Indigenous Settlement Types among the Mbum of the Nkambe, Plateau of Cameroon: Continuity and Change

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VIII, August 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

Indigenous Settlement Types among the Mbum of the Nkambe, Plateau of Cameroon: Continuity and Change

Talla Richard Tanto

Department of History and Archaeology, The University of Bamenda, North West Region, Cameroon

Abstract: One of the many ways in which man has over the years been striving to adapt to his changing natural environment, so as to ensure his continuous survival, has been in the domain of settlement or housing technology. The environmental changes demanded adjustments to man’ s technology associated with his shelter, and as a consequence, a lot as to what concerns the true nature of indigenous settlements have been gradually disappearing with time. This paper therefore, tries to reconstruct, for purposes of posterity, the nature of indigenous types of shelters of the Mbum ethnic group on the Nkambe Plateau of Cameroon. Oral traditions, archaeological ruins found at the archaeological/historical Mbum site of Mbajeng, and ethnographic research provided the data for the research. It was discovered that the Mbum have three main indigenous types of settlement architecture, most of which have either been modified or become extinct over the years. The first consist of houses constructed with sun-dried blocks and thatched with grass; the second with bamboos, sticks and also thatched with grass, while, the third had circularly arranged stones also thatched with grass. The last two are gradually dying out while the first is being modified with zinc roofs and walls plastered with cement and sand. In the light of these disappearing indigenous housing structures, the paper concludes that Africans should borrow only alien technology, which when blended with local technology, ensures their sustainability and existence as a people.

I. INTRODUCTION

As a hunter gatherer, man depended on the natural environment like caves and stone or tree shelters for accommodation. When he became conscious of dominating his environment, he started using some of the natural resources to create the type of shelter he wanted. A settlement according to Okpoko , is generally, a place where there are evidences of human occupation or activity. This therefore means any space that shows evidence of human activity like butchery, burial, industry and hunting constitutes a settlement since these are obviously related parameters or structures, which in one or the other, contribute in making the site to be referred to as a settlement site. It is also in line with this that Ogundele , based on his experiences in Tivland

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