Elements for a History of the Western Grassfields

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Paul Nchoji NKWI Jean-PierreWARNIER

ELEMENTSFOR A HISTORY OF THE WESTERN , .GRASSFIELDS

Publicationsponsoredby the Universityof Yaounde 1982 PN. Nkwi and J. -P. Wamier

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AUTHORS' PREFACE Since the publication in 1968 of Dr. Kaberry and Mrs. Chilver's invaluable Traditional Bamenda, no attempt has been made to write a comprehensive history of the Western Grassfields. This book is an effort in this direction. }

We were prompted to write it by four considerations. First, Traditional Bamenda is not available anymore and unfortunately, there does not seem to be any plan for another edition. Second, since its publication, a number of scientific studies in Grassfields history and anthropology have been earned out. We, Wum, the Meta' chiefdoms, Korn, Modele, Bafut, Mankon, Babungo, have all been the object of intensive research by trained scholars in recent years. Many other chiefdoms have been covered by extensive surveys. These have enriched our knowledge of Grassfields history and call for a provisional synthesis. Third, the authors, like all their colleagues, have often felt, while asking innumerable questions to most patient informants, that the scientific community has contracted a debt towards Grassfields peoples. Yet the bulk of what scholars have produced is contained in learned journals and doctorate· dissertations that are, by necessity and with few exceptions, not available to the public. This book is an attempt to pay back such a debt and give an account to all the Grassfields peoples who contributed support and information, and have thus acquired a claim on its publication. Finally, the United Republic of Cameroon has taken steps to Cameroonise the history syllabus taught in schools throughout the country. We thought that we could contribute to this effort by publishing a book that might be of use to G.C.E. ''A" level, and un1vers1tystudents. It was felt that times were not ripe to issue a fully-fledged school textbook. Yet we tried to include some didactic developments that, we hope, will not deter the general public from reading us, while answering the basic needs of the students. The style and outline of the book are dictated by the needs of the two pubhcs 1t 1s addressed to -- the Cameroonian general public and the students. Both expect a work that reads easily and yet observes standards of historical reliability and interpretation that satisfies the professional historian. To that effect, we have tried to avoid any jargon (or to define technical

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words when their use was unavoidable), and to include as many illustrations and examples as possible. At the same time, we sought not to depart from a scientific approach to Grassfields history, and we have therefore been compelled to include a number of interpretative discussions. The peoples of the Western Grassfields have different and sometimes conflicting views of their common history. We had to compare these views, and to cross-check them with other kinds of data. A book in history is the end product oI a painstaking effort in which the raw data of oral traditional and other sources are vetted, weighed against one another and interpreted. A historian cannot be content with uncritically publishing raw data. Given the fact that this book will hopefully be read by many Grassfielders, we were led to discuss local - some would say parochial -- problems in historical interpretation, that would certainly be left aside in a more academic publication. The effort we made to compare various types of evidence will appear· mostly in the first parts, dealing with the early history of the Western Grassfields, down to the nineteenth century -- a period for which the data are scanty and raise the most acute problems of 'interpretation. In order to arrive at some kind of reliable picture, we had to draw on archaeological, linguistic and anthropological evidence with which the reader may not be very familiar. In order to help him through this first part, we tried to show how these sources could be handled to yield knowledge about the period. Before we go any further, let us state how we consider oral traditions as a source of historical knowledge. Oral traditions are invaluable -- often the only sources we have. But they must be cross-checked for internal and external consistency before we can accept them as reflecting historical events. Scholars working on African history have learned about the many deceptions of oral traditions. We have tried to avoid them by relying on several different types of historical evidence. We must therefore warn the reader not to be disappointed if he does not find some aspects of his own chiefdom's history that seem clearly attested from oral traditions. If we did not have sufficient evidence in support of their historicity, we decided to leave them aside. We shall explain, in the first part, that it would be misleading to deal separately with the history of each chiefdom. All the chiefdoms of the Grassfields were part of tight commercial,

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social and diplomatic networks, and their history would be severely truncated if they were taken in isolation. We have therefore adopted a regional approach to the history of the Grassfields and shall deal with regions rather than with individual chiefdoms. The regions selected as the units of study are of two sizes.:the Western Grassfields as a whole on the one hand, and, within them on the other hand , small groups of. chiefdoms. Whereas the first part will deal with the features common to all Western Grassfields chiefdoms, the second part will be made up of regional monographs dealing with groups of chiefdoms sharing a few basic characteristics which distinguish them from their neighbours. Given the fact that there is far less easily accessible material on the early history than on the period of European conquest and rule, we shall concentrate our efforts on the period previous to 1900. For the period following that date, we shall limit ourselves to try and assess the fate of pre-colonial institutions after 1900. This will be done in the general conclusion. We must now say a word about the area covered. In our opinion, the highlands of Western Cameroon, including the Bamileke, Bamoun and Bamenda areas, form a cultural and historical whole. Ideally they should be covered by a single book. However, we felt that our competence extended only over the Western Grassfields or, more precisely, over the Northwestern Grassfields. Besides this incidental reason, there are objective considerations that can be put forward in support of this approach. The Bamileke area was connected with the coastal trade much earlier than the rest of the Grassfields and followed a course of its own from the eighteenth century onwards. The Bamoun kingdom also developed along specific lines in the nineteenth century. What is left of the Grassfields, that is, their western part, can be considered as a unit and we shall focus the book on its history. Yet we shall link up the history of the area under consideration with that of neighbouring peoples. This history of the Western Grassfields is by no means definitive. We hope that it will be obsolete in a few years, and the sooner the best, for there is still an enormous amount of work to be done to uncover the past of the Grassfields. A number of regions have not yet been studied by trained scholars. To write the chapters dealing with them, we were forced to draw on data collected by colonial officers and consigned

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mostly in Intelligence and Assessment Reports. Although invaluable, such sources cannot be entirely relied upon, and in the future, the study of these areas should be given priority. For such studies, historians and anthropologists depend very much on the public. This is why we added an appendix to give a few indications to the public of how they can help with historical research. If this book is of any use to the reader, we hope the latter will care to give a helping hand in future research. Had we quoted all our sources, the text would have been overcrowded with references, thus .defeating our aim to provide clear reading. We chose therefore not to include any references in the text, except when quoting verbatim. To compensate for this, we included a bibliography in which all our major sources will be found. Scholars will be disappointed by the lack of references, especially when we· make. use of unpublished data. If this book proves successful, we hope to turn out a more academic version of it in the future. We present this book as a token of gratitude to all the people, chiefs, title holders, elderly men and women, research assistants and interpreters who contributed their knowledge of the past, often for very little reward, except the hope that such a book would sometimes be written for the benefit of their children. Their contribution, however, would not have been possible without the linguists, historians and anthropologists who studied the languages and collected what the Grassfields people had to say about their own history, and by conducting first-hand research. This book is directly based on their analyses and publications. We made extensive use of the contributions of E.M. Chilver, P.M. Kaberry, I. Kopytoff, C. Geary, R. Dillon, B. Masquelier, C. Tardi ts, M. Rowlands, and the members of the Grassfields Bantu Working Group. Lastly, we would like to express thanks to Dr. Lovett Elango and Mr. Pierre de Maret for valuable critiques 'and suggestions, and to Mrs. Jessica Weir and Mr. Paul Wilson for editing the final draft of this book.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHORS' PREFACE PART I: FROM HUNTERS TO BLACKSMITHS AND TRADERS BY Jean-Pierre WARNIER Chapter 1. The Hunters of Shum Laka and their Descent Chapter 2. Trade and Politics: the Common Institutions Chapter 3. The Nineteenth Century: Horses, Slaves and Guns

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PART II. REGIONAL MONOGRAPHS (Chapters 4 and 5 by Jean-Pierre Warnier, all subsequent chapters by Paul Nchoji Nkwi) Chapter 4. The Bamenda Plateau and Surroundings, J-P. Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter

Warnier 110 5. The Ndop Plain Chiefdoms J-P.. Wamier 125 6. Nso and her close Neighbours P.N. Nkwi 132 7. The Populations of the Nkam be Plateau P .N. Nkwj 149 • 8. The Kom-Bum-Fungom Area P. N. Nkwi 172 9. Aghem and Metchum Valley Chiefdoms P. N. Nkwi 201

CONCLUSION. THE WESTERN GRASSFIELDS AND SOCIOPOLITICAL CHANGE SINCE 1901 BY Paul NCHOJI NKWI 213 APPENDIX: HELP! A PLEA FOR HISTORICAL RESEARCH228 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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maps map I. .llap II. .llap Ill. .\lap IV. .1/ap V.

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n,e GrassjieldsLanguages·

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Agricultural specialisationsfor export Craft specialisationsfor export Lv11g-dista11ce trade routes a11dco1111nodities exchanged 51 through /011g-distancetrade 80 .\lap VI. Pressurefro111the .Vorth Grassfields 93 .llap J"//. Currency ;ones ea. 1880. Hlester11

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PHOTOGRAPHS Basalt tools found around Bamenda The rock shelter of Shum laka A Bamessing smelting furnace The Fun Abu'n1bi otBafut ea. 1820 The "Market Bag" of the Fon of Nso The Nso old market probably ea. 1950

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20 21 75 113 145 146

PART ONE: FROM HUNTERS TO BLACKSMITHS AND TRADERS

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