Semang

This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. See why. (August 2021)

Semang

Sakai / Pangan / Ngò' Pa
A Batek family in Kuala Tahan, Pahang, Malaysia
Total population
Approximately 4,800
Regions with significant populations
Malay Peninsula:
Malaysia	Approximately 2,000–3,000[1]
Thailand	300[2]
Languages
Jedek,[3] Batek, Lanoh, Jahai, Mendriq, Mintil, Kensiu, Kintaq, Ten'edn, Thai, Malay, English
Religion
Animism and significant adherents of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Other Orang Asli, Maniq, Andamanese[4]

The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula.^[5][6] They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan^[7] and Kedah of Malaysia^[8] and the southern provinces of Thailand.^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11]