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{{short description|Set of ethnic groups in Southeast Asia and Andaman islands}}
{{pp-pc|small=yes}}
{{About|the ethnic groups|the shrub|Citharexylum berlandieri|the municipality|El Negrito|the bird genus|Lessonia (bird)}}
{{Distinguish|Pygmy peoples}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Negrito
| image            = A LUZON NEGRITO WITH SPEAR.jpg
| caption          = A Luzon Negrito with spear
| population       = 
| regions          = Isolated geographic regions in [[India]] and [[Maritime Southeast Asia]]
| languages        = [[Andamanese languages]], [[Aslian languages]], [[Philippine Negrito languages]]
| religions        = [[Animism]], [[folk religion]], ''[[Anito]]'', [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]]
}}

The term '''''Negrito''''' ({{IPAc-en|n|ɪ|ˈ|ɡ|r|iː|t|oʊ}}; {{lit|little [[black people]]}}) refers to several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of [[Southeast Asia]] and the [[Andaman Islands]]. Populations often described as Negrito include: the [[Andamanese peoples]] (including the [[Great Andamanese]], the [[Onge]], the [[Jarawas (Andaman Islands)|Jarawa]], and the [[Sentinelese]]) of the Andaman Islands, the [[Semang]] peoples (among them, the [[Batek people]]) of [[Peninsular Malaysia]], the [[Maniq people]] of [[Southern Thailand]], as well as the [[Aeta people|Aeta]] of [[Luzon]], the [[Ati people|Ati]] and [[Suludnon|Tumandok]] of [[Panay]], the [[Mamanwa]] of [[Mindanao]], and about 30 other officially recognized [[ethnic groups in the Philippines]].

==Etymology==
The word ''Negrito,'' the Spanish [[diminutive]] of ''[[negro]]'', is used to mean "little black person." This usage was coined by 16th-century Spanish [[Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery|missionaries]] operating in the Philippines, and was borrowed by other European travellers and colonialists across Austronesia to label various peoples perceived as sharing relatively small physical stature and dark skin.<ref name=Manickham-2009>{{cite book|last=Manickham|first=Sandra Khor|editor=Hägerdal, Hans|title=Responding to the West: Essays on Colonial Domination and Asian Agency|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Onr3-thtL2MC&pg=PA69|year=2009|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-8964-093-2|pages=69–79|chapter=Africans in Asia: The Discourse of 'Negritos' in Early Nineteenth-century Southeast Asia}}</ref> Contemporary usage of an alternative Spanish epithet, ''Negrillos'', also tended to bundle these peoples with the [[pygmy peoples]] of [[Central Africa]] on the basis of perceived similarities in stature and complexion.<ref name=Manickham-2009/> (Historically, the label ''Negrito'' has also been used to refer to African pygmies.)<ref>See, for example: ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, 1910–1911: "Second are the large Negrito family, represented in Africa by the dwarf-races of the equatorial forests, the [[Aka (Pygmy tribe)|Akkas]], [[Batwa]]s, [[Wochua]]s and others..." (p. 851)</ref> The appropriateness of bundling peoples of different [[ethnicity|ethnicities]] by similarities in stature and complexion has been called into question.<ref name=Manickham-2009/>

== Population ==
There are over 100,000 Negritos in the Philippines. In 2010, there were 50,236 Aeta people in the Philippines.<ref name="pop">{{cite web |url=https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/PHIILIPPINES_FINAL%20PDF.pdf |title=2010 Census of Population and Housing, Report No. 2A: Demographic and Housing Characteristics (Non-Sample Variables) - Philippines |publisher=Philippine Statistics Authority |access-date=May 19, 2020 |archive-date=June 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607120654/https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/PHIILIPPINES_FINAL%20PDF.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> There were 55,473 Ati people (2020 census).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/attachments/ird/pressrelease/Ethnicity_Statistical%20Table.xlsx|title=Ethnicity in the Philippines (2020 Census of Population and Housing)|publisher=Philippine Statistics Authority|access-date=6 July 2023}}</ref> Officially, Malaysia had approximately 4,800 Negrito (Semangs).<ref name="Endicott">{{cite book|author=Kirk Endicott|title=Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli. Introduction|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286937916|publisher=NUS Press, National University of Singapore Press. 2016, pp. 1-38|isbn=978-9971-69-861-4|access-date=2019-01-12|date=27 November 2015}} {{in lang|en}}</ref> This number increases if we include some of the populations or individual groups among [[Orang Asli]] who have either assimilated Negrito population or have admixed origins. According to the 2006 census, the number of Orang Asli was 141,230 <ref>{{cite web|author=|title=JAKOA Program|url=http://www.jakoa.gov.my/en/orang-asli/program-jakoa/|publisher=Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli (JAKOA)|access-date=2021-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923134202/http://www.jakoa.gov.my/en/orang-asli/program-jakoa/|archive-date=2017-09-23|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Andamanese of India with just c. over 500. Thailand Negrito Maniq is estimated 300,  divided into several clans.<ref name="TheMani">{{cite web|last1=Thonghom|last2=Weber|first2=George|title=36. The Negrito of Thailand; The Mani|url=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter36/text36.htm|website=Andaman.org|accessdate=23 December 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520173144/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter36/text36.htm|archive-date=20 May 2013}}</ref><ref name=":0">''Primal Survivor: Season 5, episode 1''</ref> Other puts it at 382<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2644750/calls-for-maniq-tribe-to-get-their-own-patch | title=Calls for Maniq tribe to get their own patch | newspaper=Bangkok Post | date=11 September 2023 }}</ref> or less than 500.<ref> 2016 https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/1139777/no-common-ground</ref>

== Culture ==
[[File:Taman Negara (30509997143).jpg|thumb|Batek family in Malaysia.]]
Most groups designated as "Negrito" lived as [[hunter-gatherer]]s, while some also used [[agriculture]], such as plant harvesting. Today most live assimilated to the majority population of their respective homeland. Discrimination and [[poverty]] are often problems, caused either by their lower social position, their hunter-gatherer lifestyles, or both.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rutufoundation.org/hunting-gathering-in-the-tropical-rainforest-something-for-children/|title=The {{sic|succ|esful|nolink=y}} revival of Negrito culture in the Philippines|date=2015-05-06|website=Rutu Foundation|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-19}}</ref>

==Origins==
{{Seealso|Genetic history of East Asians|Peopling of Southeast Asia}}
[[File:PCA of Orang Asli and Andamanese with world populations in HGDP.png|thumb|Position of various ethnic groups considered "Negrito". Negritos and Oceanians are most closely related to East Asians followed by Native Americans.]]
[[File:A young Onge mother with her baby.jpg|thumb|upright|A young [[Onge]] mother with her baby ([[Andaman Islands]], [[British Raj|India]], 1905)]]
Based on perceived physical similarities, Negritos were once considered a single population of closely related people. However, genetic studies suggest that they consist of several separate groups descended from the same ancient [[Genetic history of East Asians|East Eurasian]] meta-population that gave rise to modern [[Genetic history of East Asians|East Asian peoples]] and [[Oceania|Oceanian peoples]], as well as displaying genetic heterogeneity. The Negritos form the indigenous population of Southeast Asia, but were largely absorbed by [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic-]] and [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian-speaking]] groups who migrated from southern East Asia into Mainland and Insular Southeast Asia with the [[Neolithic]] expansion. The remainders form minority groups in geographically isolated regions.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Sofwan Noerwidi |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CDDFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |title=New Perspectives in Southeast Asian and Pacific Prehistory |date=2017 |publisher=ANU Press |isbn=978-1-76046-095-2 |editor-last=Piper |editor-first=Philip J. |location=Acton, Australian Capital Territory |page=92 |language=en |chapter=Using Dental Metrical Analysis to Determine the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene Population History of Java |editor-last2=Matsumura |editor-first2=Hirofumi |editor-last3=Bulbeck |editor-first3=David}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chaubey |first1=Gyaneshwer |last2=Endicott |first2=Phillip |title=The Andaman Islanders in a Regional Genetic Context: Reexamining the Evidence for an Early Peopling of the Archipelago from South Asia |journal=Human Biology |date=June 2013 |volume=85 |issue=1–3 |pages=153–172 |doi=10.3378/027.085.0307 |pmid=24297224 |s2cid=7774927 |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol85/iss1/7 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Basu 1594–1599">{{Cite journal|last1=Basu|first1=Analabha|last2=Sarkar-Roy|first2=Neeta|last3=Majumder|first3=Partha P.|date=2016|title=Genomic reconstruction of the history of extant populations of India reveals five distinct ancestral components and a complex structure|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=113|issue=6|pages=1594–1599|doi=10.1073/pnas.1513197113|pmc=4760789|pmid=26811443|bibcode=2016PNAS..113.1594B|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Larena">{{Cite journal|last1=Larena|first1=Maximilian|last2=Sanchez-Quinto|first2=Federico|last3=Sjödin|first3=Per|last4=McKenna|first4=James|last5=Ebeo|first5=Carlo|last6=Reyes|first6=Rebecca|last7=Casel|first7=Ophelia|last8=Huang|first8=Jin-Yuan|last9=Hagada|first9=Kim Pullupul|last10=Guilay|first10=Dennis|last11=Reyes|first11=Jennelyn|date=2021|title=Multiple migrations to the Philippines during the last 50,000 years|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=118|issue=13|at=e2026132118|doi=10.1073/pnas.2026132118|pmc=8020671|pmid=33753512|bibcode=2021PNAS..11826132L |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Carlhoff 543–547">{{Cite journal|last1=Carlhoff|first1=Selina|last2=Duli|first2=Akin|last3=Nägele|first3=Kathrin|last4=Nur|first4=Muhammad|last5=Skov|first5=Laurits|last6=Sumantri|first6=Iwan|last7=Oktaviana|first7=Adhi Agus|last8=Hakim|first8=Budianto|last9=Burhan|first9=Basran|last10=Syahdar|first10=Fardi Ali|last11=McGahan|first11=David P.|date=2021|title=Genome of a middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=596|issue=7873|pages=543–547|doi=10.1038/s41586-021-03823-6| pmc=8387238 |pmid=34433944|bibcode=2021Natur.596..543C|hdl=10072/407535|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tagore|first1=Debashree|last2=Aghakhanian|first2=Farhang|last3=Naidu|first3=Rakesh|last4=Phipps|first4=Maude E.|last5=Basu|first5=Analabha|date=2021|title=Insights into the demographic history of Asia from common ancestry and admixture in the genomic landscape of present-day Austroasiatic speakers|journal=BMC Biology|volume=19|issue=1|page=61|doi=10.1186/s12915-021-00981-x|pmc=8008685|pmid=33781248 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Melinda A. |title=A genetic history of migration, diversification, and admixture in Asia |journal=Human Population Genetics and Genomics |date=6 January 2022 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.47248/hpgg2202010001 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yew |first1=Chee-Wei |last2=Lu |first2=Dongsheng |last3=Deng |first3=Lian |last4=Wong |first4=Lai-Ping |last5=Ong |first5=Rick Twee-Hee |last6=Lu |first6=Yan |last7=Wang |first7=Xiaoji |last8=Yunus |first8=Yushimah |last9=Aghakhanian |first9=Farhang |last10=Mokhtar |first10=Siti Shuhada |last11=Hoque |first11=Mohammad Zahirul |last12=Voo |first12=Christopher Lok-Yung |last13=Abdul Rahman |first13=Thuhairah |last14=Bhak |first14=Jong |last15=Phipps |first15=Maude E. |last16=Xu |first16=Shuhua |last17=Teo |first17=Yik-Ying |last18=Kumar |first18=Subbiah Vijay |last19=Hoh |first19=Boon-Peng |title=Genomic structure of the native inhabitants of Peninsular Malaysia and North Borneo suggests complex human population history in Southeast Asia |journal=Human Genetics |date=February 2018 |volume=137 |issue=2 |pages=161–173 |doi=10.1007/s00439-018-1869-0 |pmid=29383489 |s2cid=253969988 |quote=The analysis of time of divergence suggested that ancestors of Negrito were the earliest settlers in the Malay Peninsula, whom first separated from the Papuans ~ 50-33 thousand years ago (kya), followed by East Asian (~ 40-15 kya)...}}</ref>

Genetic studies provided mixed evidence of modern Negrito populations, with admixtures in different. Studies indicate that Negrito populations are closer to their neighboring non-Negrito communities in their paternal heritage and overall DNA on average.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aghakhanian |first1=Farhang |last2=Yunus |first2=Yushima |last3=Naidu |first3=Rakesh |last4=Jinam |first4=Timothy |last5=Manica |first5=Andrea |last6=Hoh |first6=Boon Peng |last7=Phipps |first7=Maude E. |display-authors=2 |title=Unravelling the Genetic History of Negritos and Indigenous Populations of Southeast Asia |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |date=14 April 2015 |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=1206–1215 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evv065 |pmid=25877615 |pmc=4453060 |issn=1759-6653}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref><ref>Endicott et al. 2003; Thangaraj et al. 2005; Wang et al. 2011), Y chromosome (Delfin et al. 2011; Scholes et al. 2011), and autosomal (HUGO Pan-Asia SNP Consortium 2009) studies indicate that Negrito populations are closer to their neighboring non-Negrito communities.</ref>

It has been found that the physical and morphological phenotypes of Negritos, such as short stature, a wide and snub nose, curly hair and dark skin, "''are shaped by novel mechanisms for adaptation to tropical rainforests''" through [[convergent evolution]] and [[Positive Selection|positive selection]], rather than a remnant of a shared common ancestor, as suggested previously by some researchers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stock |first1=Jay T. |title=The Skeletal Phenotype of 'Negritos' from the Andaman Islands and Philippines Relative to Global Variation among Hunter-Gatherers |journal=Human Biology |date=June 2013 |volume=85 |issue=1–3 |pages=67–94 |doi=10.3378/027.085.0304 |pmid=24297221 |s2cid=32964023 |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol85/iss1/4 |quote=Although general similarities in size and proportions remain between the Andamanese and Aeta, differences in humero-femoral indices and arm length between these groups and the Efé demonstrate that there is not a generic 'pygmy' phenotype. Our interpretations of negrito origins and adaptation must account for this phenotypic variation.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Xiaoming |last2=Liu |first2=Qi |last3=Zhang |first3=Hui |last4=Zhao |first4=Shilei |last5=Huang |first5=Jiahui |last6=Sovannary |first6=Tuot |last7=Bunnath |first7=Long |last8=Aun |first8=Hong Seang |last9=Samnom |first9=Ham |last10=Su |first10=Bing |last11=Chen |first11=Hua |title=The distinct morphological phenotypes of Southeast Asian aborigines are shaped by novel mechanisms for adaptation to tropical rainforests |journal=National Science Review |date=31 March 2022 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=nwab072 |doi=10.1093/nsr/nwab072 |pmid=35371514 |pmc=8970429 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deng |first1=Lian |last2=Pan |first2=Yuwen |last3=Wang |first3=Yinan |last4=Chen |first4=Hao |last5=Yuan |first5=Kai |last6=Chen |first6=Sihan |last7=Lu |first7=Dongsheng |last8=Lu |first8=Yan |last9=Mokhtar |first9=Siti Shuhada |last10=Rahman |first10=Thuhairah Abdul |last11=Hoh |first11=Boon-Peng |last12=Xu |first12=Shuhua |title=Genetic Connections and Convergent Evolution of Tropical Indigenous Peoples in Asia |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |date=3 February 2022 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=msab361 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msab361 |pmid=34940850 |pmc=8826522 |quote=We hypothesize that phenotypic convergence of the dark pigmentation in TIAs could have resulted from parallel (e.g., DDB1/DAK) or genetic convergence driven by admixture (e.g., MTHFD1 and RAD18), new mutations (e.g., STK11), or notably purifying selection (e.g., MC1R).}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Endicott |first1=Phillip |last2=Gilbert |first2=M. Thomas P. |last3=Stringer |first3=Chris |last4=Lalueza-Fox |first4=Carles |last5=Willerslev |first5=Eske |last6=Hansen |first6=Anders J. |last7=Cooper |first7=Alan |title=The Genetic Origins of the Andaman Islanders |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=January 2003 |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=178–184 |doi=10.1086/345487 |pmid=12478481 |pmc=378623 |quote=D-loop and protein-coding data reveal that phenotypic similarities with African pygmoid groups are convergent.}}</ref>

A Negrito-like population was most likely also present in [[Taiwan]] before the Neolithic expansion and must have persisted into historical times, as suggested by evidence from morphological features of human skeletal remains dating from around 6,000 years ago resembling Negritos (especially Aetas in northern Luzon), and further corroborated by Chinese reports from the [[Qing dynasty|Qing period rule of Taiwan]] (1684 to 1895) and from tales of [[Taiwanese indigenous peoples]] about people with "dark skin, short-and-small body stature, frizzy hair, and occupation in forested mountains or remote caves".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hung |first1=Hsiao-chun |last2=Matsumura |first2=Hirofumi |last3=Nguyen |first3=Lan Cuong |last4=Hanihara |first4=Tsunehiko |last5=Huang |first5=Shih-Chiang |last6=Carson |first6=Mike T. |title=Negritos in Taiwan and the wider prehistory of Southeast Asia: new discovery from the Xiaoma Caves |journal=World Archaeology |date=4 October 2022 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=207–228 |doi=10.1080/00438243.2022.2121315 |s2cid=252723056 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Australo-Melanesian}}
* {{annotated link|Mbabaram people}}
* {{annotated link|Melanesians}}

==Notes==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Negritos}}

===References===
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Evans, Ivor Hugh Norman. ''The Negritos of Malaya''. Cambridge [Eng.]: University Press, 1937.
* {{cite journal |last1=Benjamin |first1=Geoffrey |title=Why Have the Peninsular 'Negritos' Remained Distinct? |journal=Human Biology |date=June 2013 |volume=85 |issue=1–3 |pages=445–484 |doi=10.3378/027.085.0321 |pmid=24297237 |hdl=10356/106539 |s2cid=9918641 |hdl-access=free }}
* Garvan, John M., and Hermann Hochegger. ''The Negritos of the Philippines''. Wiener Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte und Linguistik, Bd. 14. Horn: F. Berger, 1964.
* Hurst Gallery. ''Art of the Negritos''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Hurst Gallery, 1987.
* {{cite book |last1=bin Abdullah |first1=Khadizan |last2=Yaacob |first2=Abdul Razak |title=Pasir Lenggi, a Bateq Negrito resettlement area in Ulu Kelantan |date=1974 |oclc=2966355 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Mirante |first1=Edith |title=The Wind in the Bamboo: A Journey in Search of Asia's 'Negrito' Indigenous People |date=2014 |publisher=Orchid Press Publishing Limited |isbn=978-974-524-189-3 }}
* Schebesta, P., & Schütze, F. (1970). ''The Negritos of Asia''. Human relations area files, 1–2. New Haven, Conn: Human Relations Area Files.
* [[Armando Marques Guedes]] (1996). ''Egalitarian Rituals. Rites of the Atta hunter-gatherers of Kalinga-Apayao, Philippines'', Social and Human Sciences Faculty, [[Universidade Nova de Lisboa]].
* Zell, Reg. ''About the Negritos: A Bibliography''. Edition blurb, 2011.
* Zell, Reg. ''Negritos of the Philippines''. The People of the Bamboo - Age - A Socio-Ecological Model. Edition blurb, 2011.
* Zell, Reg, John M. Garvan. ''An Investigation: On the Negritos of Tayabas''. Edition blurb, 2011.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Negrito}}
{{AmCyc Poster|Negritos}}
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20329 ''Negritos of Zambales'']—detailed book written by an American at the turn of the previous century holistically describing the Negrito culture
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130520173144/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter36/text36.htm Andaman.org: The Negrito of Thailand]
* [https://archive.today/20150918164946/http://www.sac.or.th/databases/siamrarebooks/main/index.php/history/jss/314-the-southeast-asian-negrito The Southeast Asian Negrito]

{{Negritos}}
{{Historical definitions of race}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Negritos| ]]
[[Category:Demographics of the Philippines]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Indonesia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Malaysia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Thailand]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Austronesian peoples]]