Mbongo (also called Mbengo, Nambongo, and Nembongo) is the common ancestor of the Sawa peoples 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 C ...
according to their
oral tradition
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 ...
s. Sawa
genealogies usually place Mbongo at the head of the lineage. Mbongo's son, usually given as
Mbedi a Mbongo Mbedi a Mbongo is the common ancestor of many of the Sawa coastal ethnic groups of Cameroon according to their oral traditions. Stories say that he lived at a place called Piti, northeast of present-day Douala. From there, his sons migrated south to ...
, lived at Piti, Cameroon on the
Dibamba River
The Dibamba River is in the Littoral Region of southern Cameroon, emptying into the Cameroon estuary near the city of Doula.
Location
The Dibamba river has a length of and a catchment area of . Average discharge at the river mouth is 480 cubic ...
. From there, Mbongo's grandsons migrated south toward the coast to found the various Sawa ethnic groups. Some stories make these migrants Mbongo's sons rather than grandsons.
[Ardener 16.]
Mbongo does not seem to be a historical figure. Rather, he is a
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
of the ancient past and an inhabitant of a
mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
age.
Edwin Ardener calls him a "shadowy" figure and ascribes him to a "proto-tradition" of the coastal peoples. Edwin Ardener and Shirley Ardener place Mbongo in the "legendary or mythical stratum" of Sawa oral histories.
The Sawa highly esteem descent from Mbongo as a marker of ethnic inclusion. A Bakweri
honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...
, ''mokpel'anembongo'',
translates as "free-born and descended from Mbongo". Edwin Ardener proposes that the names of many of Cameroon's coastal ethnic groups historically derived from the name Mbongo. For example, in 1668, a Dutch writer named O. Dapper, drawing from the records of
Samuel Blommaert, described a people called the ''Kalbongos'' at the
Rio del Rey: "The people who live higher up the river
rom a coastal trading settlement
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* R ...
by them called ''Kalbongos'', are bold men, but villainous rogues." Dapper also recorded names such as ''Kalbanges'', which may also derive from some form of Mbongo's name.
[Ardener 15–16.] A later writer, John Barbot, wrote, The name of
Old Calabar
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
* Old, Baranya, Hungary
* Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...
, known as ''Calborch'' to the Dutch, may also derive from ''Calbongo'', and ultimately ''Mbongo''.
Notes
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References
*Ardener, Edwin (1996). ''Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast, 1500–1970''. New York: Bergahn Books.
*Ardener, Edwin, and Ardener, Shirley (1996). "Preliminary chronological notes for the Cameroon coast". ''Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast, 1500–1970''. New York: Bergahn Books.
*Austen, Ralph A., and Derrick, Jonathan (1999): ''Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: The Duala and their Hinterland, c. 1600–c.1960''. Cambridge University Press.
Bantu religion
Cameroonian traditional rulers