NSO, CAMEROON.
The story starts in 1940, during the pre-colonial period and ends in 1960 when Cameroon has just attained independence. We are in the Nso tribe: a people of the Bamenda Grassfields in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. Their traditional language is Lamnso (language of Nso) and their capital is Kumbo.
Both the people and the capital are sometimes referred to as Banso (people of Nso) - the addition of the Ba prefix is attributed to the Fulani conquerors in the 17th century; the prefix resonates in the names of towns around the area.
Kumbo, also known as Kimbo, is the second-largest city in the North West Province of Cameroon and the capital of Bui Division.
It lies about 2000m above sea level and is situated approximately 110 km away from Bamenda (the provincial capital of the North West Province), on the Bamenda Highlands Ring Road. Kumbo has a population of 80,212 (at the 2005 Census) and is split into three distinctive hilly settlements of Tobin, Mbveh, and Squares.
The town is known for horse racing (Tobin Stadium) and traditional medicine, and also for its palace (Nso Palace), a market and two hospitals (Shisong Hospital & Banso Baptist Hospital
Kumbo is the capital city of the Nso Kingdom of the Nso people.
The lingua franca is Lamnso but Pidgin, English, French, Oku, Djottin, Fulfulde, and Hausa are spoken.
The first German settlers were Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who arrived in 1912 and established their mission in 1913.
