The Bamum Coronation Ceremony as described by King Njoya

In the French Cameroons, West Africa, live the Bamum whose population is estimated at about 75,000. Their territory is bounded on the north by that of the British Trusteeship territory of the Cameroons. Their western and south-western boundaries are formed by the River Nun, while the Rivers Mape (a tributary of the Mbam) and the Mbam form its eastern boundaries. The tribe consists of a recent ruling group of Tikar who, migrating from Rifum—now called Bamkin—settled among other Tikar whose social and political organization was of the lineage type so common in West Africa. This ruling group, who claim to have come originally from the environs of Bornu, rapidly conquered the surrounding independent, uncentralized, local villages and created the powerful Bamum kingdom which withstood Fulani raids.