Nkambe is a city in the Northwest Region 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 ...

. It is the headquarters of the

Donga-Mantung Donga-Mantung is a division of the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The division covers an area of 4279 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 337,533. The capital city of the division is Nkambe. Subdivisions The department is divided ad ...

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

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

in Donga-Mantung. Nkambe lies at the north edge of the Bamenda Grassfields, 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. The city has a population of about 2 million people and is located north-west of the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé. Bamenda is ...

. 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. 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, Binka, Binjeng, and Nkambe-town.Nkambe. Ndu Commune contains the southeast part of Wimbum-land. Most Wimbum are farmers, raising

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. The ...

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes thr ...

, njama-njama, Irish potatoes, cocoyams,

plantains 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 ...

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

, etc. Scattered

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

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 (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, gas pumps, a gendarmerie, 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 Álvar ...

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, are 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 Yellow-spotted barbet, the Cameroon greenbul, the Yellow-breasted boubou, the

African hill babbler The African hill babbler (''Sylvia abyssinica'') is a species of bird in the family Sylviidae. Taxonomy The African hill babbler was described by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in 1840 under the binomial name ''Drymophila abyssinica''. T ...

, the Green longtail, the Fernando Po Oliveback,

Bannerman's weaver Bannerman's weaver (''Ploceus bannermani'') is a species of bird in the weaver family, Ploceidae. It is found in Cameroon and Nigeria. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. It ...

, and perhaps

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

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 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 vario ...

. 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