LOCATION AND CLIMATE:

The region that is referred to Manyu Division today is an area found in the south-western portion of Cameroon’s equatorial rainforest region, precisely in the cross river region along the Cameroon – Nigeria border. It lies between latitudes 5° and 6°30' North and Longitudes 8°6' and 9º55' East of the Equator.

The people of Manyu share common borders with Nigerians in the West, the Widikum people to the North-East, Nweh and Mundani people to the East and the Mbo people to the South-West.

The greatest length across the Manyu land is from Nchang in the West to Sabes in the East, a distance of 68.4 KM as the crow files and approximately 97.6 K by road. The greatest breath is from Fatok in the South to Eyang in the North which is 51.2KM as the crow files.

Mamfe is the Divisional Headquarter of Manyu Division and the total land area occupy approximately 65,488 square kilometres in the four subdivicions of Mamfe Central, Akwaya, Eyumojock and Upper Bayang of the South West Region of Cameroon.

The Manyu people are situated in the Equatorial Zone thus belongs to the Cameroonian type of equatorial climate. This type of climate is hot and very humid, characterised by an annual rainfall between 2,700mm and 3,600mm although some areas register 6,000mm. Rainfall is of cyclonic and conventional types. It is marked by two distinct seasons – rainy (April – September) and dry (October – March), characterised by low temperatures with high atmospheric humidity and high temperatures with low humidity respectively.

RELIEF:

The Manyu land is generally low-lying. The region has some hilly patches and broken ground in the area north of the Cross River, towards the Widikum escarpment and in the Obang region. The region is generally referred to as the Mamfe basin. The average altitude is between 100m and 150m above sea level. The lowest point is I the centre and at Esagem where the region is as low as 50m above sea level.

There are few hills with Ntaire, presumably an extinct volcano, situated at about some 241 KM East of Mamfe tewn and rising to a height of 1266m. Since these hilly regions are uninhabited, they have become favourable breeding grounds for Elephants, Monkeys and other wild animals.

ECOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE MANYU PEOPLE:

The entire Manyu Division grew from the natural evergreen forest. The forest is immense, luxuriant and has a continuous canopy of leaves. It is dark and damp inside and has very thin undergrowth because little or no sunlight ever reaches the underneath. While the forest is describe as ever-green, there are some trees which shed their foliage at one other period of the year. The forest is quite diverse in species of fauna (e.g Elephants, Monkeys, Tigers etc) and flora (e.g Iroko, Mahogany, Ebony, White Wood & Cheche).

ORIGIN, MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MANYU PEOPLE:

The indigenous population of the Manyu Division who today constitute the tribes like the Banyang, Keakaas, Anyangs and Bokis all originated eastward from Ekoi in South Eastern Nigeria. The real factors responsible for their movements remain clouded because it is based on speculation. However Ejagham and Banyang oral traditions hold that inter-tribal wars, the escape from slave raiders and the desire by some Efik fishermen to do fishing at the Manyu River were the three fundamental factors responsible for the people’s migration.

In their Southward movement from Nigeria, the people were led by a hunter, Akwen who took them through the forests, crossing rivers and streams, and trekking upon hills and valleys. They subsequently arrived the Ekok border and eventually settled at the forested area today known as Eyumojock from where internal dissension led to a split within the group. This was due to the fact that the leader of the group Akwen, began raiding some of his able men and sold them out of the group as slaves, to Nigerian slave traders who wandered across the length and breath of the border in search for escaped slaves.

Those who separated from Akwen’s group later settled elsewhere and opened up new sites for their settlement. It is believed that the villages of Kembong, Ndepaya and Mbakem came into existence as a consequence of the separation and majority of the Ejagham speakers traced their origin from this historic movement.

On the contrary, Banyang oral traditions traced the origin and migration of the indigenes of Mamfe, from the waterside areas, and not from Ekok borders. Sources here explained clearly that Efik fishermen have for long carried out fishing activities in Nigerian Cross River and during one of their downward fishing sessions they came back into contact with the famous River Manyu. Realising that their fishing activities were more fruitful in the Virgin River, they saw no need going back to Nigeria where there were a lot of fishing competition. Having got this revelation they began erecting permanent structures for settlement. With time, as other fishermen migrated downward towards the River Manyu, their number increased and new sites were cleared for settlement. Most of the Banyang, Anyang and Boki speakers traced their history from this migratory trend.

Nevertheless, in spite of this controversy about the origin of migration and settlement of the indigenous population of the Banyang people, a large majority of the informants held tied to the fact that the history of the people generally came from two migratory routes. According to chief Esim therefore, while some indigenes came through the border of Ekok because of slave raids, others who were involved in fishing activities came through the water side, hence both sources are quite substantial in explaining the people‘s history.

Worth noting is that those who came through the borders (Keaka speakers) later on trekked to join their brothers (Banyang, Anyang and Boki) who had settled along the banks of the river and carried out fishing. Hence in spite of this double trend migration, population concentration was around the River Manyu where the trade in smoked fish had developed, and Egbekaw village was the first village that developed.This history of migration and settlement necessitated the practice of the parallel trade as the people of the Manyu Division of Cameroon and those of the Eastern Region of Nigeria considered as having the same historical background. Even after the erection of the national and international boundaries between the two states of Cameroon and Nigeria, the people of the Manyu Region of Cameroon and those in the Eastern Region of Nigeria still found reasons to commune with one another.

POLITICAL AND SOCIO-CULTURAL ORGANISATION:

Before the imposition of the European colonial rule, the people were not united as one. They were scattered throughout the forest in many small separate settlements with larger recognised political groupings unlikely to have exceeded more than 2000 people and in many cases much fewer. The Manyu communities were having dotted hamlets until Alfred Mansfield, the first German explorer came into the area and these hamlets were transformed into organised communities which are reflecting present day communities. What was really common with these communities was the characteristic qualities and attribute of the languages they spoke and their culture, which united and distinguished them from other tribes in the area.

The Manyu society was a stateless society with a system of democratic government at the village level. The villages consisted of several lineages, which were represented, in the informal village council by lineage head. There also existed clans with clan councils, which were made up of the various village heads in the clan. It was by virtue of these that the Manyu (during and after the colonial period) were administered as different tribes with various villages and clans well mapped out.

Manyu Division is made up of about two hundred and thirty-three villages divided as follows: Mamfe Central having 11 villages, Upper Banyang 59villages, Eyumojock 64 villages and Akwaya 99 villages.

The society was ‘sedimentary’ or ‘headless’ with loose hierarchical structures. The Manyu people thus had no paramount chief exceeding control over large areas. With this system the chiefs could do nothing without the representatives of the principal lineages. Manyu villages were also independent from one another, which has made it difficult for one to proudly trace the origin of the different Manyu tribes.

Linguistically, the Manyu people have been classified by various schools of thought as the Bantus, Semi-Bantus and Bantoids.  According to D. W. Crabb, the Banyang and Ejagham are linguistically grouped under the Bantu speaking stock and fall specifically under the Niger-Benue linguistic family. P.A Talbot on his part classifies the Banyang and Ejagham of the Ekok main group under the Semi-Bantu stock, the two being considered as separate sub-language groups.

The Banyang and Ejagham like the Anyang and the Assumbo groups are in some consideration linguistically the same group, especially as they have common identical cultural forms as well as socio-political organisation with the Banyang and Ejagham. The people have two main dialects: - The Banyang dialect (Kenyang) and the Ejagham dialect (Keaka). The slight variations in their tongues help producing the different contacts with their different Western, Eastern and Southern neighbours.

A number of sub-dialects have been produced within each of the main dialect groups. Thus in the Banyang speaking aea, there is a distinction between Upper Banyang (Kenyang Nfai) and Lower Banyang (Kenyang Ntan) sub-dialects. The description generally follows the topography of the area. The Upper Banyang land is located on a more elevated altitude and follows the orientation of the flow of the major rivers which waters the area, while the Lower Banyang land is located around the lower course of the Manyu River. The Lower Banyang is closer to the Central Ejagham (Keaka), their immediate western neighbours.

The above description corresponds with the slight variation in culture and certain words and expressions in the Kenyang dialect. The Upper Banyangs acquired some of their cultural values from which they also borrowed and derived some of their cultural institutions. The Lower Banyangs who are closer to the Keaka with whom they have long been inter-marrying, borrowed most of their institutions from them. Thus it has become difficult to establish a demarcation line between areas of pure Banyang and Keaka cultures in this zone. Here the people understand both the Kenyang and Keaka dialects, and some villages like Mbinjong, Mfuni, Ndekwai, Ossing and Talangaye are purely bilingual. Since the Upper Banyang and the Lower Banyang speak the Kenyang dialect as people of the same ethnic group, the linguistic variation is only slightly.

The Ejagham have a common dialect, which is also known as Ejagham. Despite this, the same linguistic variation is exhibited among its speakers. The slight variation in their tongues has produced three different sub-dialects – The Ekwe (Ejagham), the Keaka (Keaka) and the Obang (Obang). Within the Ejagham dialect group, only theEkwe speak the pure Ejagham dialect. This can be explained by the fact that the people of Ekwe have close contacts with their Southern neighbours, the Ejagham of the Obang district of South- Eastern Nigeria who speaks the Ejagham dialect.  

The Keaka, because of their close contact with their immediate Eastern neighbours, have developed a sub-dialect of their own – Keaka. This dialectical distinction and some differences in their social organisation with their immediate Western neighbours, the Obang as well as their closest kinsmen of Ekwe, are all elements that bring the Keaka people nearest to the Bayang. The Keaka therefore speak Keaka, which is slightly different from the pure Ejagham dialect but is understood by the Ekwe, Obang and the Lower Banyang.

A less marked bilingualism and cultural inter-penetration occur also along the northern and southern borders of Banyang territory. Both Denya (the Anyang language) and Kenyang are spoken in the villages of Nyang and Mukonyong.

In general the seemingly cultural similarities among the Banyang, Ejagham Anyang and Ekwe people in Manyu Division has been the result of contact and process of interaction and of spread.

Socially, polygamy was widely practised and a means through which social status and wealth in the society was determined partly by the number of women and children he had. It was not strange for the chof to have about twenty-five wives. In the field of religion, the indigenes worshipped ancestral spirits and other deities. Although the ancestors were worshipped, the people believed that the ancestors were merely accomplices in whateve good or evil should befall them. This not withstanding, the people still believd in one Supreme Being. It was alleged that chief who was regarded as a demi-god drew inspiration from ngbe. In spite of this, each family has its own god, which could punish or reward the family according to the deeds of the family towards it. Succession in the chiefdom was patrilineal where a son succeeds the father and inherits his wealth. The successor to the chief was certainly the chief’s eldest son who assumed in totality all the powers and functions of his late father.

THE ECONOMY

The economy of the Manyu people was principally agricultural. However in the past the people also practised other activities like fishing, hunting, poultry, animal husbandry and trading. Agriculture was subsistent. The soil fertility in the area was low and thus extensive forms of cultivation were widely practised since the land was vast and unrestricted. The two most important food crops grown were cocoyams and plantains. There were also subsidiary crops like maize, beans, groundnuts, cassava, pumpkin, melon (egusi), pepper, yams, sweet potatoes and kappem (local tomatoes).

The techniques of cultivation were generally crude and rudimentary – A piece of land was roughly cleared mostly at the beginning of the dry season by men who then allowed the rest of the work to be done by the women. The women then cleaned the ground, hoed it and planted crops except plantains, which the men tended. The only implements put into use were the women’s hoes and men’s machetes. Shifting cultivation and crop rotation were also practised. Rights to land ownership were based on the principle which established that whoever cleared a virgin bush lay claim to it. This continued even after the land is left to fallow.

In the Manyu land, food crops were grown solely for consumption, with the exception of the villages of Mbinjong, Bachuo-Akagbe, Bachuo-Ntai, Besongabang and Nchang where some of the crops cultivated were marketed. Use was also made of a number of bush products with most important being the palm kernels. The palm industry became very important to the Manyu people as a source of trade when the slave trade wasprohibited by the colonial powers in the 19th century.

The Manyu people were equally engaged in both the long and short distance trades in addition to farm cultivation. The short distance trade, which was carried out locally, involved the sale of foodstuffs and dried meat. The local people also participated in the long distance trade going through the grassfields of Cameroon to the lower Cross River Basin. They acted as middlemen, handling items like European cloth, guns, salt, ivory and slaves from other areas in exchange for palm oil and palm kernels, which they produced. Other items of trade included – foodstuffs, dried meat, dried fish, brass, traditional dresses and even secret items. The most important trading villages were Tali and Ebuensuk.

Part-time hunting and fishing were also performed in the area. Hunting was done mostly during the rainy season with the use of Dane guns, spears, clubs, bows and arrows, and planted ‘traps’ in search of animals such as Antelopes, Porcupines, Deers, Elephants and many other species animals. The meat was either consumed locally or sold in the local markets. Fishing too was caught with the help of nets or ‘wickets baskets’, as they were known and the poisoning of water and the fish with a specially grown leaves called bekwap.

Other economic activities carried out by the Manyu people included the making of drums, the moulding of pots and the weaving of baskets and sleeping mats. Although the Manyu economy was subsistent in nature, they were generally considered to be lazy. It is however, worth noting that in the society, considerable emphasis was placed upon a man’s wealth and upon the need to obtain wealth. One of the key-notes of community life was the individual quest for status, which was largely dependent upon the person’s initiative and the qualities he exhibited, together with the wealth he commended.

A POSTGRADUATE DISSERTATION BY

CROMWELL ENOW

(Tel: +237 777 98613)

NO PART OF THIS RESEARCH SHOULD BE REPRODUCED IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM WITHOUT THE PERMISION OF THE RESEARCHER OR MECA IRELAND.