Musgum people

A Musgum home in Cameroon made of earth and grass.

The Musgum or Moupoui are an ethnic group in Cameroon ,Chad and Nigeria. They speak Musgu, a Chadic language, which had 61,500 speakers in Cameroon in 1982 and 24,408 speakers in Chad in 1993.Now their total number in Chad , Cameroon and Nigeria is estmated more than 502000 in 2013 during their Cultural Festival which was held at Pouss village in Maga sub-division. The Musgum call themselves Mulwi.[1]

Distribution

In Cameroon, the Musgum live in the Maga sub-division, Kai-Kai sub-division Mayo-Danay division, Far North Province. In Chad, they live in Bongor Subprefecture,Guelendeng,Katawa Mayo-Kebbi Prefecture, and in N'Djaména Subprefecture,in areas such as Ngueli , Sukkabir,etc Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture. This territory lies between the Chari and Logone rivers.[1] Increasing numbers of Musgum in Cameroon are settling farther north, in the direction of Kousséri.Waza, a national park in Cameroon is founded on Musgum territory.This name derives from the Musgum word "Waza" which means "my house,or my homeland";Moulvoudaye,which means " I buy people" was a slave trading center. We also have the "peak of Mindif" translated as "la dentde Mindif" comes from a Musgum word "Mindif" which literarily means "the mouth of man"Bold text The Musgum peple are autochtone people in Kousseri, living with their fellow brothers Kotoko.Both of these tribes are descendant of SAO people who were the pioneer around the Lake Chad.In Nigeria , they live mainly in Borno State in Eastern North of Nigeria,especially in areas such as Bama , Banki , Gambaru, villages neighbouring Darak, Blangoua with their neighbours Kanuri with which they formed the Borno Empire.They have a common history since the time they harmoniously lived and constututed the Baguirmi Empire.In one word ,they are spread in five sub-divisions over six in the Far North Region.

History and culture

The Musgum are Afro-Asiatic in origin, having displaced the Paleo-Sudanese at the present territory along with other Neo-Sudanese groups.They are first of all worrior people.when the Fulani people arrived in their terrotoris ,they tried to subdue and compell them to accept Islam by war.That is why some of their chiefs such as Zigla, Awersing etc came out with their troops to drove them out and to take back their areas.As such a tremendous battle was held in the village of Bogo in Diamaré Division.Bogo whose name came from Mousgoum "BOGO" which means "noise" was the battle field of the the leadership war. At the fulness of time, that war was followed by the victory o Mousgoum troops and the lost of the territory by the Fulani group.That caused them to flee away from BOGO to Adamawa.After having succeeded in Norh and Adamawa region,some of the Fulani people went back to Bogo where they adopted the procedure of islamization by ruse.This is a process whereby a Fulani man decide deliberately to give his daughter to a welthy Mousgoum man,or to a known by his community as chief of a village. Obviously , their aim was to inherit by blood relationship the welth and chiefdoms. As we have the kingdom of Bogo which is the Mousgoum kingdom mixed with Fulani by marriage covenant.Be it in Cameroon or in Chad, Mousgoum areas are ruled by native Mousgoum men chiefs. For instance, the Sultanate of Pouss,the Lamidat of Guirvidig,the Sultanate of Zina, and the Lamidat of Bogo. Mousgoum people are also known as initiators of "Laba"or Labana, which is a traditional rite for fighting.In the present day world , the dream of a young Mousgoum man is to practise a military actity.

Fishing is an important activity for the Musgum during the rainy season when the Logone River floods. This has led to ethnic tensions with rival fishermen of the Kotoko ethnic group (who are also of the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic stock).[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ethnologue.
  2. ↑ Reuters.

References

ABIA Samuel GAOU,(2015 Cameroon)