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who was his father amongst the people who were taking guards behind him. His court led by Ngouoh became doubtful and thought the boy may eventually learn that they are the people who killed his father. Mfon
Mbienkuo was carried away and killed in a place called "Mfe shut Mfon mbwere." The throne remained vacant for some time and Ngouoh, the leader of the court ultimately became Mfon. He unfortunately was not a descendant of king Mbuembue. He was a Bamileke slave. Ngouoh was not welcome by his subjects and decided to move the palace to his own location. Mfon Ngouoh was later chased away after a fierce fight between him and the followers of Mbuembue. Nsangou, a grandson of Mbuembue became king.
229:. By the end of the conflict, the king was killed, and his head was carried off by the Nso. Immediately after, one of the king's wives, Njapdunke, took over the kingdom's government with her lover Gbetnkom Ndo`mbue. (Gbetnkom was not the mfon as there was another Gbetnkom who was the son of Mfon Mbuembue the great conqueror.) After the death of Mfon Mbuembue, there was no male heir to inherit his throne. Njapdunke took over for some time but failed to represent the king. She was removed and it was thought that one of the king's sons Mbetnkom was at a village called Massagham for treatment. He was brought back and became Mfon Mbetnkom.
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299:. Fumban was captured by the British under Colonel Gorges in December 1915, and Gorges included a first-hand account of the people and their capital in his book. Gorges described Njoya as being understandably "a trifle nervous" when they first met but accepted British rule once he was reassured that no harm would come to him or his people. In 1918, Germany's colonial possessions including Kamerun were divided between Great Britain and France, and the kingdom of Bamoun thus fell under French rule. In 1923 Njoya was deposed, and his script was banned by the French.
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response, Njoya cut back on royal excesses. Nobles were allowed to marry slaves and those of the non-landed servile class. The king, however, remained unconverted to
Christianity. He merged some of the tenets of Christianity and Islam with traditional beliefs to create a new religion more palatable to his subjects.
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Little is known about the kingdom's material and social culture during this time. Originally, the language of state in the Bamum kingdom was that of the Tikar. This apparently did not last long, and the language of the conquered Mben was adopted. The economy was largely agricultural, and slave owning
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leader Hamman Sambo in the 1820s, fortifying the capital with a trench that stopped the Fulani horsemen. He was the founder of the emblem of the Bamun people, characteristic of their capabilities to fight in two fronts and win both at the same time. He represented the Bamun people by a snake with two
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at the capital of and construction was undertaken to build a temple. A school was built, staffed by missionaries who taught in German and the native language. The
Germans introduced new housing construction techniques while settling among the kingdom's inhabitants as farmers, traders and educators.
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Mbetnkom was a short man, a dictator who had the legs of those who were taller than him chopped off. This was a practice that cost his life during a hunting training session. After his death, his little son, Mbienkuo succeeded him. He was too young to rule. It became a habit for him to want to know
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and Chamba warriors. By the end of the century, Bamum had perhaps 10,000-12,000 within its domain. The history and customs of the Bamum list ten kings between the founder and Kuotu. The nine kings who followed Nchare are not remembered for anything special. They were not conquerors, and territorial
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and other new foods, which helped the kingdom become more prosperous. The Mbum were able to trade outside their traditional borders, and the income greatly improved the standard of living. King Njoya was much influenced by the missionaries who denounced idols, human sacrifice and polygamy. In
255:, son of the slain king, came to power. He was one of Bamum's most prolific rulers and ruled from approximately 1883 to 1931. He voluntarily put his kingdom under the protection of German colonial power and was responsible for modernizing certain elements of Mbum society.
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The Bamum kingdom's population used secret societies. One society, the ngiri, was for princes. Another, the mitngu, was for the general populace regardless of social status. The mfon recruited most of his retainers from twins and the sons of princesses.
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The king of Bamum was known as the mfon, a title shared by Tikar rulers. The mfon engaged in large-scale polygamy giving rise to a proliferation of royal lineages. This led to the palace nobility growing rapidly.
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backed up by King Njoya's warriors. After the victory, the force reclaimed the head of Njoya's father, which was crucial for legitimizing the king. From then on, the bond between Bamum and
Germany was strong.
184:, then called Mfomben. This first group of Tikar emigrants conquerors absorbed the language and customs of their new subjects and were from then on known as Mbum. It is believed that
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was the first ruler to expand the Bamun
Kingdom, famously claiming that he would mark his borders "with blood and black iron". He repelled an attack by the
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royal dynasty. The founding king (called a "fon" or "mfon") was Nchare, a conqueror reputed to have crushed some 18 rulers. King Nchare founded the capital
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was practiced on a small scale. The Bamum kingdom traded with neighboring populations. They imported salt, iron, beads, cotton goods and copper objects.
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so that his people could record Bamum's history. In 1910, Njoya had a school constructed where the script was taught. Germans were allowed to set up the
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as royal cloth. This royal cloth was called Ntieya, and Hausa craftsmen were kept at palace workshops to supply nobles and teach the art of dyeing.
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The Bamun kingdom voluntarily became part of German
Kamerun in 1884 during the reign of Mfon Nsangou. During his reign, Bamum fought a war with the
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In 1897, Njoya and his court converted to Islam, a decision that would affect Bamun culture long after Njoyua's death. He invented the
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The Bamun developed an extensive artistic culture at their capital of
Foumban at the beginning of the 20th century. During
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King Njoya remained loyal to his German overlords who respected his rights as king and consulted him on colonial business.
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Another important element in the kingdom's history during German protection was the introduction of sweet potatoes,
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357:’s reign six color dye pits were maintained. The Mbum imported indigo-dyed raffia-sewn cloth from the
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expansion did not occur until the reign of the tenth Mbum, Mbum
Mbuembue, in the early 19th century.
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During the 18th century, the kingdom faced the threat of invasion from the north by
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Bisson, Michael S; S. Terry Childs; Philip de Barros; Augustin F. C. Holl (2001).
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576:. Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., London; Naval & Military Press, Uckfield, 2004:
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General
History of Africa V: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century
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African
Crossroads: Intersections Between History and Anthropology in Cameroon
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Crosscurrents: African Americans, Africa, and Germany in the Modern World
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152:) (1394–c. 1916) was a Central African state in what is now northwest
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The Bamum kingdom was originally founded by the older brother of the
558:. Budapest: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 1288 Pages.
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migrations from the Tikar Plain in the southern part of the western
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McBride, David; Leroy Hopkins; C. Aisha Blackshire-Belay (1998).
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591:. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 512 Pages.
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In 1906, Germany sent an expeditionary force against the
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610:. Rochester: Boydell & Brewer. pp. 260 Pages.
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THE RISE AND FALL OF FULANI RULE IN ADAMAWA 1809 - 1901
667:. Edison: Transaction Publishers. pp. 847 Pages.
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European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa Vol. 1
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Ancient African Metallurgy: The Sociocultural Context
520:. Stuttgart: Alta Mira Press. pp. 550 Pages.
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648:. Garden City: Routledge. pp. 256 Pages.
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665:Almanac of African Peoples & Nations
629:. Oxford: Berg Publishers. p. 217.
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129:Kingdom in Northwest Region of Cameroon
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324:MomaMfon Rabiatou Njoya in
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81:Government
168:in 1916.
71:Religion
365:See also
341:Artistry
210:Mbuembue
154:Cameroon
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196:History
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172:Origins
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434:(PDF)
359:Hausa
355:Njoya
208:King
178:Tikar
158:Bamun
148:, or
142:Bamun
75:Islam
24:Bamum
669:ISBN
650:ISBN
631:ISBN
612:ISBN
593:ISBN
578:ISBN
560:ISBN
541:ISBN
522:ISBN
326:Baku
132:The
89:Mfon
280:Nso
227:Nso
150:Mum
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