiliation remains uncertain.

Because of the small number of some of these Semang groups, they are on the verge of disappearance.

Settlement areas
The Semang live mainly in the more isolated lowlands and foothills within the primary and secondary wet tropical jungles of the northern Malay Peninsula. Only the Jahai live at higher altitudes.

In the past, the territory of the Semang settlement was wider, but neighbouring ethnic groups pushed them into hard-to-reach areas. Kensiu now live in the northeast of Kedah, the Kintaq of which are settled in the adjoining areas of Kedah and Perak, the Jahai are in the northeast of Perak and in west of Kelantan, the Lanoh in the northeast of Perak, in the north-central Perak, the Mendriq in the south-east of Kelantan, and the Batek in the northwestern of Terengganu, northeastern of Pahang and southern Kelantan.

A significant part of these tribes live in permanent settlements, but traditionally separate groups of different time periods go into the jungle for the harvesting of jungle produce. Most often of such cases take place during the end of the fall on the maturation of wild fruit season. Because of this tradition, they are often designated as nomads, although the Semang in Malaysia at present are no longer leading a nomadic way of life.

Today, among the Semang; as part of the Orang Asli group, they also live in urban areas of Malaysia, mixed with members of other ethnic groups.

Several isolated Semang groups reside in the jungles of the southern provinces of Thailand. So far in the north, there are two groups in Trang Province and one in Phatthalung Province live for several kilometers apart from each other. For many kilometers, in the southern direction, there is another very small group of Semang in the southern part of the Satun Province, near the Malaysian border.

The remaining groups of Thai Semang can be found living in the Yala Province. In the upper part of the valley, in the Than To District of this province; about 2 km from the Thai-Malaysian border, there is a village in which is the only settled Semang group that lives in Thailand. There is another group of nomad Semang who live along the border with Malaysia in the Yala Province. Both nomadic and settled groups maintain close contacts with Malaysia. The border here has only political significance, and nothing prevents the Semang from freely crossing it.

The closest neighbours of the Semang are the Malay people. This applies not only to Malaysian Semang but also to groups living in Thailand. The extreme south of this country is ethnically predominantly Malay, although the Malay people there are officially called Thai Muslims because of Thaification.

Population
Dynamics of the Semang population after the declaration of independence of Malaysia:-

Distribution of Orang Asli subgroups in Malaysia by states (1996):-

The population of Semang in Thailand was estimated at 240 people (2010).

Language
Semang languages belonged to the Aslian branch of the Austroasiatic languages. These languages are also spoken by the neighbouring Senoi. Austroasiatic languages, spoken by Khmer or Vietnamese, were adopted by various other hunter-gatherer groups during the Neolithic and pre-Neolithic period. Later, Kra-Dai and Austronesian languages partially replaced Austroasiatic and other languages.

Aslian languages are divided into four main divisions: the Northern Aslian languages, Central Aslian languages, Southern Aslian languages and the Jah Hut language, which occupies a separate position.

Among Semang in Malaysia, there are further extended languages and dialects such as Kensiu language, Kentaq Bong dialect, Kintaq Nakil dialect, Jahai language, Minriq language, Bateg Deq language, Mintil language, Bateg Nong language, Semnam language, Sabüm language, Lanoh Yir dialect, Lanoh Jengjeng dialect. Most of them form the Northern Aslian languages group of the Aslian languages, only the languages of the Lanoh language (with the dialects of its subfamilies and Semnam language close to it) belong to the Central Aslian languages group. Very few Semang languages have been studied in Thailand, most likely in Kensiu language or Jahai language.

A characteristic feature of the Semang languages is that they do not have clear boundaries. This is a typical phenomenon for languages whose carriers are mostly small nomadic groups, of whom the usual situation is when representatives of different ethnic groups live together in the same temporary camp settlement. Thus, all the Northern Aslian languages together form a large continuous network of languages, interconnected by constant contacts. A similar but smaller network form the languages of the Lanoh language.

Not all Semang languages have survived to this day, some of the dialects are already completely extinct. This danger also threatens some of the existing dialects, including Sabüm language, Semnam language and Mintil language. At the same time, the situation with most Semang languages remains stable; regardless of the small number of their speakers, their language are not threaten with disappearance.

Most Semang, in addition to their own language, also speak Malay. There are also many Malay loanwords in all Semang languages. In addition, some Aslian languages contain many loanwords from each other. Another source of loanwords is the Thai language, which is noticeably predominantly in the Kensiu language, in the north of the peninsula. In Thailand, most of the settled Semang also speak Thai. However, in some rare cases, some or a few Semang can also speak English since that Malaysia was ruled by the British from 1867–1957.

History
The Semang are suggested to be descended from the people of the pre-Neolithic Hoabinhian culture,  which was distributed in Southeast Asia from contemporary Vietnam, to the north eastern part of Sumatra in the 9th-3rd millennium BC. These Hoabinhians were hunter-gatherers and may also have practiced some forms of plant cultivation. While the Upper Paleolithic origins of the Hoabinhians are unknown, the analysis of sampled genomes from Holocene Hoabinhian individuals has shown that they shared a common ancestor with East Asians and (probably more remotely) with Australopapuan populations as part of the Ancient East Eurasian ancestral lineage.

Approximately 4,000 years ago, the practice of Slash-and-burn farming came to the Malay Peninsula, but nomadic hunting and harvesting continued to exist. New migrants also brought to the peninsula Aslian languages, which now speak modern Senoic languages and Semang languages. It is believed that the ancestors of the Senoi became farmers, and the ancestors of the Semang continued to engage in harvesting, sometimes supplementing it with trade and agriculture. A stable social tradition, which made it impossible for marriages between these groups, contributed to the delineation of these two racial types.

After 500 BC, maritime trade was already developed and the Malay Peninsula became a crossroads that bound India with China. On the coast there are settlements, some of them subsequently turned into large ports with permanent populations, consisting of foreign traders who maintained constant ties with China, India, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. The Semang become suppliers of jungle produce, which was in high demand in other countries such as aromatic woods, camphor, rubber, rattan, rhino horns, elephant tusks, gold, tin and so on. They also played the role of jungle guardians.

The Malay Srivijaya empire came in contact with the Negrito. In the year 724 AD, two Negrito pygmies were among the tribute gifts to Malay rulers. Negrito pygmies from the southern forests were enslaved and exploited until modern times.

At the end of the 14th century, on the coast of the Strait of Malacca, the first trading settlements were founded by Malay settlers from Sumatra. The main center was Malacca. At the beginning of the 15th century, the ruler of Malacca embraced Islam. Malay settlers began to slowly move upstream deeper into the peninsula, while some were subjugated to the Malays, most of the Orang Asli retreated into the interior regions.

During the early years of contact, the Semang peacefully interacted and traded with the Malays, but with the strengthening of the Malay states, the relationship between them began to deteriorate. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Semang and other indigenous groups became slave trade victims of Batak and Rawa raiders. In response to attempts to capture slaves, the Semang developed a tactic of avoiding contact with outsiders. As a way of preserving their autonomy, they would immediately destroy their shelters if an outsider intruded and they would remained hidden or "closed" in the jungle.

The more the Semang were isolated from the surrounding peoples, the more surprising they were perceived by others. Many peoples of Southeast Asia considered the jungle as home to magical creatures, among those that assented are the Negritos. These people were endowed with magical qualities, and with various legends associated with fairy tales. Among the Malaysian sultans and rulers of the southern provinces of Thailand, it was once regarded as prestigious to keep Negritos in their yards as part of collections of amusing jungle beings.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, the king of Thailand, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) visited the southern regions of his country and met with the Semang. In 1906, an orphan Semang boy named Khanung was sent to the royal court, where he was perceived as the adoptive son of the ruler. From this event, it has led to the patronage of the Semang by the royal court.

The British colonial government banned slavery at the end of the nineteenth century and introduced a protection policy for the Orang Asli. The British perceived the indigenous people as noble savages, who lead an idealized and romantic existence and need protection from the devastating actions of modern life.

Attention to the aborigines drew only during the Malayan Emergency in Malaysia in the 1950s. In order to bring them to the government's side in the confrontation against the communist rebels, a special department was established, the Department of Orang Asli Affairs (Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli, JHEOA); which was to provide education, health and economic development of the Orang Asli. A comprehensive control of indigenous communities was then introduced. Similar actions on the neutralization of the Negritos, albeit on a smaller scale, were also carried out by the Thai government in response to the transfer of communist soldiers into Thailand's territory.

The proclamation of Malaysia's independence in 1957 and the cessation of the Malayan Emergency in 1961 did not bring about significant changes in the state's policy towards the Orang Asli. In the 1970s, the Department of Orang Asli Affairs began to organize for the Semang settlements, which were meant to relocate several nomadic groups. Approximately by the end of 1980, the widespread development of jungle harvesting and the replacement of jungles for plantations, it has severely damaged the lives of most tribes of the Semang.

Much of the Kintaq, Jahai, Batek and Lanoh people now live in villages built by the state, surrounded by secondary jungles and plantations, as well as villages whose populations do not belong to the Orang Asli. They were forced to give up their livelihood and to some extent became accustomed to small farming.

In 1966 (according to some sources, 1973), in order to improve their lives, a Sakai Village was established in Thailand. The state laid a rubber plantation for them. In the early 1990s, it was decided to turn this village into a tourist centre, where the Semang in a theatrical form began to demonstrate to tourists features of their traditional way of life.

Beliefs
In terms of religion, the Semang are animists. They believe that not only people, but all natural objects have souls.

The land of the Semang are imagined in the form of a disk that lies on a huge snake or turtle floating underground. The earth is connected with the sky with one or several stone pillars. The world is filled with numerous immortal supernatural beings, spirits living on the sky, in stone pillars and underground. Skyline is a paradise filled with flowers and fruit trees. Supernatural beings have created rain forests to meet the needs of people on earth. Some of them in the past lived on the ground as ordinary people and now from time to time come back here, appearing in people in dreams.

Most supernatural beings have no names, they are often associated with certain natural phenomena or objects, such as wind or fruit trees. Others have their names and individual attributes. Most of the Semang are afraid of three natural phenomena; thunder, floods and storms. The main deity in them is the god of thunder Karey. He is not loved and evokes great fear, he is considered cruel and evil. Karey, according to local beliefs, carries out an important moral function, imposing punishment on violators of taboo. It can cause death, injury or illness through lightning strikes or wildlife attacks.

In each group there is a shaman called a hala. He acts as an intermediary between the visible world of people and the invisible world of spirits. Shamans perform rituals and magic rites, practice magic, anticipate the future, cure illnesses, and define a safe place for camp placement. Treatment of diseases is carried out using different herbs and magic spells. Semang believe that their shamans in a state of trance communicate with supernatural beings, can express them gratitude, as well as learn from them the way to treat a serious illness.

Shamans can be both men and women. There are big and small halas. Small halas are ordinary mortals who know some ways of treating. For the treatment of diseases, they use certain songs, massage, herbal medicine and spells. Sometimes during the healing ceremony, they are part of the trance. Great halas, according to the Semang, are people with supernatural abilities. Not only do they communicate with spirits through dreams or trance, they themselves are supernatural beings, for example, they can turn into tigers and drive away from wildlife people. Big and small halas get their knowledge from the spirits through dreams or from another hook. The best way is to wait on the grave of the deceased shaman until he appears in the likeness of the tiger, and then he will turn to the person and begin to teach the beginner.

Special rites accompany important events in life, such as birth, disease, death, there are also various rituals of economic orientation. When rituals are carried out, animist symbols are used.

The Malaysian government is pursuing a policy of conversion of the Orang Asli to Islam. A certain demographic of the Semang was considered Muslim by the end of the 20th century. The statistics are as follows:-

Culture
Scarification is practised. Young boys and girls are scarified in a simple ritual to mark the end of their adolescence. The finely serrated edge of a sugarcane leaf is drawn across the skin, then charcoal powder rubbed into the cut.

They have bamboo musical instruments, a kind of jaw harp, and a nose flute. On festive occasions, there is song and dance, both sexes decorating themselves with leaves.

The Semang bury their dead on the same day itself with the corpse wrapped in mat and the personal belonging of the deceased kept in a small bamboo rack placed over the grave. Only people of great importance, such as chiefs or great magicians are given a tree burial.

They have used Capnomancy (divination by smoke) to determine whether a camp is safe for the night.

Traditional way of life
Traditionally, the Semang have been living a vagrant lifestyle of jungle hunter-gatherers. Each group occupies a certain customary territory, which was a territorial subsistence for them. Within this territory they are constantly moving from place to place in search for new food resources. The Semang are not hunter-gatherers in the literal sense, as they constantly change their livelihood depending on what is currently beneficial for them. As soon as one source of edible resources is exhausted, they turn to another.

This way of life has been steadily maintained for a millennia due to the specific social structure of their society. Separate families in Semang community are completely autonomous; where they can gather together in temporary camps, then diverge, each in their direction, and then gather together with other families in new camps. Exogamy in such a society has an extreme level, which leads to large-scale family ties. Such model for the society ideally corresponds to the nomadic way of life and is unacceptable for the settled population. It served as a barrier that divided the populations that have been living together for a millennia.

Semang consider their customary territories free for use by all members of the local group. Western Semang recognize their human right to possess poisonous trees and perennial fruit trees that they have planted or found in the jungles. Other groups consider such trees to be free for everyone.

Claims of exclusive rights to a particular area in a dispute with other groups of Semang or with other peoples are usually not put forward and in any case are not valid. The Malaysian government does not at all recognize any rights of Semang to customary lands or resources.

Although they are commonly referred to as the inhabitants of the deep jungle areas, Semang actually occupy a transition zone between tropical jungles and agricultural districts. The resources here are very diverse and abundant. They can also collect valuable wood and maintain trade with neighbors. In the deep jungle they can only hunt small animals living among the trees, as valuable vegetation resources are practically absent from there.

In state villages, the Department of Orang Asli Development is trying to attract Semang to agriculture. On cleared jungle areas, the state organizes the planting of rubber trees, durian, rambutan, oil palms and bananas. The Semang are forced to adapt to new conditions, but agricultural activity requires long term waiting results, which contradicts their world view. At different times of the day, a group of Semang may send a whole group or individuals to harvest forest products, trade them, get hired in casual paid jobs from Malay farmers, go fishing or simply beg or live off of gifts left by visitors.

With this in mind, JAKOA provides the people with grocery kits so they do not leave their work. But, when there is a delay with the release of these rations, the Semang immediately stop agricultural activity, and some even return to live in the woods. The harvesting of jungle produce for sale still remains a priority for them, followed by work for money, settled agriculture and horticulture.

Livelihood
The main livelihood of the Semang has traditionally been gathering, hunting and fishing in a wandering lifestyle. Only in the 20th century some groups, the Lanoh and Batek in particular, began to practice Slash-and-burn farming.

For daily consumption, the roots and fruits of wild plants are collected in the jungle. The major food gathered is wild yams (Dioscorea), of which at least twelve species can be found in relative abundance throughout the year. Other wild foods include bamboo shoots, nuts, seasonal fruits, mushrooms, and honey. Apart from this list, there is also a range of medicinal herbs.

Different jungle plants are used by the Semang for various purposes. Bamboo is used for housing construction, the production of blowguns, darts, fish traps, kitchen utensils, water containers, combs, mats, rafts and ritual items. From the wood, they produce handles and sheaths for knives, and cutting boards for slicing meat. Pandan is used to make mats and baskets, tree barks for baskets and also clothing, and rattan for rope, baskets, ladders and belts.

The Semang spend a lot of time and effort on harvesting jungle products intended for sale or for exchange with neighboring Malay villages. These include wild fruits, as well as rattan, rubber, wax, honey, and herbs. The most popular products are petai (Parkia speciosa), kerdas (Archidendron bubalinum), keranji (Dialium indum), jering (Archidendron pauciflorum) and durian (Durio pinangianus). Petai and durian are collected from August to November, kerdas during February to May, and keranji from October to January. The produce obtained are shared with everyone in the camp. Money that the Semang receive from the sale of these goods is then used to buy rice, oil, tobacco, salt, sugar and other food products, as well as clothing, fabrics, knives and other provisions.

Hunting is done with spears, rifles, and slings, but the main weapon is the blowgun, which is used to hunt small game (squirrels, monkeys, bats and birds). Guns and spears are used to hunt large animals such as wild pigs, goats, deer and tapirs. Occasionally hunting traps are set. Slingshots of wood and rubber are used, mainly by young men, to capture birds, bats, and other tree dwelling animals. Some of the Semang in the past used bows and arrows in a collective hunting group, but this practice disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century. River fish are caught using special traps made of bamboo, spears, hooks and fishing rods.

Most of the Semang groups grow a certain number of cultivated plants (Upland rice, cassava, corn, sweet potatoes, other vegetables). Primitive manual farming is practiced on small scorched areas of the jungle. The result of the harvest is the property of the family that did the planting, but after harvesting, the foods are distributed to all as a rule. Women mainly engage in harvesting and farming, and men mainly focus on hunting.

Pottery and weaving among the Semang are absent. Steel knives and axes are obtained either through trade or by the processing of steel waste from spearheads, arrows, and blades from knives. Individual specialization is practically absent, except for the religious sphere.

Lifestyle
Until recently, most of the Semang led a nomadic way of life. They lived in temporary camps consisting of a group of primitive shelter structures. Typically, these are simple palm straw shields that are tilted, such that one edge stands on the ground, and the other is based on two or three supporting sticks. This design is a temporary accommodation that provides people with protection from wind and rain. Western groups of Semang sometimes put their lean-to in two rows facing to each other. Thus, a long common communal hut was formed in the form of a tunnel with exits at each of its ends.

Sometimes Semang erect circular dwellings with the center space being used as a meeting place for dancing and ceremonial rituals. For short stays they would take shelter in caves, rocky overhangs or groups of trees overnight.

Settled Semang live in small bamboo or straw huts on stilts. Residential groups built by the state under the RPS (Rancangan Pengumpulan Semula, meaning "Regrouping Schemes" in English) have typical Malay-style of wooden huts. RPS villages are provided with basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water supply, medical institutions, and elementary schools.

Traditionally, the Semang tribes place their homes very close to each other. A remnant of their nomadic way of life is that they typically leave garbage around their huts. Previously, Semang simply left their waste behind and moved on, so they had no need to remove it from around their homes. Now, their more settled lifestyle leads to some groups living in close contact with their own waste, increasing the spread of disease and polluting nearby water supplies.

Traditionally, Semang had a minimum of household items and tools, because all their treasure would need to be carried with them. Their homes, utensils and tools were made mainly for single use.

The traditional clothing of the Semang is a loincloth for men and skirts for women. These garments are made of bark from the terap, a species of wild bread-fruit tree, hammered out with a wooden mallet. Often the resultant cloth is decorated with segments of bamboo in patterns intended to magically protect its wearer from disease. These two garments are typically the only clothing worn; some go naked, although this is not customary. Women also tattoo and paint their faces.

Society
Semang lived in small family groups of 15-50 people without a strict tribal organization, as the jungle cannot support a large mass of people. Semang do not have associations with fixed membership, there are no related groups and no affiliation by ideology. Many camps consist of one or more extended families, but these are only temporary formations.

The only stable association in the Semang community is the nuclear family, consisting of a husband, a wife and their children. The family usually occupies an individual home, and adult children can put up their own housing located next to the hut or shelter of their parents. The family engages in farming together, and at the same time adults teach children the basic skills of management and cultural values of the group.

The kinship account is carried out on both the paternal and the maternal line. For the Semang, there is no difference between relatives, cousins, and siblings, but they do differentiate based on age categories by dividing their siblings into elder and younger groups.

Young people usually choose their own spouses, and parents have little influence on these processes. Theoretically, a future husband must ask for permission of marriage from a woman's parents, but this does not always happen. The marriage ceremony is as simple as possible and limited to the participation of the actual married couple, who often arranges a small holiday for themselves. Some groups do expect the groom to bring some gifts to his intended's parents. Marriage is considered concluded when the spouses begin to live together.

The general groups are exogamous. For the Semang, marriages between blood relatives and close family (persons related through marriage) are not allowed. These rules require the search for marriages among distant groups, thus creating a large-scale network of social ties.

The rules for avoiding physical contact with the opposite sex, backed up by appropriate taboos, make it impossible for sexual relations outside the family. Polygyny and polyandry are allowed, but they are rare. Instead, divorce is commonplace in most Semang groups, especially if the couple have no children. The procedure is very simple, the couple just ceases to live together. Sometimes there are conflicts on this ground, but in the majority of cases everything is peaceful, and the former spouses remain friendly, staying in the same camp.

Little children of divorced couples usually stay with their mother; older children make their own choices and often move alternately from one parent to another. The step-parent usually refer to the children from the previous marriage as their own. Just as in the case of a divorce or death of a wife, a Semang man may marry again and again but remain monogamous.

The nuclear family is also the main economic unit of the Semang society. Women play an important role in the traditional economy, spending a lot of time harvesting fruits from the jungle and fish from the rivers to provide the family with food. Pregnant women or women with young babies are not expected to fully perform their work. Children in the Semang community do not have "economic value". Most of the time during the day they simply play, simulating the activity of adults of the respective gender.

Characteristically, with the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, the birth rate among the Semang is rapidly increasing. In addition, the food stamps that children receive at school and bring them home have become a significant factor in family life and have changed the perception of children in society.

Semang society is egalitarian. People are interconnected by ties of kinship and friendship. Social classes do not exist. No adult has any authority over any other adults. There are no means of coercion. Individual autonomy is highly respected, and antisocial behavior is discouraged. People believe that violations of the norms and violence will be punished by supernatural forces. Disputes are resolved through public discussion with the goal of achieving a consensus decision. Individuals who do not get along with one another cannot be in the camp at the same time. In the event of a conflict that involves third parties, the Semang, as a rule, would simply move on to avoid violence.

Individuals of charismatic personality, men and women, may have some influence on others, hence become informal leaders in certain situations, but they have no real power. Such a leader is called penghulu, a Malay term. Some penghulu, exclusively for men, are senior members appointed by the Department of Orang Asli Development, but they only act as mediators between the group and outsiders and they do not have any power within the group.

A penghulu receive wages from the department. Formally, they are elected by a group of men, specifically for this purpose as organized by the authorities. No direct consultations with women are held, although they do express their views freely. Usually the position of the penghulu is inherited by the eldest son, although there are exceptions. If the current penghulu does not suit the JAKOA, the department pressures the group to make a replacement.

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title: User:GarnetRChaney


text:
Chico Buarque

Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, and cultural reflections on Brazil.

The firstborn son of Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda, Buarque lived at several locations throughout his childhood, though mostly in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Rome. He wrote and studied literature as a child and found music through the bossa nova compositions of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. He performed as a singer and guitarist in the 1960s as well as writing a play that was deemed dangerous by the Brazilian military dictatorship of the time. Buarque, along with several Tropicalist and MPB musicians, was threatened by the Brazilian military government and eventually left Brazil for Italy in 1969. However, he came back to Brazil in 1970, and continued to record, perform, and write, though much of his material was suppressed by government censors. He released several more albums in the 1980s and published three novels in the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2019, Buarque was awarded the Camões Prize, the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language. However, awarding of the prize was delayed by four years due to actions by Jair Bolsonaro, but Buarque received it in April 2023.

Early life and career
Buarque was born in Rio de Janeiro on 19 June 1944. He came from an intellectually privileged family background—his father Sérgio Buarque de Holanda was a well-known historian, sociologist and journalist and his mother Maria Amélia Cesário Alvim was a painter and pianist. He is also brother of the singer Miúcha and politician Ana de Hollanda. As a child, he was impressed by the musical style of bossa nova, specifically the work of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. He was also interested in writing, composing his first short story at 18 years old and studying European literature, also at a young age. One of his most consuming interests, however, was playing football, beginning at age four, and he still played regularly in his 60s. During his childhood, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Rome.

Before becoming a musician, Buarque decided at one point to study architecture at the University of São Paulo, but this choice did not lead to a career in that field; Buarque often skipped classes. He made his public debut as musician and composer in 1964, rapidly building his reputation at music festivals and television variety shows when bossa nova came to light and Nara Leão recorded three of his songs. His eponymous debut album exemplified his future work, with catchy sambas characterized by inventive wordplay and an undercurrent of nostalgic tragedy. Buarque had his first hit with "A Banda" in 1966, written about a marching band, and soon released several more singles. Although playing bossa nova, during his career, samba and Música popular brasileira would also be widely explored. Despite that, Buarque was criticized by two of the leading musicians at the time, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil as they believed his musical style was overly conservative. However, an existentially themed play that Buarque wrote and composed in 1968, Roda Viva ("Live Circle"), was frowned upon by the military government and Buarque served a short prison sentence because of it. He left Brazil for Italy for 18 months in 1970, returning to write his first novel in 1972, which was not targeted by censors. At this time his thinly veiled protest single "Apesar de Você" ("In spite of You" – in reference to the military dictatorship) was also produced. "Apesar de Você" was overlooked by the military censors, becoming an important anthem in the democratic movement. After selling over 100,000 copies, the single was eventually censored and removed from the market. At one point in 1974, the censors banned any song authored by Chico Buarque. Then, he created a pseudonym, naming himself "Julinho de Adelaide", complete with life history and interviews to newspapers. "Julinho de Adelaide" authored songs such as "Jorge Maravilha" ("Wonder Jorge") and "Acorda Amor" ("Wake Up Love" as in a lover) before he was outed in a Jornal do Brasil news story. Buarque also wrote a play named Calabar, about the Dutch invasion of Brazil in the seventeenth century, drawing parallels with the military regime. Despite the censorship, songs such as "Samba de Orly" (1970), "Acorda amor" (1974, as "Julinho da Adelaide") manifested Buarque's continuing opposition to the military regime.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he collaborated with filmmakers, playwrights, and musicians in further protest works against the dictatorship. Buarque approached the 1983 Concert for Peace in Nicaragua as a valid forum to vocalize his strong political views. Throughout the decade, he crafted many of his songs as vehicles to describe the re-democratization of Brazil. The Concert for Peace in Nicaragua was one in a concert series known as the "Central American Peace Concerts." These concerts featured various Latin American artists. The political turmoil that plagued this era were expressed in many of Buarque's songs. He later wrote Budapeste, a novel that achieved critical national acclaim and won the Prêmio Jabuti, a Brazilian literary award comparable to the Booker Prize.

His 2017 album Caravanas was elected the 3rd best Brazilian album of that year by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone.

"Cálice"
Following the Brazilian military coup of 1964, Buarque avoided censorship by using cryptic analogies and wordplay. For example, in the song "Cálice" ("Chalice"), a duet written in 1973 with Gilberto Gil and released with Milton Nascimento in 1978, he takes advantage of the homophony between the Portuguese imperative cale-se ("shut up") and cálice ("chalice") to protest government censorship, disguised as the Gospel narrative of Jesus' Gethsemane prayer to God to relieve him of the cup of suffering. The line "Quero cheirar fumaça de óleo diesel" ("I want to sniff diesel fumes") is a reference to the death of political prisoner Stuart Angel, who reportedly had his mouth glued to a jeep's exhaust pipe during a torture session. Buarque was close to Stuart's mother, Zuzu Angel. This song is the subject of the final chapter of the book  by Charles A. Perrone (London: Bloomsbury, 2022) in the Brazil 33 1/3 series.

Awards and recognitions

 * 2010 São Paulo Prize for Literature — Shortlisted in the Best Book of the Year category for Leite Derramado
 * 2013 Casa de las Américas prize for Spilt Milk (Leche derramada, Leite derramado), winner of narrative fiction.
 * 2019 Camões Prize.

Discography

 * 1966: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 1)
 * 1966: Morte e Vida Severina
 * 1967: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 2)
 * 1968: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 3)
 * 1969: Umas e outras – compacto
 * 1969: Chico Buarque na Itália
 * 1970: Apesar de você
 * 1970: Per un pugno di samba
 * 1970: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 4)
 * 1971: Construção
 * 1972: Quando o carnaval chegar
 * 1972: Caetano e Chico - juntos e ao vivo
 * 1973: Chico canta, mildly edited by the censors of the Brazilian military government both in lyrics and title, it was originally called "Chico Canta Calabar".
 * 1974: Sinal fechado
 * 1975: Chico Buarque & Maria Bethânia ao vivo
 * 1976: Meus caros amigos
 * 1977: Cio da Terra compacto
 * 1977: Os saltimbancos
 * 1977: Gota d'água
 * 1978: Chico Buarque
 * 1979: Ópera do Malandro
 * 1980: Vida
 * 1980: Show 1º de Maio compacto
 * 1981: Almanaque
 * 1981: Saltimbancos trapalhões
 * 1982: Chico Buarque en espanhol
 * 1983: Para viver um grande amor
 * 1983: O grande circo místico
 * 1984: Chico Buarque (Vermelho)
 * 1985: O Corsário do rei
 * 1985: Ópera do Malandro
 * 1985: Malandro
 * 1986: Melhores momentos de Chico & Caetano
 * 1987: Francisco
 * 1988: Dança da meia-lua
 * 1989: Chico Buarque
 * 1990: Chico Buarque ao vivo Paris le Zenith
 * 1992: Convite Para Ouvir
 * 1993: Para Todos
 * 1995: Uma palavra
 * 1997: Terra
 * 1998: As cidades
 * 1998: Chico Buarque da Mangueira
 * 1999: Chico ao vivo
 * 2001: Chico e as cidades (DVD)
 * 2001: Cambaio
 * 2002: Chico Buarque – Duetos
 * 2003: Chico ou o país da delicadeza perdida (DVD)
 * 2005: Meu Caro Amigo (DVD)
 * 2005: A Flor da Pele (DVD)
 * 2005: Vai passar (DVD)
 * 2005: Anos Dourados (DVD)
 * 2005: Estação Derradeira (DVD)
 * 2005: Bastidores (DVD)
 * 2006: O Futebol (DVD)
 * 2006: Romance (DVD)
 * 2006: Uma Palavra (DVD)
 * 2006: Carioca (CD + DVD with the documentary Desconstrução)
 * 2007: Carioca Ao Vivo
 * 2011: Chico Buarque
 * 2012: Na Carreira (DVD)
 * 2017: Caravanas
 * 2018: "Caravanas - Ao vivo"

Other works
Books
 * 1966: A Banda (Songbook)
 * 1974: Fazenda Modelo
 * 1979: Chapeuzinho Amarelo
 * 1981: A Bordo do Rui Barbosa
 * 1991: Estorvo
 * 1995: Benjamin
 * 2003: Budapeste
 * 2009: Leite Derramado
 * 2014: O Irmão Alemão
 * 2019: Essa Gente
 * 2021: Anos de Chumbo

Plays
 * 1967/8: Roda Viva
 * 1973: Calabar (coauthored with Ruy Guerra)
 * 1975: Gota d'água
 * 1978: Ópera do Malandro (based on John Gay's Beggar's Opera and Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera)
 * 1983: O Grande Circo Místico

Film
 * 1972: Quando o carnaval chegar (coauthor)
 * 1983: Para viver um grande amor (coauthor)
 * 1985: Ópera do Malandro
 * 2009: Budapeste (based on his book)

In popular culture
The cover art of the Buarque's 1966 album Chico Buarque de Hollanda became a viral internet meme with "happy" Chico and "sad" Chico.

title: Chico Buarque


text:
Talk:Negrito

1212
The 1212 purchase of rights to settle implies that the Negrito also had boats. How else could these peoples survive, genetically. There must have been some diversity in the gene pool. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.207.90.216 (talk • contribs) 12:10, 12 December 2003 (UTC)

Mitochondrial DNA study on the origins of modern humankind
Well this caption is misleading as I don't learn anything about the contribution of Negrito's mtDNA in our understanding of the human race. Please expand this section! Thanks! Meursault2004 28 June 2005 20:57 (UTC)

Not realted
take from some non-copy righted site

[quote]African Pygmies—the most numerous Pygmy population, estimated variously at 150,000 to 300,000—are believed to have lived in the Congo Valley before the arrival of other peoples. The best-known tribe, the Mbuti or Bambuti, are the shortest of all human groups, averaging about 130 cm (about 51 in) in height. Non-African Pygmy populations, often called Negritos, may also represent archaic populations. Blood typing and other studies indicate that the African, Asian, Oceanian, and Indian groups are genetically distinct from one another and have independent origins.[/quote] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.220.52.101 (talk • contribs) 27 December 2005.

Removed last sentence
I removed the following sentences: "They do not have a permanent place to live in because of food shortage. It depends upon the place where they live, if it can still provide them enough food." Thees sentences formed a seperate paragraph unrelated to any previous or subsequent subject, and were grammatically incorrect. Additionally, it is unclear who "they" refers to, and the entire paragraph is vague, fragmentary, and generally unhelpful.

If this is a real concern, it should be explained lucidly and with regard to the different populations and areas involved. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.232.40.217 (talk • contribs) 05:12, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Slightly rewriting and including the distinction between regional different groups classified as "Negrito"
what do you think about this version, in this way we mention the diversity and distinction between the different Negrito groupings, while also mentioning the affinity of these groups to surrounding populations:

 * Negritos are considered as the indigenous population of large parts of Southeast Asia. Based on perceived physical similarities, Negritos were once considered a single population of closely related groups, however genetic studies found significant differences between different groups classified as Negrito. Genetic studies found that Malay/Andamanese Negrito groups are rather closely related to East Asian people, with both having descended from a common East-Eurasian ancestor, who split from other Eurasian populations, such as Australasian/Papuan and West-Eurasian populations about ~50 thousand years ago. Malay/Andamanese Negritos and East Asians are estimated to have diverged from each other in Mainland Southeast Asia about ~30 thousand years ago, with one group migrating further southwards, and Ancestral East Asians migrating northwards. In contrast, most Philippines Negrito groups are only distantly related to the Malay/Andamanese Negrito groups and show higher affinity towards Papuans, suggesting independent origins for the putative Negrito populations. Overall, a high diversity is observed among the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia, supporting a multi-layer origin for the diverse Negrito grouping. Historical back migrations of later East Asian agriculturalist groups, specifically Austroasiatic and Austronesian peoples, largely replaced or assimilated the diverse hunter-gatherers. The remainders form minority groups in geographically isolated regions.

I think it is better to explain that the Negrito grouping is only a superficial one, based on outdated racialist views, rather than a real population grouping.

We have references here about Philippine Negritos, which are on a cline between East Asians and Papuans, we have references stressing the diversity and heterogeneity among different Negrito groupings, and we have references about Malay/Andamanese Negrito groupings showing them to be rather close to East Asians. As such it would be great to use these references instead of making another generalization.

And could you explain what the term "South East Eurasian" should mean? This term is used in the current version, but I simply can not find it in any given reference.

We may together try to make a better version at the talk page? If you want, I can search for more studies about Negritos and post their links here. Some references are only indirectly concerned with the putative Negrito grouping.

Have a nice day!61.14.233.182 (talk) 10:12, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

 * I would prefer not to give undue weight to the idea that Australo-Papuans represent an early split of the OOA population. This was proposed in Malaspinas et al. (2016), A genomic history of Aboriginal Australia (cited e.g. by Carlhoff et al. (2021)), but most studies since Mallick et al. (2016) model Onge, Australo-Papuans and East Asians (and also ancient Hoabinhians, Malaysian Negritos, Philippine Negritos, if covered) as deriving from a single East Eurasian ancestral source:
 * Mallick et al. (2016), The Simons Genome Diversity Project: 300 genomes from 142 diverse populations
 * Lipson & Reich (2017), A Working Model of the Deep Relationships of Diverse Modern Human Genetic Lineages Outside of Africa
 * Jinam et al. (2017), Discerning the Origins of the Negritos, First Sundaland People: Deep Divergence and Archaic Admixture
 * Yang et al. (2017), 40,000-Year-Old Individual from Asia Provides Insight into Early Population Structure in Eurasia
 * Skoglund & Mathieson (2018), Ancient Genomics of Modern Humans: The First Decade
 * McColl et al. (2018), The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia
 * Narasimhan et al. (2019), The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia
 * Sikora et al. (2019), The population history of northeastern Siberia since the Pleistocene
 * Larena et al. (2021), Multiple migrations to the Philippines during the last 50,000 years
 * Wang et al. (2021), Genomic insights into the formation of human populations in East Asia
 * So the East Eurasian affiliation of both Onge and Australo-Papuans is the current mainstream view, and is robust under various admixture models. The divergence of Australo-Papuans reported in earlier studies was due to the fact that Denisovan gene flow was not accounted for.
 * There is no final word about the exact relations among Onge, Australo-Papuans and East Asians. Lipson & Reich (2017) preferred to be agnostic about it. If you look a the TreeMix diagrams in McColl et al. (2018), you find all three permutations for the cladistic relations among the three (Onge–Australo-Papuans, Onge–East Asians, and even Australo-Papuans–East Asians), depending on which specific ancient specimen is modeled.
 * For more local relations, there is consensus (Jinam et al. 2017; McColl et al. 2018) that Hoabinhians and Malaysian Negritos derive from an Onge-related ancestry (the latter with admixture from non-Negrito Austroasiatic-related ancestry). Larena et al. (2021) show that it is likely that the deep ancestry of Southern (i.e. non-Luzon) Philippine Negritos forms a clade with Australo-Papuans to the exclusion of Northern (i.e. Luzon) Philippine Negritos. And finally, Wang et al (2021) have shown that Onge-related ancestry significantly contributed to "Interior South East Eurasian" populations (Liangdao, ancient Austronesian, Jomon among others).
 * Note that most of these studies focus on just one Negrito group. Larena et al. (2021) do not cover Onge or Malaysian Negritos, while McColl et al. 2018 do not go into admixture details of the Philippine Negritos. So we have to be careful when citing these sources and making blanket statements. So far, the only source that covers the full range of "Negrito" populations plus Australo-Papuans and East Asians is Jinam et al. (2017), and some of its finding have been superseded by more recent research results.
 * I agree that the current section "Origins" needs to be rewritten and potentially expanded. But considering the previous mess we have seen as a result of indiscriminate amassment of sources paired with blatant misreadings by relentless LTAs, this has to be done with utmost care and scrutiny. And without haste. –Austronesier (talk) 21:26, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

 * It is true that there is still debate about the exact split times and inter-group relationships between proper East-Eurasians and Australasians, but it is not true that the studies linked by you support that all descended from a single East-Eurasian source, or are equally related to each other. They all suggest that both "proper East-Eurasians" (in the sense of East Asians and either with or without Onge) and Australasians descended from an eastern non-African lineage which split from West-Eurasians shortly after the Out of Africa migration. However the Australasian and the East Asian (including the Ongan lineage) also split from each other shortly after the divergence of East/West Eurasians. Probably as early as ~50 thousand years ago, some (Larena et al. 2021 as example) earlier at ~58 thousand years ago. But the divergence of Ongan/Hoabinhian lineage from East Asians is (in nearly all recent studies, and most previous studies) on the East Asian lineage (sometimes between 40 to 15 thousand years ago, after Tianyuan, the currently oldest ESEA-linked sample), significantly after the divergence of the Australasian lineage from the East Asian lineage. And as you said, some (Malaspinas et al. 2016) even suggest that the Australasian lineage split prior to the West/East Eurasian split, making them an outgroup to other Eurasians (with unknown, but probably distinct affinity to Basal Eurasians, another early split from the OOA population.) As such, this debate is not really relevant to the points I made.

 * To summarize these points: 1. The East Asian lineage (recently called ESEA lineage) split from the Australasian lineage shortly after the split of eastern non-Africans from West-Eurasians (with others proposing them to be an outgroup to other Eurasians, through a split predating the East/West differentiation). ESEA is what we understand as East-Eurasian (including various distinct ancestries on the ESEA lineage, including Hoabinhians). Here a recently published review article by Melinda A. Yang 2022: A genetic history of migration, diversification, and admixture in Asia 2. Ongan/Hoabinhian/Malay Negrito split from the ESEA lineage long after the ESEA lineage diverged from the Australasian and West-Eurasian lineages, regardless of if Australasians being slightly closer to them or not. Always keep the split dates in mind. 3. My points made above take all this into account and simply give an overview of the estimated split times of these lineages. It is not relevant if Australasians are an outgroup or split within the eastern non-Africans. They always split prior to the divergence of the East Asian and Ongan lineage, which both are significantly closer to each other than to any of the two is to the Australasians (or West-Eurasians), also seen in the many studies linked by you. If Australasians are closer to ESEA or not is irrelevant in this case, and my proposal did not discuss this dispute, which is also not relevant to the article section.

 * Finally, I completely agree with the points made by you, I will try to search some more information and make a general overview statement, which we may use, taking the different views into account. The overview article by Melinda A. Yang 2022 should be the most useful, as it summarize all previous studies. However it is an overview article, not explicitly about the superficial grouping known as Negrito. Thank you for your points!61.14.233.182 (talk) 19:32, 24 February 2022 (UTC)
 * "Proper" East-Eurasian is not a NPOV-term. The very point of using "East Eurasian" is to have an umbrella term for East Asian (= Yang's ESEA) and Australasian ancestries (unless you subscribe to Southern Route). I'll take a look at Yang's paper. As a secondary source, it will certainly relieve us from the burden of turning WP into a research review of primary sources (or in the worst case, an arbitrary paper dump – see Ainu people), which is exactly what WP is not about. But if Yang's article doesn't have a broad overview of the diverse Negrito groups and their deep ancestries, it will be of little use here. –Austronesier (talk) 20:37, 24 February 2022 (UTC)
 * PS: They [i.e. Australasians] always split prior to the divergence of the East Asian and Ongan lineage. Always? Not in Narasimhan (2019). So no, there is no final word about this. –Austronesier (talk) 20:43, 24 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Oh, and about But the divergence of Ongan/Hoabinhian lineage from East Asians is (in nearly all recent studies, and most previous studies) [...] significantly after the divergence of the Australasian lineage from the East Asian lineage.: Yang (2022) assigns the Andamanese to the AASI lineage (p. 23), but the Hoabinhians to the ESEA lineage (p. 9). I can't see clearly based on what, but obviously, there are still a lot of open questions. –Austronesier (talk) 21:16, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

 * Yeah, Narasimhan 2019 suggests a trifurication of East Asians, AASI and Australasians, that is true.

 * Yang (2022) assigns the Andamanese to the AASI lineage (p. 23), but the Hoabinhians to the ESEA lineage (p. 9).: The inconsistency in the position of the Ongan lineage may be because they formed from an early AASI component and an early ESEA one (either Tianyuan-like or Hoabinhian-like) or alternatively AASI formed from an Basal-East Asian lineage close to Ongan with an earlier Australasian-like one. This would explain their alleged affinity to Hoabinhians, AASI and Han, observed in McColl 2018, however the affinity was not reproduced by Boer 2021 or Yang 2021. The possibility that Ongan formed from both was already raised by Chaubey 2015, modeling 32% East Asian-related ancestry among Ongans. Liu et al. 2020 had a model with 45% East Asian-related ancestry. On the other hand, Carlhoff et al. 2021 models the Onge as East Asian close to Tianyuan and Hoabinhians. So there is indeed a hard time to summarize these results. The Yang paper at least shows that the Ongan are not an Australasian group.

 * I can't see clearly based on what, but obviously, there are still a lot of open questions.: That is the problem with genetic studies generally. We have tons of different results, with different geneticists taking the results which are closest to their own theories. For now, we know that Andamanese Onge are either positioned in between East Asians and Australasians, or closer to East Asians, showing high affinity with basal Tianyuan/Hoabinhians. Negritos generally are diverse, some clustering with Hoabinhians basal to East Asians, others being on a cline between Papuans and Cordellians (early Austronesians).

 * Some interesting models I saw positioned Onge rather close to Hòabìnhians and Tianyuan, with the three being basal to East Asians, but distant from Australasian Papuans and Aboriginal Australians. (This is also acknowledged by Yang 2017 about the genome of Tianyuan. While Tianyuan show highest affinity to East Asians, Native Americans, and Ongan, he does show less affinity to Aboriginal Australians and Papuans, although clearly more than to Europeans or Africans.) Interestingly, the AASI were intermediated between Ongan and Australasian in the model. That would suggest the Ongan diverged from the Ancestral East Asians much later, merging with an Australasian group giving rise to AASI. However it is not as easy as that. We can complicate it taking haplogroups into account, that will result in an unresolvable mess. As such, haplogroups are never, really never, an option to determine relations or affinity, especially if talking about real old subclades such as D1 or C1. The problem we have are that there is much raw data, but so many different possibilities that we have a hard time to find out how and when all these populations really split. Let alone Basal-Eurasians and their strange affinity to West-Eurasians compared to any eastern non-African group.

 * Let us face reality, we will probably not be able to reconstruct the genetic history of diverse human lineages, especially taking ancient migrations and admixture events into account. There will always be disputes and misunderstandings, and this is not only confined to genetic topics but generally (see Russia - Ukraine). People must understand the principles of four ears, both sides have true arguments, and at the same time biased views. This is true for everything. In the context of Negritos, I think it would be better to make clear that it is an outdated summary concept of distinct groups, with some having more affinity to Australasians and some more affinity with East Asians, but all being interconnected through ancient contact. To be honest, in a sheer geographically (and logical) view, these groups diverged from each other probably more than 50 thousand years ago. A trifurication, as proposed by Narasimhan 2019, sounds logical, but I caution that it may be an oversimplification, not taking admixture events into account. We simply do not have data about that. The deep position of Australasians (taking Denisovan admixture into account, which actually is higher in Aeta Negritos whom still cluster closer to East Asians) simply suggests that these split of from others the earliest. Archeologic evidence supports this as well. We also must take geneflow into Australasians into account, geneflow which predates the Austronesian expansion, and geneflow from which we know existed (Carlhoff et al. 2021). The fact that Ongan here is clustering with East Asians as opposed to Papuans, is another supportive evidence. A currently non-peer reviewed paper (2021) also notes Papuans and Aboriginal Australians are either a distant sister lineage to East Asians, or formed from admixture of early East Asian-like groups and an earlier lineage basal to all Eurasians. Than we are again at the same problem, what is true now?

 * Another review article from 2022 cites: "The ancestors of Malay Negrito groups diverged from the East Asian ∼25 kya; but subsequently admixed with the other Austronesian populations ∼1,700 years ago (Wu et al., 2019). ... Growing body of evidence confirm that the Orang Asli Negrito once shared common origins with the East Asian populations (Deng et al., 2014; Aghakhanian et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2015; Fu et al., 2018; Yew et al., 2018a). ... their inferred time of divergence from Eurasian was younger than anticipated (Jinam et al., 2017; Yew et al., 2018a). Intriguingly, despites exhibiting similar phenotypic characteristics, the Negritos from Malaysia, the Philippines and the Andaman were found to be only distantly related. On the other hand, an ancient link between the Negrito from Peninsular Malaysia and the Andamanese Negrito was observed (Aghakhanian et al., 2015). ... Intriguingly, the Orang Asli Negrito (Jehai sub-tribe) showed a shared genetic drift with ancient genomes from Hoabinhian ancestry (McColl et al., 2018), suggesting that they are genetically closer to the ancestors of Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers who occupied northern parts of Peninsular Malaysia during the late Pleistocene (Bellwood, 2007). What puzzles us, however, is that the divergence between Eurasian and Australian aborigines (Malaspinas et al., 2016) predates the divergence between Eurasian and Orang Asli Negrito (Yew et al., 2018a), thus complicates the peopling history in Peninsular Malaysia."

 * They made interesting summary points, although many questions remain open:
 * "The Negrito from Peninsular Malaysia once shared a common ancestry with East Asian populations (HUGO Pan-Asian SNP Consortium et al., 2009; Aghakhanian et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2015; Jinam et al., 2017; Lipson et al., 2018). ... The genetic link between the Negrito-like populations from SEA, including Negrito from Peninsular Malaysia, the Philippines, the Andaman, Papuan and Australian aborigines, and possibly the African pygmies, remain inconclusive. Whilst it has been shown that these populations shared an ancient basal Asian ancestry component (Deng et al., 2021), they have undergone a long period of isolation from each other and could have experienced extensive local adaptation and admixture from respective neighboring populations therefore posting a challenge to uncover the precise date of migration of these populations. Analysis of natural selection may be able to at least in part address this question (Liu et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2021). Several studies have been carried out in the SEA populations including the natives from Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo (Liu et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2017; Hoh et al., 2020). However finer genotyping, phenotypic and environmental characteristics, along with a sample size on the indigenous populations are required to warrant a convincing conclusion."

 * A last point to be made, East Asians themselve originated in Southeast Asia and diversified from there, but were already clearly differentiated from Australasians.

 * "Most notably, the study supports an initial single migration wave of the ancestors of East Asian (EA) populations via “Southern route” into SEA, followed by multiple subsequent migrations thence shaped the complex genetic diversity of SEA (HUGO Pan-Asian SNP Consortium et al., 2009)."

 * We may have to mention the distinction between different Negrito groups, or better clearly state that there are no" Negrito people", and that this term is an outdated historical term based on superficial similarities without scientific basis.61.14.233.182 (talk) 08:30, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

Based on the points above from you and me, I am making a new proposal:

 * The diverse grouping of Negritos are considered as the indigenous population of large parts of Southeast Asia. Based on perceived physical similarities, Negritos were once considered a single population of closely related groups, however genetic studies found significant differences between different groups classified as Negrito.

 * Genetic studies found that Malay Negrito groups are distinct from Philippine Negrito groups, but sharing genetic affinity with Hoabinhian and Andamanese people. The Malay Negritos and ancient Hoabinhians were found to be rather closely related to East Asian people, with both having descended from a common Basal-East Asian source population from Mainland Southeast Asia, who split from other Eurasian populations, such as from the Australasian/Papuan lineage about ~50 thousand years ago, with some proposing an early date between ~58 to ~70 thousand years ago. Malay/Andamanese Negritos and East Asians are estimated to have diverged from each other about ~30 to ~15 thousand years ago, with one group migrating further southwards, giving rise to the Malay and Andamanese peoples, and "Ancestral East Asians" migrating northwards. A distant affinity between Andamanese and the hypothetical "Indigenous South Asians" (AASI) has also been found, but the exact relationship between the two remains unknown.

 * In contrast, Philippines Negrito groups are only distantly related to the Malay and Andamanese groups or East Asians, while showing significant affinity towards modern Papuans, suggesting independent origins for the putative Negrito populations. Philippines Negrito groups are suggested to have diverged from the Australasian lineage ancestral to Papuans and Aboriginal Australians, after the Australasian lineage split from the East Asian and Malay/Andamanese lineage.

 * Philippines Negritos later received significant East Asian-related admixture, positioning them on a cline between Papuans and East Asian Cordellians (early Austronesians).

 * Overall, a high diversity is observed among the alleged earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia, supporting a multi-layer origin for the diverse Negrito grouping. Historical back migrations of later East Asian agriculturalist groups, specifically Austroasiatic and Austronesian peoples, largely replaced or assimilated the diverse hunter-gatherers. The remainders form minority groups in geographically isolated regions."

With this version we make clear the difference between the different Negrito groups, while also mentioning their affinity to other groups and do not fall in the trap of the East Asian/Australasian East-Eurasian affinity problem. Something like this should resolve the problem.61.14.233.182 (talk) 09:31, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

 * This would explain their alleged affinity to Hoabinhians, AASI and Han, observed in McColl 2018. I guess "their" refers to the Onge. Where do McColl et al. (2018) write this, especially when they do not talk about AASI?
 * ...however the affinity was not reproduced by Boer 2021. This must be about de Boer (2020) "Japan considered from the hypothesis of farmer/language spread"? If so, they actually talk about the proposed affiliation of the Jomon samples to the two Hoabinhian samples in McColl et al. (2018), not about the "affinity [of the Onge?] to Hoabinhians, AASI and Han".
 * On the other hand, Carlhoff et al. 2021 models the Onge as East Asian close to Tianyuan and Hoabinhians. Where? They are "close" in the PCA, but that has little to do with the actual modeling of migration/admixture events as obtained from Treemix or qpGraph. –Austronesier (talk) 22:15, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Negrito


text:
Alkahest

In Renaissance alchemy, alkahest was the theorized "universal solvent". It was supposed to be capable of dissolving any composite substance, including gold (then not considered an element), without altering or destroying its fundamental components. By extracting from composite substances their fundamental virtues and properties, alchemists hoped to gain control of invaluable medical healing properties (see also azoth). For this reason the alkahest was earnestly sought. At the same time, its very existence was debated among alchemists and philosophers.

The first, or one of the first, to mention the alkahest was the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus.

Etymology
There is no consensus on the origin and etymology of the word alkahest, as Paracelsus left no trace or history of the word. One such view is that the term is of Arabic origin or pseudo-Arabic modeled on similar names of other chemical entities. George Starkey argued it came from the German word al-gehest (all spirit). Johann Rudolph Glauber posed that it could have come from the words alhali est, the German word al gar heis, or Al zu hees, meaning "very hot". Anglo-Dutch alchemist and physician William Yworth (Cleidophorus Mystagogus) (died 1715) argued for its root originating from High Dutch.

Other names
Jan Baptist van Helmont considered the alkahest to have never-ending reusability, calling it an "immortal". He also used the term "maccabean fire" because of its similarities to the "thick water" in the deuterocanonical Book of Maccabees in the Old Testament. Another name for the Alkahest termed by Helmont was ignis gehennae. Other names include latex (or "clear water reduced to its minutest atoms"), and primum Ens Salum (or "salt exalted to its highest degree").

Paracelsus
Among its many philosophical and spiritual preoccupations, Hermeticism also concerned itself with panaceas—remedies supposed to cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. Later, an emergent Latin alchemy, associated with European humanism, transmuted itself into a new, more modern medical and pharmaceutical philosophy, reformed by a better understanding of human physiology. Philippus Paracelsus (1493–1541), who gave his name to the early modern school of medical theory known as Paracelcism, first made mention of the alkahest as a chemical which could fortify the liver, and—in instances where the liver failed—could act as a substitute for its functions.

Recipe
The recipe for the theorized alkahest was often kept secret, as many alchemical recipes were. There were many alchemists attempting to obtain the universal solvent, and thus many recipes, some later rejected by their creators, have been found. Paracelsus's own recipe for alkahest was made of caustic lime, alcohol, and carbonate of potash; however, his recipe was not intended to be a "universal solvent".

17th century
Alkahest became very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries through Jan Baptist van Helmont. Its prevalence in the 17th and 18th centuries, despite its otherwise absurd and extreme qualities, was likely due to the popularity of alchemy at the time and the lack of an adequate alternative theory of chemistry. During the 17th century, many alchemists were working on obtaining the alkahest, some of which were Johann Rudolf Glauber, George Starkey, Frederick Clod, Thomas Vaughan, Thomas Henshaw, Johann Brun, Robert Hamilton, Hugh Piatt, and Robert Child. Those who followed and trained under Paracelsus did not think of the alkahest as van Helmont did, but slowly built upon the ideas posed by their teacher.

Alkahest as a universal solvent
Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644) expanded on the idea of the 'alkahest', believing it to be a universal solvent. Helmont claimed that knowledge of the recipe was granted by God and was therefore known by few, and he had many dreams during which he believed he had been gifted the recipe, only to find them inadequate. Given the difficulty of obtaining alkahest, Helmont suggested the use of other, inferior substances believed to be capable of similar tasks. Volatile salt of tartar, also known as pyrotartaric acid or glutaric acid, was considered both a substitute for alkahest and a component of alkahest. Helmont's writings also referred to a fourteenth century alchemical manuscript which discussed sal alkali (possibly caustic potash or lye) that was capable of dissolving many substances, and perhaps an ingredient in Helmont's alkahest.

George Starkey
Colonial American alchemist George Starkey (1628–1665) described alkahest as a circulated salt that is neither acid nor alkali. Moreover, Starkey believed that, because acid saline liquors are destroyed by alkalies and urinous spirits, they cannot be ingredients of the immortal alkahest. He believed instead that non-acidic substances could be ingredients of the alkahest, some of these suspected substances being urinous spirits, spirit of alkalies, and sulphureous vegetable spirits. In particular, Starkey believed that alkahest's secret ingredient laid within urine.

Dissolving gold; removing sulphur from mercury; cure for urinary calculi
Starkey and his mentor Helmont (by their own report) used mercuric sulphide to dissolve gold, and informed Robert Boyle about it in a series of letters. The alkahest, according to Starkey, was able to remove sulphur from the natural mercury leaving a quicksilver resistant to corrosion. Because of the supposed power of alkahest to break down substances into their occult qualities, it was sought after for its potential to cure incurable diseases at the time. For example, the breaking down of Ludus could provide a cure for urinary calculi.

Ladislaus Reti, a 20th-century historian of science, investigated alchemical recipes involving alkahest and found that no chemical was sufficient in breaking down the wide variety of materials Helmont supposed. Reti points out that in such recipes, an alcohol solution of potassium hydroxide could have been used instead.

Johann Rudolf Glauber and nitric acid
German-Dutch alchemist and chemist Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604–1670) believed that the alkahest was a class of substances, rather than one, particular substance. Glauber believed he had discovered alkahest after discovering that volatile niter (nitric acid) and fixed niter (potassium carbonate) were able to dissolve several substances.

Frederick Clod
German "mystical chemist" Frederick Clod (or Clodius) (1625–after 1661) believed that mercury could convert salts into "ponderous liquor", which he believed was needed to make the alkahest.

Robert Boyle – corpuscular nature of alkahest
The theory of alkahest was conceived in terms of alchemy, Helmontian theories, and the physical theory of corpuscularianism. According to Helmont and Anglo-Irish scientist Robert Boyle (1627–1691), the alkahest had a "microstructure", meaning it was composed of extremely small, homogeneous corpuscles. This structure allowed the alkahest's corpuscles to move between the corpuscles of all other materials and mechanically separate them without altering their base materials or itself, conforming with the idea that it was infinitely reuseable. It was these qualities which made the alkahest distinct from ordinary corrosives, which are altered by the substances they act upon and thus not infinitely reusable.

Tobias Ludwig Kohlhans and Henry Oldenburg – alkahest in the lymphatic vessels
Tobias Ludwig Kohlhans (1624–1705) suggested in his dissertation of the spleen, that alkahest could be found in the liquid that had been discovered in the lymphatic vessels of animals. In 1661, German-English scientist Henry Oldenburg (c. 1618–1677) made experimental connections between alkahest and this liquid. Helmont, Oldenburg, and Goddard raised questions, however, about the lymph's "sweetly acidic" quality, the necessity of a hypothetical universal solvent to explain the acidity in empty animal lymphatic vessels, its ability to be generated within the body, and how it differed from other fluids or humours in the body.

Johann Kunckel – the existence of alkahest is questioned
The German alchemist Johann Kunckel (1630–1703) and others at that time began to see the alkahest as merely fantasy and wishful thinking. A potential problem involving alkahest—first posed by Kunckel—is that, if it dissolves everything, then it cannot be placed into a container because it would dissolve the container. Starkey, however, specified that alkahest dissolved only composite materials into their constituent, elemental parts; hence, a hypothetical container made of a pure element (say, lead) would not be dissolved by alkahest.

Herman Boerhaave – alkahest and the philosopher's stone
Paracelsus believed that alkahest was, in fact, the philosopher's stone. Dutch chemist and physician Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738), in his textbook Elementa Chymiae (1732), did not think alkahest was the philosopher's stone, but of greater importance and value than the stone.

After the 18th century alkahest was taken less seriously over time.

Modern usages of the term
The old remark "spit is the universal solvent" satirizes the idea.

In modern times, water is sometimes called the universal solvent, because it can dissolve a large variety of substances; more than any other liquid. This is due to its chemical polarity and amphoterism.

Alkahest, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical subsidiary of Grifols which is developing products derived from blood plasma to reverse and inhibit aging.

"Alkahestry" is the term used for a type of alchemy in the manga Fullmetal Alchemist.

title: Alkahest


text:
List of places in the Isle of Man

In addition to the Isle of Man itself, the Isle of Man Government administers three small neighbouring islands: the Calf of Man, St Patrick's Isle and St Michael's Isle. There is one place with official status as a city, three places with official status as towns, four villages, and many other smaller settlements. Traditionally the Island is divided into six sheadings, then further into seventeen parishes.

Manx language names are given in italics.

Cities
There is only one city on the island, a status which was awarded in 2022 and came into effect in 2024:
 * Douglas – capital and largest settlement (Doolish)

Towns
The official towns of the Isle of Man are:
 * Castletown (Balley Chashtal)
 * Peel (Purt ny h-Inshey)
 * Ramsey (Rhumsaa)

Villages
The official villages of the Isle of Man, with village commissioners, are:

 * Laxey (Laksaa) – no longer has village commissioners; is now merely an electoral ward of the parish district of Garff
 * Onchan – second largest settlement (Kione Droghad)
 * Port St Mary (Purt le Moirrey)
 * Port Erin (Purt Çhiarn)

Other settlements
Other notable settlements, with no official status, are:

 * Andreas (Andreas)
 * Baldrine (Balley Drine)
 * Ballabeg (Rushen) (Balley Beg)
 * Ballabeg (Lonan) (Balley Beg)‡
 * Ballasalla (Balley Sallagh)
 * Ballaugh (Balley ny Loughey)
 * Barregarrow (Bayr Garroo)‡
 * Braaid (Yn Braaid)‡
 * Bradda
 * Bride (Bride)
 * Colby (Colby)
 * Cregneash (Creneash)‡
 * Crosby (Balley ny Croshey)
 * Dalby (Delbee)
 * Derbyhaven (Camys y Ree)‡
 * Foxdale (Forsdal)
 * Glen Auldyn
 * Glen Maye (Glion Muigh)
 * Glen Vine (Glion Vian)
 * Injebreck‡
 * Jurby (Jurby)
 * Kirk Michael (Balley Keeill Vaayl)
 * Newtown (Balley Noa)
 * Niarbyl (Yn Arbyl)‡
 * Port e Vullen‡
 * Port Lewaigue‡
 * Port Soderick (Purt Soderick)‡
 * Ronague (Eairy Shynnagh)‡
 * Ronaldsway (Roonysvaie)‡
 * St Mark's (Balley Keeill Varkysh)
 * St John's (Balley Keeill Eoin)
 * Strang (Strang)
 * Sulby (Sulby)
 * Union Mills (Myllin Doo Aah)

Those marked ‡ (at least) are mostly not large enough to be notable as settlements, but some may be notable as tourist destinations.

Settlements by population
The following list ranks the populations of eight main settlements on the Isle of Man which populations were reported in the 2021 Isle of Man Census.

Sheadings
The sheadings (sheadin (singular), sheadinyn (plural)) of the Isle of Man are:

 * Ayre (Inver Ayre)
 * Garff (Garff)
 * Glenfaba (Glion Faba)
 * Michael (Maayl)
 * Middle (Medall)
 * Rushen (Rosien)

Historic parishes
The historic parishes (skeerey (singular), skeeraghyn (plural)) currently included in each sheading of the Isle of Man are:

 * Ayre
 * Andreas (Andreas / Skeerey Andreas)
 * Bride (Breeshey / Skeerey Vreeshey)
 * Lezayre (Creest ny h-Ayrey / Skeerey Chreest ny h-Ayrey)
 * Garff
 * Lonan (Lonan / Skeerey Lonan): historical parish, now merged into the parish district of Garff
 * Maughold (Maghal / Skeerey Maghal): historical parish, now merged into the parish district of Garff
 * Onchan (Connaghyn / Skeerey Chonnaghyn)
 * Glenfaba
 * German (Carmane / Skeerey Charmane)
 * Patrick (Perick / Skeerey Pherick)
 * Michael
 * Ballaugh (Balley ny Loghy / Skeerey Valley ny Loghey)
 * Jurby (Jorby / Skeerey Jorby)
 * Michael (Maayl / Skeerey Maayl)
 * Middle
 * Braddan (Braddan / Skeerey Braddan)
 * Marown (Marooney / Skeerey Marooney)
 * Santon (Stondane / Skeerey Stondane)
 * Rushen
 * Arbory (Cairbre / Skeerey Chairbre): now merged into the parish district of Arbory and Rushen
 * Rushen (historically "Kirk Christ Rushen") (Rosien / Skeerey Rosien): now merged into the parish district of Arbory and Rushen
 * Malew (Malew / Skeerey Malew)

Historically, each parish was divided into between 5 and 16 treens, each consisting of four quarterlands.

Coastal features

 * Laxey Bay
 * Ramsey Bay
 * Douglas Bay

Other geographical features

 * Port-Ny-Ding, a small bay immediately north-west of Bradda West
 * Snaefell (Sniaul), the only mountain of the Isle of Man

title: List of places in the Isle of Man