The Bafut Subdivision or the Kingdom/Chiefdom/Fondom of Bafut is a commune in the

Mezam Mezam is a division of the North West Region of Cameroon. The department covers an area of 1745 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 524,127. The capital of the department lies at Bamenda. Subdivisions The department is divided admini ...

Department of Northwest Province,

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. It is located in the

Western Grassfields The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...

region - a name for the Northwest Province and surrounding grassland areas. Bafut is the most powerful of the traditional kingdoms of the Grassfields, now divided into 26 wards along a 10 kilometre stretch of the "Ring Road" that trails along a ridge above the

Menchum Valley The Menchum River and its tributaries drains a large area of the Northwest Region of Cameroon. It in turn is a tributary of the Benue River in Nigeria. Location The Menchum, Donga and Katsina Ala rivers all flow west from the Northeast Regio ...

. Bafut is primarily an agrarian region. The major languages of the region are the

Bafut language The Bafut language, ''Fut'', is an Eastern Grassfields language of the Niger–Congo languages, and related to Bamum. Oral tradition traces dynastic origins to the Ndobo or Tikari areas. It is spoken by people of Bafut Subdivision, Tuba, in the ...

and

Cameroonian Pidgin English Cameroonian Pidgin English, or Cameroonian Creole ( wes, Wes Cos, from West Coast), is a language variety of Cameroon. It is also known as Kamtok (from 'Cameroon-talk'). It is primarily spoken in the North West and South West English speaking re ...

. Its headquarters are located in the town of

Bafut Bafut may refer to several things relating to Cameroon: * Bafut language * Bafut Subdivision ** Bafut, Cameroon, the headquarters town of the subdivision * Bafut Wars, a series of early 20th-century wars * Fon of Bafut The Fon of Bafut is the fo ...

History

Bafut was a fondom or kingdom - ruled by the

Fon of Bafut The Fon of Bafut is the fon or Mfor (traditional ruler) of the town of Bafut and its adjoining areas in the Northwest Province, Cameroon, which comprise the erstwhile Fondom of Bafut. At present, the Fon of Bafut is still a local ruler, but und ...

using traditional power structures. However, following the

Bafut Wars The Bafut Wars were a series of wars fought in the early 20th century between the troops of the Fon of Bafut and German-backed troops of neighbouring fondoms and German troops. The wars ultimately led to a defeat for the Fon of Bafut, forcing h ...

in the early 20th century, the region came under the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. The Germans forced the Fon into exile, but had to ultimately reinstate him as leader when their

puppet ruler A puppet ruler is a person who has a title indicating possession of political power, but who, in reality, is either loyal to or controlled by outside individuals or forces. Such outside power can be exercised by a foreign government, in which case ...

was not accepted. The fall of the German Empire in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

brought the region under the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

as part of the

British Cameroons British Cameroon or the British Cameroons was a British mandate territory in British West Africa, formed of the Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Today, the Northern Cameroons forms parts of the Borno, Adamawa and Taraba states of N ...

. At least one Fon of Bafut,

Achirimbi II Achirimbi II was the tenth Fon ("King") who ruled over the town of Bafut and adjoining areas (the Fondom of Bafut) in a semi-autonomous fashion. His reign lasted from 1932 to 1968, and included the time of handover from the British trust territ ...

maintained friendly ties with the British. When the British left Cameroon in 1961, the region had a choice of joining either the newly formed Cameroon or

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Achirimbi II is famously said to have remarked that it was a choice between the "Fire and the Deep Sea"; the region ultimately joined Cameroon. Since 2017, Bafut has become of battleground of the

Anglophone Crisis The Anglophone Crisis (), also known as the Ambazonia War or the Cameroonian Civil War, is an ongoing civil war in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, part of the long-standing Anglophone problem. Following the suppression of the 2 ...

Operation Free Bafut Operation Free Bafut was a week-long Cameroonian military operation against the Seven Karta militia in and around Bafut Bafut may refer to several things relating to Cameroon: * Bafut language * Bafut Subdivision ** Bafut, Cameroon, the headquart ...

in April 2020 saw heavy fighting in and around the village.

Geography

The region of Bafut is situated about twenty kilometres northwest of

Bamenda Bamenda, also known as Abakwa and Mankon Town, is a city in northwestern Cameroon and capital of the Northwest Region, Cameroon, Northwest Region. The city has a population of about 2 million people and is located north-west of the Cameroonian ca ...

and covers an area of roughly . The estimated population of 80,000 (2005) is settled in three main zones. *At the centre are the people of ''Mumala'a'' (heart of the country) clustered around the Fon's palace who refer to themselves as the real Bafut (''Bufu''). This name can be applied to the whole chiefdom. *To the south is the ''Ntare'' (ridge area) *To the north is the ''Mbunti'' (lower) which descends abruptly to the

Menchum Menchum is a department of Northwest Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 4469 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 161,998. The capital of the department lies at Wum. The Menchum River drains this area, flowing west ...

river valley

Traditional power structures

Bafut is one of the two regions in Cameroon (the other being

Bali, Cameroon Bali is a town and commune in Cameroon, lying west of Bamenda. It has a population of 32,000 (2001 estimate). Formerly the centre of a kingdom, it is known for its palace and its regular festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrat ...

), where traditional power structures are still in place. Bafut is a chiefdom or fondom. It was long the centre of the local kingdom of the

Tikar The Tikar (also Tikari, Tige, Tigar, Tigre, Tikali) are a central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau in Cameroon. They are known as great artisans and storytellers. Once a nomadic people, some oral traditions trace the origin of ...

people (originally from the Northern regions of

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...

), and is administered by the

. The Fon of Bafut was, and to some extent still is, the ''paramount'' Fon of the region, with all other Fons pledging allegiance to him.

The region in popular culture

The Bafut Subdivision is known for *its palace of the Fon of Bafut, which houses a museum (see

for a section on the palace) *for its annual festival

Abin e Mfor The Brazilian Intelligence Agency ( pt, Agência Brasileira de Inteligência, ABIN) is the main intelligence agency in Brazil. ABIN's mission is to ensure that the Federal Executive has access to knowledge related to the security of the State a ...

or the ''Dance of the Mfor/Fon'' *as the place where the famous naturalist

Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island ...

came on two animal-collecting expeditions in 1949 and 1957. Durrell wrote two accounts - ''The Bafut Beagles'' and ''A Zoo in My Luggage'' - on his travels in Bafut, and created a mini TV series ''To Bafut with Beagles''.

References

*R. K. Engard; Myth and political economy in Bafut (Cameroon)- the structural history of an African kingdom; ''Paideuma'', Vol. 34, pp. 49 – 89; 1988 *R. K. Engard; Dance and power in Bafut (Cameroon), ''Creativity of power: Cosmology and action in African societies'', ed. W. Arens and Ivan Karp,

Smithsonian Institution Press The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

; 1989 * Michael Tabuwé Aletum; Political conflicts within the traditional and the modern institutions: A case study of the Bafut-Cameroon; Vander Pub., 1973 {{Coord missing, Cameroon Communes of Northwest Region (Cameroon)