Bamun
The Bamun (also Bamum or Mamum ; French spelling Bamoun , Mamoun or Mamoum ) are a West African ethnic group in Cameroon with around 215,000 members, most of whom live in the Kingdom of Bamum . They make up less than two percent of the total population of Cameroon.
Settlement area
The Bamun are mainly resident in the so-called Bamun Plateau in western Cameroon , a fertile grass plain of volcanic origin at an average height of 1200 m . Its cultural, political and religious center is the capital of its kingdom Foumban (approx. 113,100 inhabitants), which houses the palace district of the sultan and king of the Bamun as well as the largest mosque in the region.
Origin and history
The history of the Bamun has been passed on orally over the centuries and written down in the early 20th century . It describes the development up to the rule of the first king Nchare Yen (1394-1418), who, as the leader of a small group of people from the Tikar country further to the northeast, was able to subjugate some small states across the Mbam River . His successors continued to expand the ruled area. The Bamun have only been settled in their current settlement area since the 18th century . In doing so, they gradually displaced the Bamileke people from this area , who first settled in what is now Bamun Land after a similar migration.
The traditional story of the Bamun describes this process as follows: Under the leadership of King Nchare Yen, a group of 200 to 300 people crossed the Mbam River and subjugated seven smaller principalities around the town of Djimom . Nchare Yen then declared the establishment of the Bamun state and Djimom became its first capital . From there, Nchare Yen conquered a few dozen other small principalities and the city of Foumban , which he declared his new capital. At his death he ruled an area about 30 km in diameter, which was populated by about 25,000 subjects. He bequeathed his kingdom to one of his sons.
His successors were able to assert the empire against the surrounding states. King Mboumbouo Mandù , who ruled as the eleventh descendant of the dynasty at the end of the 18th century , succeeded in expanding the Bamun area to the Mbam and Noun rivers . Its area was almost quadrupled to approx. 7700 km² and reached approximately the size it is today. The population reached about 60,000.
During the reign of King Njoya (1894–1924) there was contact with representatives of the German Empire . At that time, Germany tried to colonize Cameroon . Njoya had recognized the overwhelming power of the newcomers and sought compensation with them. He was impressed by German culture and even convinced that he could combine it with the Bamun culture. To this end, he founded schools, developed his own script ( Bamun script ) and carried out political reforms that promoted the economic prosperity of his empire. Impressed by pictures from Germany , he had the old wooden palace of Foumban demolished and the present-day palace built based on the north German brick construction. As a sign of great respect, Njoya even gave the German Kaiser Wilhelm II the most sacred symbol of his royal dignity, a valuable pearl-studded throne, for his birthday in 1908. In return, he received a German from the Imperial Cuirassier - uniform of the Imperial Guard . The throne is still in the Ethnological Museum in Berlin today .
In the period that followed, however, the situation in Bamun land worsened due to the hardship of colonization by the Europeans. In 1924 King Njoya was deposed by the French , who had meanwhile taken over the colony as a League of Nations mandate from the Germans. Only after his death was his son enthroned again on June 25, 1933.
Since his death in 1992, the office of king and sultan has been held by the former minister Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya as the 18th ruler of the dynasty founded by Nchare Yen .
Geographer Franz Thorbecke at the court of King Njoya, King of the Bamum
The geographer Franz Thorbecke traveled to Cameroon in 1907/08 and 1911 to 1913. It reached the court of King Njoya, King of the Bamum. Its territory was in the west of Cameroon. On the second trip Thorbecke was accompanied by his wife Marie Pauline Thorbecke , a photographer and painter. The top mask of the ruler Njoya is one of the highlights of the Thorbecke collection. An elaborately crafted leopard throne also from Bamum was created by Dr. Theodor Seitz, Governor of Cameroon (1907–1910). The Thorbecke Collection is part of the ethnographic collection of the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums in Mannheim.
society
To this day, the Bamun, like most peoples of West Africa, live in hierarchical structures in which the clan or family plays a major role and is usually more important for social conditions than z. B. the state. At the head of a village, district or certain area there is a fon ("boss"), which is traditionally only towered over by the king as the head of the entire ethnic group. Since the Cameroonian state is now largely organized in a centralized manner, the traditional heads today are predominantly representative and advisory.
The Bamun are predominantly Islamic and their king also has the title of sultan . However, there are also Christians and followers of other religions among the Bamun, who are respected as long as they recognize the secular sovereignty of the king. The Sultanate of Foumban is the southernmost sultanate in Cameroon . The Sultan of Foumban is a very highly respected figure in Cameroon beyond the Bamun people, whose advice is still of great public interest today.
Maintaining cultural tradition and history is of great importance to the Bamun. Under the rule of King Njoya ( 1894 to 1924 ), to whom the Bamun state owes an economic and cultural boom as a result of extensive reforms , a special Bamun script was developed in which Njoya had the history of his people written down, and a national museum was founded , which is located in the Sultan's Palace of Foumban and is one of the most important museums in Cameroon today .
The Bamun are known throughout Cameroon as excellent craftsmen and are best known for their bronze and wood carving skills .
language
The Bamun language belongs to the Mbam-Nkam language branch of the Semibantu languages. Some speakers of this language also refer to them as Schupamem . The official ISO - language code is [bax]. There are some dialects related to the languages Bafanji , Bamali , Bambalang and Bangolan . Around 1895 Sultan Njoya developed his own script, or more precisely: several scripts, the last of which is also called "A-ka-u-ku" and had some success until the French colonial administration made their use a criminal offense and closed all schools that they had taught.