The King of Bamum

The Bamum People

The Bamum people are a very respected group living in Central Africa.
They take care for one another just like a family, and they have lived there for centuries and are still going strong. In the western grassfields of Cameroon is where they are located. Cameroon is a great, small place to live in because of the many environmental resources. If there was not anything there that helped the Bamum in their everyday life, how else would they have survived? However, there are downsides to the area around Cameroon, such as the north and south side. The south side contained long rainforests, while the north side had mountain ranges that were hard to pass through. They lived in the west part, because the other sides have harsh environments.

The name Bamum came from King Nchare. He made himself king and changed the name from Mban to Bamum.

Education

Teaching

Of course everybody needed their education.
Without it, the people wouldn't gain the knowledge they needed to survive where they live.
In order to be educated history and family values, children had to be taught by mothers.

Bamum Script

The Bamum Script was made 1896, from one of the most respected rulers of Cameroon, King Ibrahim Njoya.
In order to make this, he used a mixture of Arabic and Vai scripts. The first version of Bamum Script had pictographic and ideographic characters involved.
Since King Njoya wanted to spread his newly founded way of writing, he opened schools to encourage people to learn it.
Today, the Bamum Script is used by African teachers to teach their students about Bamum heritage.
Getting this knowledge from schools in Africa is a good idea because then any student coming from Cameroon will learn more about their native language.
Not only did this script help the schools and children, but it also helped administrators.
This was one of Njoya's best creations, because it contributed many for African people.

The State of Cameroon

Geography

Cameroon is the country where everything started. It is where the Bamum settled, and it is also where the first king ruled. Now in present time, the countries that surround Cameroon are Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. It is located in the Midwestern part of Africa. Other than that, there are physical features located there that are very important to the people living in these areas. For example there is Mt. Cameroon, and rivers that provide water like the Benue, Nyong, and Sanaga. Parts of the Chad River are located here also. Climates are tropical around the coast, while the north is hot. There are plains, plateaus, as well as mountains. The downside to Cameroon though are the hazards in the environment. Lakes Monoun and Nyos released limnic eruptions which killed many people. Even with these tragic happenings, Cameroon is still a good country to live in, because until now people are still living there.

History

Before the Bamum settled in Cameroon, Bantu speakers and Muslim Fulani settled there in the 18th and 19th century. German took control over this area after 1884. Luckily, many years later it was reunified thanks to the Kamerun National Democratic Party, with John Foncha as their leader. Cameroon become an Independent Republic 1960 because of an agreement with France. The exact date was January 1st. Britain's southern territory joined together with the Federal Public of Cameroon, which resulted into unifying with Nigeria.

Present Day

Today, the head of Cameroon is Paul Biya. He has been ruling ever since 1982.
The prime minister is Ephraīm Inoni, and has been this place since 2004.

More Facts

The languages spoken here are French and English, they are both official. There are also 24 African languages. The religions consisted in Cameroon are mostly Christian or Islam. Christian is 40%, while Islam is 20%. Other people choose to not have religious beliefs, which is 40% of the population. The technology is advanced now, with many using telephones, radios, and internet. Cameroon is becoming more like an advanced civilization everyday. The current population today is approximately 18,467,697.

Past Kings - Njoya and Nchare

King Njoya

King Njoya was ruler of the Bamum from 1895 to 1923 C. He was a very special King because of his many contributions, for example the Bamum Script. Bamum script is a type of language written by people in Africa which contains 510 pictographic letters. Njoya took a long time creating this, giving all his effort. He edited it six times, which now become 83 letters and 10 numerals. The Bamum Script became successful so he made 47 schools that taught it. Today, it is still used and taught in Africa.
He was a religious ruler, and converted to Islamic religion in 1981. King Njoya is a well known celebrated king in Cameroon.

King Nchare

Just like King Njoya, Nchare made contributions to what is now Cameroon. He is the reason why the people were known as Bamum, because he named it that when people declared him as ruler. He had many followers, but they were part of the Bamum's neighboring territory. Nchare loved finer things, so he made a palace in the rich part of his land named Foumban. Filled with envy, his people decided to attack it. This resulted into a problem, but later on fixed by surrounding the palace with a wall and a ditch. Besides naming the Bamum people what they are today, he named Cameroon's first capitals, Mbuembue and expanded many kingdoms.