King Ibrahim Njoya was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon, dating back to the 14th cent. A brilliant intellectual and renaissance man, he invented an indigenous African writing system to document the history of his people. 1/5
King Ibrahim Njoya was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon, dating back to the 14th cent. A brilliant intellectual and renaissance man, he invented an indigenous African writing system to document the history of his people. 1/5
King Ibrahim Njoya was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon, dating back to the 14th cent. A brilliant intellectual and renaissance man, he invented an indigenous African writing system to document the history of his people. 1/5
King Ibrahim Njoya was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon, dating back to the 14th cent. A brilliant intellectual and renaissance man, he invented an indigenous African writing system to document the history of his people. 1/5
Between 1896 & 1910 King Njoya's script evolved from a pictographic system to a partially alphabetic syllabic script, designed to represent all the sounds in the Bamum language of the Shü-mom people. This drawing shows him demonstrating the script to a group of his ministers. 2/5
In the 1920's the colonial French administration suppressed the script, and destroyed the printing press and Bamun type King Njoya had had cast. His great library was ruined, and many manuscripts were burnt in the streets. Njoya himself was sent into exile and died in 1933. 3/5
In the 1920's the colonial French administration suppressed the script, and destroyed the printing press and Bamun type King Njoya had had cast. His great library was ruined, and many manuscripts were burnt in the streets. Njoya himself was sent into exile and died in 1933. 3/5
In the 1920's the colonial French administration suppressed the script, and destroyed the printing press and Bamun type King Njoya had had cast. His great library was ruined, and many manuscripts were burnt in the streets. Njoya himself was sent into exile and died in 1933. 3/5
In the 1920's the colonial French administration suppressed the script, and destroyed the printing press and Bamun type King Njoya had had cast. His great library was ruined, and many manuscripts were burnt in the streets. Njoya himself was sent into exile and died in 1933. 3/5
But the memory of Njoya's script lived on amongst his people and in the minds of his son & grandson. The script continued to be used on a small scale, and in 2007 the first coordinated attempt to revive it was made. Today it is once again being taught to local schoolchildren. 4/5
King Njoya is shown here at left, and at right flanked by his son and eldest daughter standing before the palace in Foumban. 5/5
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