The Bakweri (or Kwe) are a
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
of the
Republic of 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 ...
. They are closely related to Cameroon's coastal peoples (the
Sawa Sawa may refer to:
Places
* Sawa, Nepal, a village development committee
* Sawa, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, a village
* Saveh, sometimes transliterated Sāwa, Iran, a city
* Sawa Lake, Iraq
People
* Sawa (Hrycuniak) (born Michał Hrycunia ...
), particularly the
Duala and
Isubu
The Isubu (Isuwu, Bimbians) are a Bantu ethnic group who inhabit part of the coast of Cameroon. Along with other coastal peoples, they belong to Cameroon's Sawa ethnic groups. They were one of the earliest Cameroonian peoples to make contact wit ...
.
Early survey discussion of these topics may be found in Ardener 1956 and Dugast 1949
History
Early population movements
According to Bakweri
oral traditions
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...
, that they originated from
Ibibio land, the area southwest of
Mount Cameroon
Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in the South West region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako (the name of the higher of its two peaks) or by its indigenous n ...
. The Bakweri likely migrated to their present home east of the mountain in the mid-18th century. From the foothills, they gradually spread to the coast, and up the
Mungo River and the various creeks that empty into it. In the process, they founded numerous villages, usually when individual families groups split off.
[Fanso 50.] A rival Bakweri tradition says they descend from
Mokuri or Mokule, a brother of the Duala's forebear
Ewale, who migrated to the Mount Cameroon area for hunting. In addition, a few isolated villages, such as Maumu and Bojongo, claim some alternate descent and may represent earlier groups whom the expanding Bakweri absorbed.
European contacts
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
traders reached the Cameroonian coast in 1472. Over the next few decades, more adventurers came to explore the estuary and the rivers that feed it, and to establish
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
s. The Bakweri provided materials to the coastal tribes, who acted as middlemen.
German administration
Germany annexed the Cameroons in 1884. In 1891, the Gbea Bakweri clan rose up in support of their traditional justice system when the Germans forbade them to use a
trial by ordeal
Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience.
In medieval Europe, like trial by combat, tri ...
involving poison to determine whether a recent Christian convert was in fact a witch. This revolt was squelched with the razing of
Buea
Buea is the capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The city is located in Fako Division, on the eastern slopes of Mount Cameroon, and has a population of 300,000 (at the 2013 Census). It has two Government Hotels, the Mountain Hotel and P ...
in December 1894 and the death of Chief
Kuv'a Likenye.
The Germans initially ruled from
Douala
Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...
, which they called Kamerunstadt, but they moved their capital to the Bakweri settlement of
Buea
Buea is the capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The city is located in Fako Division, on the eastern slopes of Mount Cameroon, and has a population of 300,000 (at the 2013 Census). It has two Government Hotels, the Mountain Hotel and P ...
in 1901. The colonials' primary activity was the establishment of banana
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s in the fertile Mount Cameroon region. The Bakweri were impressed to work them, but their recalcitrance and small population led the colonials to encourage peoples from further inland, such as the
Bamileke
The Bamileke are a Central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau of Cameroon.
Languages
The Bamileke languages belong to the Grassfields branch of the Niger-Congo language family, which is sometimes labeled as a " Bantuoid lang ...
, to move to the coast. In addition, constant shipping traffic along the coast allowed individuals to move from one plantation or town to another in search of work.
British administration
In 1918, Germany lost
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 ...
, and her colonies became mandates of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
. Great Britain took control of Bakweri lands. Great Britain integrated its portion of Cameroon with the neighbouring colony of Nigeria, setting the new province's capital at Buea. The British practised a policy of
indirect rule
Indirect rule was a system of governance used by the British and others to control parts of their colonial empires, particularly in Africa and Asia, which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by variou ...
, entrusting greater powers to Bakweri chiefs in Buea.
The new colonials maintained the German policies of ousting uncooperative rulers and of impressing workers for the plantations. Individuals could opt to pay a fine to avoid the labour, however, which led to a dearth of workers from the wealthier areas. The British thus renewed encouragement for people from the interior to move to the coast and work the plantations. Many
Igbo
Igbo may refer to:
* Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria
* Igbo language, their language
* anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria
See also
* Ibo (disambiguation)
* Igbo mythology
* Igbo music
* Igbo art
*
* Igbo-Ukwu, a ...
from Nigeria entered the area, and the newcomers grew numerically and economically dominant over time. This led to ethnic tensions with the indigenes. Land expropriation was another problem, faced particularly in 1946.
A Bakwerian, Dr.
E. M. L. Endeley was the first Prime Minister of the British Southern Cameroons from 1954–1959. He led other Southern Cameroonian parliamentarians to secede from the Nigerian Eastern House of Assembly in 1954.
Geography
![Duala ethnic groups](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Duala_ethnic_groups.png)
The Bakweri are primarily concentrated in Cameroon's
Southwest Province
The Southwest Region or South-West Region () is a region in Cameroon. Its capital is Buea. , its population was 1,553,320. Along with the Northwest Region, it is one of the two Anglophone (English-speaking) regions of Cameroon. Various Ambazonia ...
. They live in over 100 villages
east and southeast of Mount Cameroon with Buea their main population centre. Bakweri settlements largely lie in the mountain's foothills and continue up its slopes as high as 4,000 metres.
They have further villages along the Mungo River and the creeks that feed into it. The town of Limbe is a mixture of Bakweri, Duala, and other ethnic groups.
There is an ongoing dispute between the
Bakweri Land Claims Committee (BLCC) and the government of Cameroon regarding the disposition of Bakweri Lands formerly used by the Germans as plantations and now managed by the
Cameroon Development Corporation
The Cameroon Development Cooperation (CDC) is one of Cameroon's major exporters and employers. The company was formed in 1947 for the purpose of developing and running plantations of tropical crops in the country. The CDC is an agribusiness ...
(CDC).
Culture
The Bakweri today are divided into the urban and rural. Those who live in the cities such as Limbe and Buea earn a living at a number of skilled and unskilled professions. The rural Bakweri, in contrast, work as farmers, making use of Mount Cameroon's fertile volcanic soils to cultivate
cocoyam
Cocoyam is a common name for more than one tropical root crop and vegetable crop belonging to the Arum family (also known as Aroids and by the family name ''Araceae'') and may refer to:
* Taro (''Colocasia esculenta'') - old cocoyam
* Malanga ('' ...
s,
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
,
manioc
''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated a ...
,
oil palm
''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm ''Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its co ...
s, and
plantain
Plantain may refer to:
Plants and fruits
* Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking
** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa''
* ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...
s.
Traditional Bakweri society was divided into three strata. At the top were the native Bakweri, with full rights of land ownership. The next tier consisted either non-Bakweri or the descendants of slaves. Finally, the slaves made up the bottom rung. Chiefs and headmen sat at the pinnacle of this hierarchy in the past, though today such figures have very little power in their own right. Councils of
elders and
secret societies
A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...
allow communities to decide important issues.
Language
The Bakweri speak
Mokpwe, a tongue that is closely related to
Bakole and
Wumboko. Mokpwe is part of the family of
Duala languages in the
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
group of the
Niger–Congo language family. Neighbouring peoples often utilise Mokpwe as a
trade language
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
, due largely to the spread of the tongue by early missionaries. This is particularly true among the Isubu, many of whom are bilingual in
Duala or Mokpwe. In addition, individuals who have attended school or lived in an urban centre usually speak
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 ...
or standard
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. A growing number of the Bakweri today grow up with Pidgin as a more widely spoken language. The Bakweri also used a drum language to convey news from clan to clan, and they also utilized a horn language peculiar to them.
Marriage and kinship patterns
Bakweri
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...
is
patrilineal
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
; upon the father's death, his property is inherited by his eldest son. The Bakweri have traditionally practised polygamy, although with Christianisation, this custom has become extremely rare. In the traditional Bakweri society, women are chosen as future spouses when they are still children, and in some cases, even before they were born. The father or relative of the woman have been paid a dowry, thus the woman is considered as a property to the husband and his family. Upon the husband's death, the eldest surviving brother inherits the wife. A husband's prosperity was also intricately linked to the influence of his wife or wives. The wives tended his pigs, goats, cattle, arable land, so no one could trespass or exceed them, etc.
[''Guide touristique'' 94.]
Religion
The Bakweri have been largely Christianised since the 1970s
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
denominations dominate, particularly the
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
church.
Nevertheless, remnants of a pre-Christian
ancestor worship
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...
persist. might be expected for coastal peoples, the sea also plays an important role in this faith. Traditional festivals held each year serve as the most visible expression of these traditional beliefs in modern times.
[''Guide touristique'' 126.]
Arts
The Bakweri still practice arts and crafts handed down for generations. The Bakweri are known to be skilled
weavers
Weaver or Weavers may refer to:
Activities
* A person who engages in weaving fabric
Animals
* Various birds of the family Ploceidae
* Crevice weaver spider family
* Orb-weaver spider family
* Weever (or weever-fish)
Arts and entertainment
...
of hats and shirts, for example. They also construct armoires, chairs, and tables.
The greatest venue for Bakweri music and dance are the two major festivals that take place each year in December. The
Ngondo
The Ngondo is an annual water-centered festival held by the Sawa (ethnic group), Sawa (coastal peoples) in Douala, Cameroon. The highlight of the festival is a ceremony of the jengu. The ceremony is held at a beach on Wouri River, Wouri Bay, durin ...
is a traditional festival of the Duala, although today all of Cameroon's coastal
Sawa Sawa may refer to:
Places
* Sawa, Nepal, a village development committee
* Sawa, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, a village
* Saveh, sometimes transliterated Sāwa, Iran, a city
* Sawa Lake, Iraq
People
* Sawa (Hrycuniak) (born Michał Hrycunia ...
peoples are invited to participate. It originated as a means of training Duala children the skills of warfare. Now, however, the main focus is on communicating with the ancestors and asking them for guidance and protection for the future. The festivities also include armed combat,
beauty pageant
A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...
s,
pirogue
A pirogue ( or ), also called a piragua or piraga, is any of various small boats, particularly dugouts and native canoes. The word is French and is derived from Spanish , which comes from the Carib '. Description
The term 'pirogue' does n ...
races, and traditional
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
.
The
Mpo'o brings together the Bakoko, Bakweri, and Limba at
Edéa
Edéa is a city located along the Sanaga River in Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It lies on the Cameroon National Railways Authority, Douala–Yaoundé railway line. Its population was estimated at 122,300 in 2001. Th ...
. The festival commemorates the ancestors and allows the participants to consider the problems facing the groups and humanity as a whole.
Institutions
Assemblies, secret societies, and other groups play an important role in keeping the Bakweri unified, helping them set goals, and giving them a venue to find solutions to common problems.
[Ngoh 28.] Secret societies include the Leingu, Maalé (Elephant dance), Mbwaya, and Nganya.
Classification
The Bakweri are
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
in language and origin. More narrowly, they fall into the Sawa, or the coastal peoples of Cameroon.
Notes
References
* Chrispin, Dr. Pettang, directeur. ''Cameroun: Guide touristique.'' Paris: Les Éditions Wala.
* DeLancey, Mark W., and Mark Dike DeLancey (2000): ''Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon'' (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press.
* Derrick, Jonathan (1990). "Colonial élitism in Cameroon: the case of the Duala in the 1930s". ''Introduction to the History of Cameroon in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.'' Palgrave MacMillan.
* Fanso, V. G. (1989). ''Cameroon History for Secondary Schools and Colleges, Vol. 1: From Prehistoric Times to the Nineteenth Century.'' Hong Kong: Macmillan Education Ltd.
* Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005):
Isu. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', 15th ed. Dallas: SIL International. Accessed 6 June 2006.
* Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005):
Mokpwe. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', 15th ed. Dallas: SIL International. Accessed 6 June 2006.
* Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005):
Pidgin, Cameroon. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', 15th ed. Dallas: SIL International. Accessed 6 June 2006.
* Ngoh, Victor Julius (1996). ''History of Cameroon Since 1800.'' Limbe: Presbook.
External links
BakweriramaBakweriLands: The Essential Text and Documents of a Native Land(Bakweri Land Claims Committee website)
Peuple Sawa(in French)
{{Authority control