Foumban

Foumban is the royal centre of the Bamum, a kingdom of the Cameroon highlands. Tradition recalls how Nchare Yen defeated the ruler of the settlement and made it his seat, taking the title of Mfon. The town grew around the royal palace, and its rulers governed a hierarchy of officials and subject communities.

For many generations the kingdom remained relatively small. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, King Mbuembue greatly expanded its territory through conquest, transforming Foumban from the centre of a small polity into the capital of a larger kingdom. The history of the town and its dynasty was preserved in Bamum oral traditions passed down through generations as well as in the writings of later rulers.