Nkambe is a city in the Northwest Region of

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. It is the headquarters of the Mantungia department. ''Nkambe Central'' is also the name of one of the five

communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in Donga-Mantung. Nkambe lies at the north edge of the

Bamenda 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 mountai ...

, on the northeast arc of the Ring Road, farthest from

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 six hundred thousand people and is located north-west of the C ...

. The Nigerian border is only 25 or 40 km away, but roads toward the border are undeveloped jungle tracks.

People

Most of the people in Nkambe Central commune are Wimbum - the three clans which speak the

Limbum language Limbum is a Grassfields language of Cameroon, with a small number of speakers in Nigeria. It is used as a trade language by some, but is primarily the mother tongue of the Wimbum people, who live in Donga-Mantung division of the Northwest Region ...

. Nkambe Central contains the northwest part of Wimbum-land, including the villages of Kungi, Konchep, Binshua, Bih, Saah, Wat, Nwangri, Mbaa, Kup, Chup, Bongom, Mbot, Tabenken, Njap/Ngie Binka, Binjeng, and Nkambe-town.Nkambe. Ndu Commune contains the southeast part of Wimbum-land. Most Wimbum are farmers, raising

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

beans A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...

, njama-njama, Irish potatoes, cocoyams, plantains,

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – berry (botany), botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called pla ...

, etc. Scattered

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

also live in the district, grazing cattle on the grasslands. The population of Nkambe Central was estimated around 170,000 in 2011. Nkambe Town 2

Nkambe-town, long an administrative center, has attracted a more cosmopolitan mix than the surrounding villages, including

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

traders, students from around Donga-Mantung, and civil servants from other parts of Cameroon. The town has a daily market, a government hospital, various schools, churches, a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

, gas pumps, a

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

, and administrative offices.Village Dictionary, p 29. Images of Njap and Bih Villages File:Njap Village, Donga Mantung.jpg, Settlement area, Njap File:Traditional house, Njap.jpg, Traditional House in Njap Village File:Hills and farm land, Njap.jpg, View of Hills and Farm land in Njap File:Road to Bih settlement area, Donga Mantung Division.jpg, Road to Bih settlement area File:Rocks, Bih.jpg, Rocks in Bih Village File:Pasture land, Bih.jpg, Cattle grazing land, Bih

Terrain

As mentioned above, Nkambe lies in the Bamenda Grassfields, in the chain of highlands that runs from

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álv ...

up into Nigeria. The land varies from cool grassy highlands like the 2200m Mount Binka, to lower warmer places like Chup at 1500m.Map of Cameroon - Nkambe. Parts of Nkambe commune lie in the

Cameroonian Highlands forests The Cameroonian Highlands forests, also known as the Cameroon Highlands forests, is a montane tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion located on the range of mountains that runs inland from the Gulf of Guinea and forms the border between Camer ...

eco-region. Bird species include the

Western green tinkerbird The western tinkerbird (''Pogoniulus coryphaea'') is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae native to Central Africa, where it has been recorded at altitudes from . It has a threefold area of presence : the Angolan montane forest–grassland m ...

, the

Yellow-spotted barbet The yellow-spotted barbet (''Buccanodon duchaillui'') is a bird species in the monotypic genus ''Buccanodon''. It belongs to the African barbet family (Lybiidae) which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. T ...

, the

Cameroon greenbul The Cameroon mountain greenbul (''Arizelocichla montana'') is a species of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is found in the Cameroonian Highlands forests. It is suspected to become rarer due to habitat loss, largely from agriculture, alt ...

, the Yellow-breasted boubou, the African hill babbler, the Green longtail, the Fernando Po Oliveback, Bannerman's weaver, and perhaps

Bannerman's turaco Bannerman's turaco (''Tauraco bannermani'') is a species of bird in the family Musophagidae. It is Endemism, endemic to Cameroon. In French (language), French it is known as ''touraco de Bannerman'' or ''touraco doré''. Its scientific and common ...

History

The Wimbum probably arrived in this area between the 1700s and the mid-1800s. In the 1800s, the Nkambe area saw some trade in elephant ivory, but the area was bypassed by the major long-distance trade routes north through Fonfuka and east through Ntem. Lack of economic power and lack of unified leadership made it somewhat vulnerable to external attack, and the area suffered from slave raids more than larger, centralized kingdoms like Nso and Bamum. German administration of the Grassfields began around 1901. Fulani herders began to arrive in the area around 1910. Britain took over in 1916 and in 1922 re-instituted some native law under the policy of

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of public administration, governance used by imperial powers to control parts of their empires. This was particularly used by colonial empires like the British Empire to control their possessions in Colonisation of Afri ...

. In 1949 Nkambe-town became the head of one of the three administrative units in Bamenda Province, alongside

and Wum.Nkwi, p. 213-222 Nkambe-town's administrative role has continued since independence in 1961.

Notes

References

* * * * * (Online map (1973) at page 41.)

People

Terrain

History

Notes

References

Further reading