Maka-Njem

The Maka-Njem are a group of peoples inhabiting the southern rain forest zone of Cameroon. They speak a group of closely related languages from the Bantu subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family. Despite their differing tribal identities, the Maka-Njem share a common history and culture.

Tribal distinctions

The Maka or Makaa ethnic group forms the largest segment of Maka-Njem. They live primarily in the northern portions of the Upper Nyong division of Cameroon's East Province. Major Maka settlements include Abong-Mbang, Doumé, and Nguélémendouka. Some Maka villages lie over the border into the Centre Province, as well. Most Maka speak a language known as Maka or South Maka, which had an estimated 80,000 speakers in 1987. A related language called Byep, or North Maka, had an estimated 9,500 speakers in 1988. Though they consider themselves a single people, Maka dialects serve as a form of identity as well. The main dialects are Maka are Bebent (Bebende, Biken, Bewil, Bemina), Mbwaanz, and Sekunda. Byep has two dialects, Byep and Besep (Besha, Bindafum).

The Ngyeme or Ndjemé occupy the territory directly south of the Maka and along the north-south road that runs from Abong-Mbang to Lomié. The only settlement of any size in this area is the town of Mindourou. The Ngyeme speak a dialect of the Koozime language.

The Njem or Ndjem populate the second largest territory after the Maka. Their holdings follow the road south of the Ngyeme to the border with Congo (Kinshasa) as well as along a pair of secondary roads that run northeast from Lomié. Significant Njem settlements include Lomié, Ngoila, Zoulabot, and Zwadiba. The Njem speak the Nzime and Njem dialects of the Koozime language.

The Bajwe or Badjoué occupy the area directly north of the Dja Reserve and west of the Ngyeme. Their villages are more scattered than those of their eastern neighbours, but the only town of any size is Messaména. They speak a Koozime dialect.

Speakers of all Koozime dialects numbered an estimated 45,000 in 1987.

The Kol or Bekol cohabit the Messaména area with the Bajwe and may represent an earlier group that has been largely assimilated by Maka-Njem newcomers. Their main settlement is the village of Bikeng. The Kol language is closely related to Maka and Koozime, and Kol often speak one of those as a second tongue. In 1988, there were an estimated 12,000 Kol speakers in Cameroon.

The Ngumba or Kwasio live far afield from their eastern relatives, over 200 km west in the Ocean division of Cameroon's South Province. Their mostly small settlements follow the road that cuts through the forest east of the port town of Kribi and terminates at the town of Lolodorf. Their language, known as Ngumba or Kwasio (Kwassio, Bisio) had about 17,500 speakers in 1987 and is sometimes classified as a dialect of Maka.

The Mabi or Mabea inhabit Kribi and the forest south of it along the Atlantic Ocean with the Batanga people. They are sometimes classified as a subgroup of the Ngumba, and they speak a dialect of their language.

History

The Maka-Njem peoples entered present-day Cameroonian territory from the Congo River basin or modern Chad between the 14th and 17th centuries. By the 19th century, they inhabited the lands north of the Lom River in the border region between the present-day East and Adamawa Provinces. Not long thereafter, however, the Beti-Pahuin peoples invaded these areas under pressure from the Vute and Mbum, themselves fleeing Fulbe warriors. The Maka-Njem were forced south.

According to their oral traditions, the waves of Maka-Njem migrants encountered the Baka pygmies as they moved deeper into the rain forest. Either through force or diplomacy, the Maka-Njem enlisted the Baka as guides, and they founded a series of new settlements, including Bung-Ngwang ("bathing area in the Nyong River") and Mess'a Mena ("crossroads") – later renamed Abong-Mbang and Messaména.

Other groups continued their migration, the Njem and Ngyeme moving further south. Ngumba, and Mabi traditions state that their ancestors asked their pygmy guides to take them further into new territory, as they were unsatisfied with the fish available in the Nyong. This also coincided with waves of Beti-Pahuin migrants appeared once again, and the Ngumba and Mabi were forced even further west toward the ocean. According to their oral traditions, the descendants of their pygmy guides are the present-day Bakola pygmies, a group that has adopted (or has been forced to adopt) the Ngumba language and Ngumba clan identities.

Due to their coastal location, the Ngumba and Mabi were the first Maka-Njem peoples to encounter Europeans. Due to their close relationship with the Bakola, superb elephant hunters, the Ngumba established themselves as lucrative go-betweens in the trade of ivory with the Europeans. The Ngumba also came to dominate the Bakola, who came to be regarded as their property. The tribes further east served as a source of slaves, traded from one tribe to another before being shipped out through Atlantic ports.

The Germans penetrated Mabi and Ngumba lands shortly after they annexed the "Kameruns" in 1884. When they entered the eastern Maka-Njem zone much later, the natives were enlisted as forced labour to build German roads and to work German plantations. France succeeded Germany as the colonial power in 1916, and the Maka-Njem continued to work foreign-owned plantations under them.

Since Cameroon's independence in 1960, the Maka-Njem have established themselves as a formidable political force in the East Province. They have not gained much voice in national politics, however, and Cameroon's two presidential administrations have largely ignored them. Maka-Njem discontent is rising, however, especially in regard to the low level of infrastructure improvements initiated by the government in their territory. This sentiment manifest most recently in the 2004 presidential election when the incumbent, Paul Biya, failed to carry the town of Abong-Mbang.

Lifestyle and settlement patterns

The majority of Maka-Njem are subsistence farmers. Their settlements typically follow existing roads, making the typical village a linear string of houses facing the road and backed by forest. Fields are typically very small, usually planted in clearings cut out of the forest with axes and machetes and then burned. Major crops include manioc, plantains, and maize, with bananas, cocoyams, groundnuts, and various fruits raised in smaller quantities. Livestock are typically small animals that may be left to roam unattended, such as goats, sheep, pigs, and chickens. A smaller number of Maka-Njem have obtained financial success in the cocoa and coffee plantations of Cameroon's forest region.

Hunting is another common pursuit, especially in the smaller villages. Traps are the primary tool employed, though firearms are increasingly used today. Bushmeat caught in this way is becoming an important, if unsustainable, source of income for many people.

Maka-Njem also share a codependent relationship with Cameroon's pygmy populations, the Baka in the east and the Bakola in the coastal region. The Maka-Njem trade manufactured goods and cultivated crops for pygmy-supplied forest game. In recent years, the Maka-Njem have increasingly exploited their pygmy neighbours, however, both for cheap labour and as a sort of living tourist attraction.

The traditional Maka-Njem house is a rectangular structure made of mud bricks held together by a bamboo frame. The A-shaped roof is covered in raffia palm leaves, though tin or aluminium roofing is today becoming more common. Wealthier Maka-Njem and those living in larger villages and towns often live in modern concrete-block houses, as well.

Social organisation begins with the family, which consists of a man, his wife or wives, and his children. Several related families often live together to form a village. At the next level are several villages that claim common ancestry to form a clan. In the past, these clan identities were of the utmost importance, determining one's friends, lineage, and potential spouses. This clan identity is much weaker today, however. Each clan is headed by a chief, though the modern chiefs are little more than figureheads.

The vast majority of Maka-Njem practice at least nominal Christianity with a fairly even split between Catholicism and Protestantism. Vestiges of their native animism still persist, however, especially in the realm of traditional medicine. Folk superstitions also remain, such as belief in witchcraft.

References

• Neba, Aaron, Ph.D. (1999) Modern Geography of the Republic of Cameroon, 3rd ed. Bamenda: Neba Publishers.
• Ngima Mawoung, Godefroy (2001) "The Relationship Between the Bakola and the Bantu Peoples of the Coastal Regions of Cameroon and their Perception of Commercial Forest Exploitation". African Study Monographs, Suppl. 26: 209–235.
• Ngoh, Victor Julius (1996) History of Cameroon Since 1800. Limbé: Presbook.