This paper takes as its point of departure a figure standing 63 inches tall crafted of wood, textile, glass beads, cowrie shells and brass in the late 19th century by the Bamum peoples of Fumban in the Grassfields region of Cameroon (85-8-1, gift of Evelyn A.J. Hall and John Friede, on display at the National Museum of African Art). The complex symbolism and beautiful artisanship of this piece provide a sense of the social and cultural complexity of this people and the aesthetic sophistication of the group.
Cameroon is often described as a "racial crossroads" because of its more than 200 different ethnic groups, although this linguistic wealth can in fact be simplified to some extent because almost all of the languages can be divided into three main linguistic groups: the Bantu-speaking people of the south, the Sudanic-speaking people of the north, and those who speak the Semi-Bantu languages of the west (Geary 21a).
Much of the reason for this linguistic diversity stems from the fact that the current inhabitant of Cameroon came originally from so many different places. The Bantu speakers settled in the Cameroon from equatorial Africa, coming in a series of waves: the Maka, Ndjem, the Duala, and then at the beginning of the 19th century by the Fang (Pangwe) and Beti peoples (Barley p. 38).
The Sudanic-speaking peoples include the Sao, who live on the Adamawa Plateau; the Fulani; and the Kanuri. The Fulani came from the Niger basin in two waves, in the 11th and 19th centuries; they were Muslims who converted and subjugated the peoples of the several riverine valleys. The third ethnic group consists mainly of small tribes, except for the Bantu-related Bamileke, who live between the lower slopes of the Adamawa Plateau and Mount Cameroon. Other western Semi-Bantu-speaking tribes include the Tikar, who live in the Bamenda region and in the western high plateau (Barley 41).
The oldest inhabitants of the country are the Pygmies, l...