In the vast world of history, it is truly unlikely that a piece of Bamum culture would be with us today, in Chicago. But, Chicagoans have been lucky enough to fall upon the same axis as a beautiful portrait, that derived from the Bamum, at the Field Museum. To become acquainted with the Bamum, one must meet King Njoya: the most significant figure in the history of the Bamum, and featured as epicenter of their culture in the portrait. It only makes sense that King Njoya was portrayed as the God of the Bamum as he influenced his kingdom in socially and culturally impressive ways: he established Bamum writing and script, built a large school system around his script, created a printing press for his people, with all of these things created to protect and serve his people.
This piece that resides in the ‘Africa’ exhibit of the Field Museum conveys the important aspects of Bamum culture. The Bamum were a group of West African people who lived in present day Cameroon. Its capital was a magnificent, walled city named Foumban. Overall, little is known about Bamum social and economic life, but it is certain that the Bamum people were magnificent craftsmen. According to Brittanica Encyclopedia: “The Bamum are noted craftsmen. The men do embroidery, weaving, leatherwork, wood carving, ivory carving, metalwork, and blacksmithing, and the women make pottery. Both men and women cultivate the land. The Bamum are sedentary farmers who do some fishing but little hunting. Their principal crops are corn (maize), millet, cassava, and sweet potatoes”. The Field Museum’s piece cleanly resembles this distinct culture.
The portrait itself sits at about 3 feet by 3 feet, depicting 17 rulers surrounding one central ruler: King Njoya. It is likely that the bordering rulers make up all of the Bamum rulers up until this portrait was created because King Njoya is shown for a second time in one of the smaller squares. In a way, this emphasizes how important Njoya truly was. The artist chose to depict all of the rulers in the history of the Bamum on this canvas, and surrounded King Njoya with all of them, and himself. In the bottom of the portrait, there is a group of children presumably being taught King Njoya’s recently-developed script, and likewise in one of the schools that he created. In four quadrants surrounding the children, there are small, vertical rectangles that show basic Bamum life: hunting, dancing, farming, and harvesting. It is likely that these four aspects of culture were the most important and favorable in the eyes of the Bamum. Additionally, some of the only writing on the entire piece resides on the bottom, reading “Le Sultan Njoya – Enseignant Lecriture Shumom” which is French for: King (or Sultan) Njoya, Teacher Shumom writing, which happens to be the name of the script that King Njoya created and taught. Because of the title and main view of the canvas, it can be assumed that the main idea of this artifact was to honor King Njoya, while depicting Bamum culture. In context, the fact that the language written on the portrait is in French is no eye-opener. Njoya ruled from approximately 1886-1933, a truly live time for the Bamum. With the revolution of imperialism of Africa, the Bamum were bound to be conquered. But, the Bamum voluntarily joined the German Cameroon in 1884, during the reign of Mfon Nsangou. Years later, in the middle of Njoya’s reign, the French replaced the Germans, which is why the portrait has French writing. To see this portrait for yourself, check the back of the paper where a photo is displayed.
In these ways, and in regards to the portrait, it is not a strenuous conclusion to assert that King Ibrahim Njoya provided the Bamum with a turning point as ruler. He placed his kingdom under German protection because of previous conflict with other nearby kingdoms of Western Africa. With time, the Germans started to admire Njoya with his “steady hand as a ruler and willingness to provide troops in the war against the Nso, but also his longstanding interest in economic affairs”. If a different ruler would’ve been present, it is likely that the Germans wouldn’t correspond as easily with the Bamum; as a result of this association, the Bamum under Njoya was able to thrive.
In correlation with the German affair, King Njoya’s main innovation was the creation of his script, Shumom. In about 1895, Njoya invented a pictograph system of 510 pictographic characters, which was revised six times and finalized with a 7th edition with 83 characters and 10 numerals. Before the creation of Shumom, Bamum history had just been preserved orally from one tradition to the next. Knowing that Bamum history was at risk, he created the alphabet to preserve Bamum history in a physical form, but it also turned into something much greater through time. Bamum scholar, Kenneth J. Orosz, argues that the inspiration for creating the alphabet is still under debate, saying, “Many scholars argue for a connection to written Arabic due to the activities of Hausa merchants and the presence in the palace at Foumban of several copies of the Koran [Quran] and other Arabic books purchased at great expense by Njoya’s father”. This argument is logically reasonable, as Njoya switched to practice Islam in 1918. Regardless of what the inspiration was, Orosz agrees that, “There is scholarly agreement that his alphabet was an independent innovation developed between 1895 and 1900, thus predating the German arrival in Bamum, and was driven by equal measures of intellectual curiosity and political necessity”. With this being said, Njoya’s alphabet undoubtedly created a paradigm shift in Bamum reading and writing, but more significantly allowed the Bamum to be safe: it allowed him to safely and securely communicate with his officials in regards to WWI. In terms of growth, by 1918 there were 20 schools teaching the alphabet. Through increased popularity, King Njoya was given a little more breathing room in terms of the expansion of the script. He made a map of his country, a religious book, a book on medicine, and rather significantly: a printing press and a royal library.
Unfortunately, this beautiful creation could not withhold the inevitable overtaking. Once World War I played a role in Africa, the allies invaded German Cameroon. Immediately, Njoya was nervous, but accepted the French as they wouldn’t harm his people. The French ended up dethroning him and exiling him to Yaounde in 1933.
Despite a horrible, abrupt ending to King Njoya’s reign, he left a footprint in Bamum, and more broadly: African history. When you look at the innocent, undefiled portrait at the field museum, King Njoya looks right back at you. This may mean nothing to the average person; but to the informed historian, you see a man who lacks nothing, especially an innovative mind. You see a person whom lives through his people vicariously, with them, for them. You see a king that will sacrifice his life for the people, and that is why he was so successful.