Sangmelima

Sangmelima lies in the forest country of southern Cameroon, within the equatorial forest that stretches north toward the Gabon border. Streams cut the dense woodland into valleys, and villages sat in clearings where cassava, plantains and cocoyam were grown. Hunters ranged the forest for antelope and small game, while women and children gathered honey, nuts, palm products and medicinal bark.

The Bulu, who speak a language of the Beti group, spread through this forest over several centuries. Their villages were built around lineages, with elders settling disputes and allocating farmland. Forest products moved along paths and rivers toward the trading places of the Sanaga and Ntem valleys, where traders exchanged them for salt, iron and cloth.