Makaa people

The Maka or Makaa are a nation that lives in the rain forest zone in southern Cameroon.

They live mainly in the north of the Upper - Nyong Division of the Eastern Province of Cameroon. The main settlements are maka- Abong - Mbang, Dume and Nguélémendouka. Some Maka villages are situated on the border and in the central province of Cameroon.

Most Maka still speak their language Makaa or South Maka, which in 1987 had 80,000 speakers. In the north of Maka Territory use the speaker a related language, Byep or North Maka. Byep had in 1988 only an estimated 9,500 speakers. As a second language are mostly the official language of French or English. Although they consider themselves as a separate people, the Maka dialects also serve as a form of identity: The main dialects of Maka are Bebent ( Tremor, biking, Bewil, Bemina ) Mbwaanz and Secunda. Byep has two dialects, Byep and Besep ( Besha, Bindafum ). Both languages ​​are Makaa - Njem languages.

They have their own traditional central African religion, but there are persistent through missionary work among the Makaa more and more Christians and Muslims.

When the German colonizers entered the eastern Maka - zone after they took control of Cameroon in 1884, the locals were recruited as laborers to build roads and German to work on German plantations. When France in 1914 forcibly took control in French Cameroon, the Makaa were now used on plantations of large French companies to forced labor.