BANGWA HISTORY : A SKETCH FROM MYTHS, TRADITIONS AND RECORDS

A heterogeneous people necessarily have a complex history and I shall only attempt a summary here. More detailed accounts of individual chiefdoms will be given in a later publication.

All evidence points to the fact that the Bangwa as we now know them are not an ancient people, whose origins are lost in the dim past. Even paramount chiefs, who have the longest pedigrees, only trace their dynasties back seven or eight generations; and from the material evidence of their ancestors’ skulls and the strict rule of father-to-son succession it may be surmised that the Bangwa have inhabited the mountain regions for less than two hundred years. Legend tells of the founding of the chiefdoms; both Bangwa and Bamileke accounts have many common elements. Briefly it tells of a hunter who came from the Mbo or Banyang forests with his following (his family and the classic nine servants) where he met the Beketshe, a loosely-grouped hunting and gathering people who lived a naked, nomadic existence in the wooded mountains without the advantages of huts or agriculture. The forest hunter, with his guns and through guile, deprived these people of their proprietary rights to the land. These Beketshe, from whom some contemporary Bangwa still claim descent, are described in innumerable stories as brainless, fickle and incredibly gullible, and are a constant source of amusement to sophisticated Bangwa. According to the myth they were taught farming, fire-making, and some elementary facts of life including copulation. The Beketshe ceased to rely on wild plants and game. And the union of these nomads and forest hunters formed the nucleus of the Bangwa people who were now confronted by the Bamileke peoples of the grasslands: agriculturalists who fought with spears and had a very elegant and highly structured political system. The forest hunter and his followers acquired dominance over these scattered political groups through his bravery and his ability to husband the country’s resources. A common myth tells how he hoarded leopard skins, ivory tusks, lengths of stencilled blue and white cloth; the possession of these symbols of royalty ranked him immediately and indisputably as chief.

These legends clearly recount in mythical form the arrival in the mountains and savannah of individuals from the forest who had access to European goods, especially guns, and through superior hunting and warlike prowess and commerce acquired superiority over the original inhabitants of the mountains and migrants from the eastern savannah. He did not, however, impose his cultural background: to a man the newcomers adopted the language and customs of an eastern culture we now know as Bamileke.

Each chiefdom, of course, has its own specific traditions of origin. The Foto and Fonjumetor dynasties derive from the small Banyang hamlet of Fumbe situated on an important market site within easy reach of the Bamenda Grassfields . Foreke Cha Cha has a complicated tradition of origin involving both Mbo and Banyang connexions. Fotabong III branched off from Foreke Cha Cha in recent post-colonial times. Fossungo claims to have come from Fossung Wentchen in the east. Fotabeng I is an offshoot of Foto in the east. Fozimogndi and Fozimombin are brother chiefdoms descended from a border chieftain now a subchief of Bafou-Fondong in the east. Other chiefs, especially across the border have even more varied origins, natural in an area which saw so much turmoil in the not too distant past, mainly resulting from the slave trade. One chief

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claims to have come from Bali ; another from Fumban; another from West Cameroon ; another was an affluent servant of Fongo Tongo . But among the Western Bamileke the most common picture is the same: the founding ancestor came from the Mbo plain.

Fontem, the most influential chiefdom, presents a problem since there is not a single commonly accepted tradition. Some accounts declare the first chief was of Banyang or even Keaka (Ejagham) origin. The royal family does not accept this, explaining that it was the kidnapping of the heir to the throne by the Banyang which gave rise to this story. The official account, told by the chief himself,* gives Nketshe, a small district not more than a mile or two from the present palace, as the point of origin. This is the reputed home of the original Beketshe, so Chief Fontem is in fact claiming Beketshe origin for his family. This runs counter to other myths recounting the meeting of the first Fontem chief and the Beketshe and other traditions told to me by descendants of the Beketshe record that the first chief came from the east. Certainly, in the installation ritual of the chief representatives from eastern chiefdoms play an important role which is justified by their supposed common origin. However since the Beketshe are known as the ‘original people’ and the ‘owners of the land’ it would perhaps be politic to claim descent from them.

Within each chiefdom component subchiefs, nobles and even commoner families tell varied traditions of their original home. Thus in Fontem we have subchiefs from Mbo, Banyang, Keaka (Ejagham), Mundani, Fotabong I, Foreke Cha Cha, Foto and Bamileke chiefdoms. Yet despite the varied origins, only unearthed through ceaseless enquiry, the chiefdom of Lebang has achieved a high degree of cultural and political homogeneity.

THE GERMANS

The Bangwa saw their first German in February 1898 when Gustav Conrau, always known by his Bali nickname, Manjikwara, arrived to make the acquaintance of Chief Fontem Asunganyi of whose influence and wealth he had heard while looking for ivory and plantation labour in the Banyang village of Tali. Conrau and Asunganyi, then a young man of about twenty-eight, took a liking to each other. Conrau, for his part, admired the dignified bearing of the young chief, his vast palace with its elaborate meeting houses and other evidence of an advanced material culture. The chief and his people were taken aback by their first glimpse of the Europeans of whom they had heard so much: ‘there’s a huge baby in the market’ was the shout. Gifts were exchanged between the two men and Chief Asunganyi , proud of his flourishing market, was eager that a German trading ‘factory’ should be established at Azi his capital. He consequently acceded to Conrau’s wishes that he should be allowed to take away seventy-odd men to work on the plantations in the south. When Conrau returned a year later, without the men whom the Bangwa thought had only gone temporarily, the people feared they were dead. Asunganyi and his councillors decided to detain Conrau in Fontem until he had arranged for their return. Conrau agreed and sent off messages to this effect. One night, however, according to Bangwa traditions, Conrau attempted to flee. Pursued by his captors Conrau panicked, shot wildly at the Bangwa and when he found himself down to his last bullet shot himself to avoid the torture he could expect at the hands of the infuriated natives. The Germans appear to have accepted this version of Conrau’s

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suicide which was re-inforced by the account given by his Bali servants. Some people in Bangwa suggest that he may have been shot by his adversaries. At all events his head was removed and carried to Fontem’s palace as a war trophy: the prepared scalp was even worn at a celebration at nearby Fotabong by the queen mother. The Germans, as a consequence of his death, sent two military expeditions against Fontem; the natives put up a courageous resistance, building barricades, attempting to snare the German-led soldiers into ambushes and polluting the drinking water. But their antique Dane guns and spears could have little effect against the German efficiency and machine guns which they used in this futile campaign. Many Bangwa were killed and the chief’s compound destroyed. Foto Dungatet had supported Fontem in the fight; Fotabong I on the other hand had befriended the Germans from the beginning. Subsequently the Germans established a trading post and garrison at Fontem, or Fontemdorf, as they called it.

As soon as the Bangwa realised they would be defeated by the Germans’ superior arms Fontem Asunganyi and some loyal councillors and servants went to hide in the hills behind the palace; the German captain was told he was dead. His adjutant brother, Nkweta, presented Asunganyi’s young son, Ajongake, as the new chief. For several years Nkweta and Ajongake administered the chiefdom between them; their main task was to satisfy the German’s seemingly insatiable demands for labourers and food supplies. These activities made Ajongake unpopular with the people and Fontem subchiefs. Other Bangwa chiefdoms also felt the effects of German rule to a greater and lesser extent. Some individuals in Bangwa remember the Germans today: the ‘factory’, the cloths, pans and goods they could buy in exchange for oil, wild rubber, ivory etc. Others remember the harsh treatment they received at the hands of the German-trained soldiers - as porters, and labour recruits in the plantations. Fotabong I, the chief who had befriended the Germans, made some territorial gains, acquiring control over some Foto subchiefs of the forest areas; and one independent chiefdom, now under Fontem-Mbo - was handed over to Fotabong.

In Fontem a dispute over a woman between the chiefs of Foreke Cha Cha and Lebang (Fontem) led to the betrayal of Asunganyi’s whereabouts in about 1911. The former chief surrendered voluntarily and he was expatriated with two wives and some servants where he remained till after 1914. Convinced that exile meant death Asunganyi handed over the chiefship to his son Ajongake, bidding him to worship a lock of his hair as his skull. Ajongake became to all intents and purposes chief of Fontem. With the German defeat by the British and French in 1915 Asunganyi returned but remained for some time quietly in the background. But father and son began to quarrel; Ajongake had fulfilled a thankless task as chief intermediary between the Germans and the Fontem people and he was unpopular. Asunganyi was persuaded to take over the throne; his son was driven from the country, accompanied by a few wives and some loyal followers. He lived for some time in Fotsa Toula in East Cameroon ; but later he went to Mamfe where he died destitute in 1931. There is a curious lack of interest in Ajongake among contemporary Bangwa: his character has been so blackened that few people can mention him in a favourable light, fearing perhaps that a kind word said of this unfortunate chief would detract from his father, Asunganyi.

After defeating the Germans in 1915 the British remained in effective control of the Bangwa area until independence in 1961. At first Bangwa was administered from Dschang, but after a few years the watershed between the eastern highlands and the western forests was chosen as the boundary between the two trusteeship territories.

Bangwa was cut off from her more natural neighbours, the Bamileke, and aligned with the Banyang, Mundani and Mbo. British rule was much less effective than the German. Apart from occasional tours by district officers and medical officers the Bangwa were left to govern and develop themselves. Customary courts were established to hear local civil cases: the administrators interfered only to settle acrimonious land and boundary disputes, and criminal cases, including murder and witchcraft. The traditional chiefs of the nine chiefdoms were made members and Fontem Asunganyi became permanent president. His inimitable personality dominated the court’s decisions often in a somewhat quixotic fashion until his death in 1951.

Schools were established eventually; in Fontem there was a native authority primary school by the 1930s. Roman Catholic missionaries established others throughout the country. Some cocoa and coffee plantations were started, mainly due to the enthusiasm of local Bangwa like Ekokobe, the chief’s sister’s son and loyal retainer.

Asunganyi died after ruling Lebang (Fontem) for over sixty years. When he received Conrau in l898 he was in his late twenties or early thirties. According to Bangwa accounts he had succeeded his father Atshemabo as an adolescent. During his minority the country was governed by his elder sister, Meka, later made queen mother, and his Great Retainer, Mbe Tanye , who had successfully fought off attempts by Asunganyi’s uncle (now sub-chief Fossung Wentchen ) to usurp the throne. In the early years of Asunganyi’s reign he was involved in intermittent guerrilla warfare with the Mbo who inhabited the edges of his territory. He succeeded in pushing them back across the River Betse before the Germans arrived. Fontem Asunganyi never claimed suzerainty over the other eight Bangwa chiefdoms although he was recognised by both Germans and British as supreme in the area. His influence, on the other hand, was extensive both in Bangwa and among the Nkingkwa and Western Bamileke . He frequently looked after the interests of heirs of his fellow chiefs who succeeded as young boys, ensuring their legitimate succession when they reached their majority. Asunganyi had particular alliances with the chiefdoms of Foto Dungatet , Fonjumetor and Bafou Fondong in the east.

Asunganyi’s influence was an important one in Bangwa during European rule. He was a stickler for the old customs and traditions. Few people, even Europeans dared run counter to his wishes. He ruled his country, his large harem and his children with a generous, if somewhat iron, hand. His prodigality and kindness is proverbial: no feast can be held today without unfavourable comparison with the orgies of meat, yams and wine which Fontem Asunganyi provided for his people. He became a legend while he was alive: and tales are told today of his feats of strength, his cunning, his hunting fighting and dancing prowess. And on every possible occasion he made a great show - to impress European visitors or neighbouring chiefs - his German brass band playing, his horses parading, his wives dancing, gun-powder exploding. When most Bangwa become nostalgic and recall the ‘good old days’ they refer to the time when the old chief was alive, when Bangwa was prosperous, the women stable and obedient, the young men respectful and the crops plentiful: an exaggeration perhaps but a token of Asunganyi’s place in the minds of his people.

He was succeeded in 1951 by his son, Defang, a progressive chief, ruling in a difficult period of swift change.

Missionaries have been active in Bangwa for over thirty years but up till 1966 there was no permanent mission station: the nearest was at Mbetta, in the Nkingkwa-Mbo area. Converts are few. Very little proselytisation has been undertaken by the protestants but some churches and a school have recently been opened. There is, incidentally, no Islamic influence. Apart from one Government school at Fontem the schools have been administered by the Catholic mission. School attendance is very high: few children fail to receive at least a few years elementary training. A Roman Catholic organisation is planning to open a secondary school in Fontem in 1966.

Until 1966 there was no permanent dispensary, maternity clinic or hospital facilities of any kind in Bangwa. Long journeys by foot were made to West Cameroon hospitals or the Government hospital in Dschang. Plans for a hospital, dispensary, and maternity unit are part of a comprehensive project to be undertaken by a Catholic lay missionary society in the near future: this project also includes the secondary school, a domestic science centre and a soap factory.

The present development of Bangwa may, it is hoped, put an end to the constant flow of young people, mostly men, to the towns and plantations of the south, sometimes permanently. Although the young men declare that they are working in the south to collect the large marriage payments necessary to marry in Bangwa, few return once they have a wife. Many marry women from other tribes. Migration into Bangwa, on the other hand, is almost negligible. Land-hungry Bamileke sometimes cross the border to farm but they are not encouraged to settle. In the developing semi-urban centre of Fontem there were only three non-Bangwa - one was a resident Ibo carpenter.

The face of the country is also changing. Villages are springing up around the important markets at Fontem, Fotabeng, Foto and Lekeng (Fossunge). In the past close villages were unknown in Bangwa, the people living scattered over the landscape. The country’s centre was merely the chief’s palace with the market and a few servant’s houses. Trader’s shops are springing up. And the ordinary people are leaving their former isolation to build European-styled compounds near the roads which will link the Bangwa with the towns, hospitals and markets of east and west Cameroon .

In 1966 Bangwa Mundani became a District within Mamfe division with a resident District Officer.