Bakossi people

The Bakossi are a West African ethnic group within the Bantu peoples who are resident in southwestern Cameroon.

Bakossiland

The settlement area of Bakossi includes the Bakossi Mountains, the western slopes of the Manengouba, the Kupe and extends south to the Mungo River from. According to different data, the Bakossiland is called settlement area between 2,000 to 3,000 km ² in the provinces Littoral and Sud- Ouest. West of the Bakossi settle the Oroko, east of the Manehas and Bamuns.

Language

The Bakossi speak the language Akoose, with about 134,000 speakers. In the self-description in Akoose is the name of Bakossi Bekoosé, in the singular Nkoosé and Bakossiland Ekoosé is called. The holy places of Bakossi be called Mwaam and are mainly located in the summit regions of the Manengouba and Kupe. This mountain is attributed to a supernatural aura in the mythology of Bakossi.

Origin

The origin of the Bakossi is ethnological not entirely clear, on the one hand Bakossisprache Akoose is related to the approximately 100 km southeast spoken language Duala, on the other hand, the unusual for the region round huts of Bakossidörfer common with the Bantu peoples in the savanna regions of the Sahel and Sudan on. Indisputable, however, is that they coming to the field violently threw from the north and is mixed with the original population from a group of hunter-gatherers and so arose the present Bakossi.

Oral Tradition

According to the oral tradition of the Bakossi its origin goes back to the ancestor Ngoe. This settled on the western slopes of the Manengouba near the present settlement Mwekan. Ngoe met on a hunting trip on the Manengouba the woman Sumediang, both quickly found pleasure in each other and Ngoe and Sumediang married. One day slipped a sick old woman named Ngotenkang in search of support and care through the village. However, it was rejected everywhere except at Ngoe and Sumediang she found recording and the two took care of old woman. Out of gratitude Ngotenkang warned the couple before an impending disaster that would befall the hard-hearted people of the village and should start from the lakes at the summit of Manengouba. She led the two to a safe place and Ngoe and Sumediang survived the tsunami. Her sons Anngoe ( Nninong ) and Ngemengoe ( Bangem ) came out, and populated the north of the Bakossilandes while Aso Mengo after an argument with the father moved out to settle in the southeast at Kupe. The West populated the last brother Mbwogmund with his family. All Bakossi clan appointed as its founding fathers on these sons Ngoes.