Bamilékés

The Bamiléké form most important of the Ethnicities of Cameroun (20%). With the Tikar and the Bamoun, they compose the group of the Semi-Bantou . They are based in ''' the west of Cameroun '''.

History

the Bamiléké result from several migrations coming from the north and whose origin undoubtedly goes up in Egypt Ancienne.

They are particularly implied in the economic life of the Cameroun and emigrated in mass towards the two Cameronian big cities Douala and Yaounde

This population of Cameroun was the object of an special attention of the colonial authorities French then Cameronian independent government, because of the organization of maquis of UPC in this area and was the subject of a violent repression of 1958 to 1964 which leaves interogations in the Histoire of Cameroun raised by various documents.

Linguistics

Sociology

Bamiléké, known inside and outside Cameroun like a largely extended ethnicity, very often seem to be victims of the dynamism which is usually allotted to them. Indeed, since independences, this group is presented in the ethnic analyzes like most important on the demographic level, controlling several strategic points in the economic sectors and commercial national, presenting strong migratory indices and showing endurance.

A certain tendency of the intellectual elite of Bamiléké presents the group as having become the target of all discriminations, either because of mistrust of the other ethnicities, or because of one excessive mystification of a supposed hegemony. Shown to be moved by this hegemonic spirit which would authorize it to seize the power to transform its economic supremacy supposed into political domination and to set up an irreversible hegemony at Cameroun, the intellectual elite Bamiléké always denied to have such intentions. According to it, they are rather pretexts based on arguments without base in order to make conceal Bamiléké and to distort the democratic process thus.

Ethnology

Topography

The high plateaus bamiléké of West-Cameroun are known for the celebrity of its scrap-metal landscapes. In a topographic context of staged high plateaus, characterized by a succession of hills dominated by some isolated mountains being able to reach or exceed 2.000 m of altitude, the exploitation of the ground is founded on a judicious association of the agriculture and of the breeding of the smaller live-stock. Useful space, support of the settlement and the activities is apprehended through the distances in connection with times of displacement between the social places and/or of production: distance or bringing together starting from the seat, place of residence of traditional institutions, of the “central point” of the cheffery… These social places to leave of which organizes itself the life of the local communities themselves are differentiated compared to their topographic position: maybe on the top (all left high which they are on hill or on mountain) or to the bottom (depressions, valleys, left downstreams the slopes). This dipolar design of space prevailed at the time of the occupation of the area and with cutting space in traditional chefferies (a hundred chefferies on approximately 6.000 km ²). With the interior of the various chefferies, traditional administrative cutting in districts is largely supported on the concepts top and of bottom. It was in the same way for the establishment of family housing units, for the construction and the extension of the quickset hedges and for the landscape installation of space.

Bonds

Internal bonds

See Chefferie traditional with Cameroun, Chefferie Bamiléké and Chefferie

External bonds

http://www.bamileke.com Bamiléké: origin, culture, history…
http://www.dschang-online.com/ all on Dschang and its area
http://www.bameka.com/ the village Bameka

Sources

Topography: Top and bottom in the occupation and rural fitting-out Bamileke (Western Cameroun), a perception uniscalaire of the territories By Jean-Marie Fotsing
Sociology: The Bamiléké question during the democratic opening in Cameroun: return of a debate occulted (Dieudonné Zognong)
Linguistic: The old Egyptian origin of the Bamiléké language: the linguistic relationship and genetics enter Medu Neter and Medu Mba By P. Mandjudja Nguegang

Random links: