The Bamiléké are a Central African people from Cameroon, in the Grassland region (west). They are the largest ethnic group in the country.
The Bamiléké
By Tematio Maurice
The Bamiléké people, located in western Cameroon, in the grassfields, are a highly dynamic and organized people and represent one of the most important ethnic groups in Cameroon, both in terms of population and presence across the national territory.
The territory they occupy lies between 4° and 6° north latitude, and 9° and 10° east longitude. It covers an area of 6,200 km². It is a vast quadrilateral of rolling high plateaus, bordered to the east by the Noun Valley, to the southwest by the Mbo collapse plain, to the southeast by the Dibum depression, and to the south by the upper course of the Makombé River.
Despite their shared origins and history, the Bamiléké today speak a very large number of dialects spread across around a hundred small independent kingdoms. However, these differences do not prevent the existence of common elements found in all Bamiléké chiefdoms and villages.
Renowned throughout the country for their sense of commerce, the Bamiléké are also characterized by their expansionist tendencies and their rapid demographic growth. This is very often a source of conflict in several regions of the country. Nevertheless, one cannot deny them recognition as a dynamic, organized, and united people.
Finally, the Bamiléké people are deeply attached to their roots. They respect and preserve ancestral traditions, forming a paradoxical and surprising people: individualistic yet united, materialistic and expansionist, proud yet disciplined.
Our intention is to show how this people, often criticized for being very secretive, are organized. Why and how this organization can contribute to peace and development in Cameroon.
We will first seek to understand their origins and settlement (I), then highlight the striking elements of their culture (II), and finally examine how all this can contribute to peace and development.
I) Genesis of Bamiléké Settlement
A) Egyptian Origins
The raw truth about the origins and anthropology of the Bamiléké people initially rested on oral tradition, resulting from etiological and historical narratives, personal memories, explanatory commentaries, testimonies, occasional notes, proverbs, onomastics (place names and personal names), popular songs, codes and symbols, and genealogical and dynastic assertions and information.
This raw truth would later be confirmed through encounters with the Baladis and the writings concerning them, as well as through tracing part of the probable trajectory of the Bamiléké from Egypt to Tikar country. Before that, the work and reflections of Egyptologist Moustapha Gadalla, among others, helped corroborate the link between the Baladis of Egypt and the Bamiléké.
Furthermore, linguistic similarities have supported the oral literature thesis concerning the Bamiléké trajectory during their migratory movements from the banks of the Nile [1].
The Bamiléké are therefore believed to have departed from medieval Egypt in the 9th century CE. They arrived in the Tikar region around the middle of the 12th century, before dividing around 1360, upon the death of their last unified sovereign, King Ndéh.
Yendé, the first prince, refused the throne and crossed the Noun River to found Bafoussam. His sister went toward the Banso region [2]. Two decades later, Ncharé, the younger brother, descended into the Noun plain to found the Bamoun kingdom. From Bafoussam would emerge nearly all the other Bamiléké groups between the 15th and 20th centuries (Bansoa was born in 1910 following the forced exile of Fo Taghe from Bafoussam) [3].
Other sources indicate that the Bamiléké spoke a single language, Bamiléké, until their fragmentation in the mid-14th century following the death of their sovereign. From this original Bamiléké language emerged Bamiléké-Bafoussam and Bamoun.
Bamoun later branched into around twenty dialectal subvariants before being unified by Sultan Njoya at the beginning of the 20th century.
Bamiléké-Bafoussam continued to branch out over time, giving birth to dozens of dialectal variants, themselves possessing more or less negligible subvariants.
Bamiléké-Bafoussam is therefore the mother tongue of the other Bamiléké dialects, except Bamoun. Thus, the Bamiléké are brothers of the Bamoun group who chose to cross the NUN River, despite their knowledge of the ancient Egyptian myth which said that “black-colored water brings chaos, misfortune, and bad luck.”
Several facts indicate that they nevertheless crossed this black-water river because they did not want to be overtaken by Muslims.
Unlike the Bamouns, who identify with the god Amon, the Bamiléké identify through their origins, those of ancient Upper Egypt.
The figurative meaning of Bamiléké is therefore: descendants of the ancient Egyptians.
The word “Bamiléké” is a modern designation created to facilitate reading in Western languages. BA’ Mieh Lah Ke‘ is the closest rendering to the original guttural pronunciation [4].
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