Total population | |
---|---|
266,000–469,000 [1] [2] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Cameroon | 266,000–318,000 |
Chad [ citation needed ] | 150,000 |
Languages | |
Massa language | |
Religion | |
Christianity (30%), Evangelical Christian (15%), Islam (45%) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Chadic peoples |
The Massa people, also called Masana, Banana, or Yagoua are a Chadic ethnic group in Cameroon and Chad. They are often grouped together with several together ethnic groups, who are collectively referred to as the Kirdi people. [3]
The Masa have an estimated population of 266,000 to 469,000, with the majority residing in Cameroon. Most of them speak the Massa language. [4]
The Massa are said to be related to the Tikar and Bamileke peoples. Their oral tradition cites that they left Sudan and arrived in northern Cameroon before the Tikar people. When Muslims entered the region to convert locals, the Massa stayed, while the Tikar fled to the south. In 1881, Sheikh Hayatu Balda declared jihad upon the surrounding non-Muslim populations of Musgum, Massa, and Sumeya peoples. The Musgum claim a Massa origin through the union between a Kotoko prince and a Massa woman. [3]
45% of the population is Muslim, and other 45% is Christian. Thirty percent are mainline Catholics or Protestants; another fifteen percent are Evangelical Christians. [1] [2] There are often clashes between the different religious groups. [1]
The Massa enjoy the most diversified food resources (Garine 1964). They cultivate their staple, early red sorghum (Sorghum caudatum) and also engage all year round in profitable fishing in the Logone River and its affluent. Over the last thirty years the introduction of cash crops has influenced food economy through monetarisation and by the extensive cultivation of a new staple, rice, which is cultivated mainly by northern Massa. They also grow some groundnuts. [5]
The Massa settled on river banks in order to practice fishing. As a result, they have a very monotonous diet to accompany their fish sauces - sorrel, okra and false sesame. Because they are such good weavers, have developed a broad range of fishing devices and techniques that allows them to also become fresh and dried fish traders. [5]
Above all, the Massa are cattle lovers. Most of the social activities are centered around cattle ownership, including bride prices. A wife will cost a man cows. The massa also participate incattle lending, or golla and traditional cow fattening cures, called gurna. [5] In many cases, there have been pitched battles between Masa from Cameroon and Masa from Chad. These clashes result in many wounded. The battles are often caused by the theft of cows, because livestock are extremely important in social relations and especially in the "marriage exchanges" of the society. An act of adultery can also be a catalyst for Masa groups to go to war. Men who participate in the battles have helmets and clubs. They use sticks and stones as weapons and fight in lines while they are encouraged by women. [6]
In the battle between two groups of Masa, several rules must be met: collect the wounded from combat; do not hit a man on the ground nor one who is wounded. The fighting must end at dusk. Injured people usually are cured by traditional healers, who cure through several techniques which they exercise with local resources. Women who participate in this kind of fight acquire prestige in Masa society. [6]
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in west-central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Its nearly 27 million people speak 250 native languages and English or French or both.
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people is an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, and regions near the Red Sea coast in Sudan. The approximate number of Fula people is unknown, due to clashing definitions regarding Fula ethnicity. Various estimates put the figure between 25 and 30 million people worldwide.
The Adamawa Region is a constituent region of the Republic of Cameroon. It borders the Centre and East regions to the south, the Northwest and West regions to the southwest, Nigeria to the west, the Central African Republic (CAR) to the east, and the North Region to the north.
Mbum Proper is a Adamawa–Ubangi language of Central Africa. It is spoken by about 50,000 people in Cameroon and the Central African Republic.
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The Turkana are a Nilotic people native to the Turkana County in northwest Kenya, a semi-arid climate region bordering Lake Turkana in the east, Pokot, Rendille and Samburu people to the south, Uganda to the west, to the South Sudan and Ethiopia to the north.
The Adamawa Emirate is a traditional state located in Fombina, an area which now roughly corresponds to areas of Adamawa State and Taraba state in Nigeria, and previously also in the three northern regions of Cameroon, including minor Parts of Chad and the Central African Republic.
The Kirdi are the many cultures and ethnic groups who inhabit northwestern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria.
The Far North Region, also known as the Extreme North Region, is the northernmost and most populous constituent province of the Republic of Cameroon. It borders the North Region to the south, Chad to the east, and Nigeria to the west. The capital is Maroua.
The Tikar are a central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau and Bamenda in Cameroon. They are known as great artists, artisans and storytellers. Once a nomadic people, some oral traditions trace the origin of the Tikar people to the Nile River Valley in present-day Sudan. Such ethnic groups were referred to in the 1969 official statistics as "Semi-Bantus" and "Sudanese Negroes." They speak a Northern Bantoid language called Tikar. One of the few African people who practiced a monotheistic traditional religion, the Tikar refer to God the Creator by the name Nyuy. They also have an extensive spiritual system of ancestral reverence.
The Buduma are an ethnic group of Chad, Cameroon, and Nigeria who inhabit many of the islands of Lake Chad. They are predominantly fishers and cattle-herders. In the past, the Buduma carried out violent raids on the cattle herds of their neighbors. They were feared villains with aggressive reputations; thus, they were respected and left alone for many years, protected by their own habitat of water and reeds.
The Musgum or Mulwi are a Chadic ethnic group in Cameroon and Chad. They speak Musgu, a Chadic language, which had 61,500 speakers in Cameroon in 1982 and 24,408 speakers in Chad in 1993. The Musgum call themselves Mulwi.
Commercial sorghum is the cultivation and commercial exploitation of species of grasses within the genus Sorghum. These plants are used for grain, fibre and fodder. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Commercial Sorghum species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia.
Christianity is the majority religion in Cameroon, with significant minorities of the adherents of Islam and traditional faiths.
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The Kotoko people, also called Mser, Moria, Bara and Makari, are a Chadic ethnic group located in northern Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. The Kotoko population is composed of approximately 90,000 people of which the majority live in Cameroon. The Kotoko form part of the Chadic people. Their mother tongue is Lagwan. Most of the Kotoko are Sunni Muslims.
Timeline of the Boko Haram insurgency is the chronology of the Boko Haram insurgency, an ongoing armed conflict between Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. Boko Haram have carried out many attacks against the military, police and civilians since 2009, mostly in Nigeria. The low-intensity conflict is centred on Borno State. It peaked in the mid 2010s, when Boko Haram extended their insurgency into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Nomadic conflict, also called farmer–herder conflict, is a type of environmental conflict where farming and herding communities overlap and has been used to refer to fighting among herding communities or fighting between herding and farming communities. This is sometimes referred to as conflict involving “pastoralists” or “nomadic” people and “agriculturalists” or “settled” people. The conflicts usually arise from destruction of crops by livestock and is exacerbated during times when water and lands to graze are scarce.
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