Nkon
 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Northern Abo (Manduka), Southern Abo (Miang) | |
| Languages | |
| Bankon | |
| Religion | |
| Christian | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Bankon or Bakon (Northern Abo), Southern Abo |
Geography
The Nkon (Bankon, Bakon, ANKon or Northern Abo) are a people of the Littoral region of Cameroon which lives in the Abo country, located at the north of the town of Douala, separated from it by the tiny territory occupied by Pongo and Nso peoples of the Wouri (or Cameroon) river's right bank, the river which gave its name to the modern state of Cameroon. Halfway between this river and the Moungo valley, the Abo country has the form of a parallelogram hardly lengthened from North to South. It's crossed to South-East by the Abo river, a Wouri tributary.
On the administrative level, the Abo country is attached to the Moungo department, one of the four departments of the Littoral region, with Wouri, Nkam and Sanaga Maritime. Bonalea (it means descendants of Lea) commune is divided into two cantons, the original cantons of Northern Abo and Southern Abo, respectively located on the Abo river's left and right sides.
On the traditional level, each canton has its Chiefdom, Manduka in the North, and Miang in the South; they are respectively administrated by Their Majesties, Higher Chiefs Emmanuel NGOM PRISO and Jean-Jacques MAKOLLE EBONGUE.
History
The Bankon are closely related to the Duala and Cameroon's coastal peoples, the Sawa. They descend from Pharaoh Neferkare Sabakon (as called by the Egyptian historian Manetho) of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, King of Egypt from 721 BC to 707 BC. Their clan bears the name of their ancestor Sabakon, which means "The country of Bakon" in Ancient Egyptian, or "The heart of Bakon" in Akkadian language. Objects brought by them from Egypt, traces of Egyptian civilization and religion, have been found in Cameroon.
According to the anthropologist Idelette Dugast, the Abo country population has two different origins : the Bankon (or Northern Abo) and the Southern Abo.
The Southern Abo say that they have a common origin with the Barombi (= plural of Ombi) people of the South-West region of Cameroon. They would have come from the Barombi lakes area and having crossed these volcanic mountains, then the Moungo valley and a very thick forest, arrived from the North-Western direction to the Abo river palm trees forests. According to the genealogies collected and published by the Cameroonian anthropologist and historian Dika Akwa Nya Bonambela, Akwa Reigning Prince of the Duala tribe, the Southern Abo are Ombo descendants, a people about which many ancient authors wrote, originating from Kom Ombo in Egypt. The Ombo migration reached Central Africa during the 12th century.
Around 1610, a long time after the Southern Abo, arrived from the Wouri valley and by circumventing the Wouri right bank Nso ethnic group, the Bankon. Their traditions say that their ancestor was of the same mother and father as the Duala ancestor.
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According to many concordant oral traditions which are confirmed by archaeological, linguistic and ethnological data, these Bankon (or Bakon), descendants of Pharaoh Sabakon, left Egypt around the fifth and sixth centuries of Christian Era; their departure from Egypt coincides with Prophet Mohamed's advent, the Islam's founder. They went to Sudan, then to Lake Chad, from where they reached Cameroon. They came from Pitti on Dibamba, and by Bosamba and Nono on Wouri river, reached finally its tributary, Dibombe, from which they penetrated in the country they occupy now. They found the Southern Abo who came from Barombi lakes, they set up close them. Few years after, they definitely set up as masters beside the first occupants and on their land. Until the end of 19th century, nobody could venture on their land without their goodwill.
It is the word Abo, city, which, with the article prefixed, becomes Tabo, or Thebes. The word still remains in Medineh Tabo, the village in the western suburb of that city. Abo is a Syriac word (Hebrew : av, ab) which means "pater, father, man, husband".
Pharaoh Neferkare Meriamon Sabakon
Until recently, there was a chapter of history that largely went untold. Only in the past four decades have archaeologists resurrected their story and come to recognize that the Black Pharaohs didn’t appear out of nowhere. They sprang from a robust African civilization that had flourished on the southern banks of the Nile for 3,000 years BC, going back at least as far as the first Egyptian dynasty.
We have certain information of the Ethiopians being a powerful nation (971 BC) when they assisted King Shishak of Egypt in his war against Judaea "with very many chariots and horsemen". Sixteen years after this, we have an account of Judaea being again invaded by an army of a million Ethiopians, unaccompanied by any Egyptian force. From the Scripture narrative, it appears that the Ethiopians had made considerable progress in the art of war, and were masters of the navigation of the Red Sea, and at least a part of the Arabian peninsula. The kingdom must have been also in a very flourishing condition, when it was able to bear the cost of so vast and distant an expedition.
The Ethiopian power gradually increased until its monarchs invaded Egypt in 732 BC and took the throne of Egypt, establishing the Twenty-fifth Dynasty which ruled until 656 BC, where four of them reigned in succession, Usermaatre Piye (from 732 BC to 721 BC), Neferkare Sabakon, called So in Scripture (from 721 BC to 707 BC), Djedkare Sebichos (from 707 BC to 690 BC), and Khuinefertemre Tarakos (from 690 BC to 664), the Taharka of Scripture, Bakare Tanutamun (from 664 to 653). Sebichos was so powerful a monarch, that Hoshea, king of Israel, revolted against the Assyrians, relying on his assistance; but was not supported by his ally. This, indeed, was the immediate cause of the captivity of the Ten Tribes; for "in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria", as a punishment for unsuccessful rebellion. Taharka was a more warlike prince : he led an army against Sennacherib, King of Assyria, then besieging Jerusalem; and the Egyptian traditions, preserved in the age of Herodotus, give an accurate account of the providential interposition by which the pride of the Assyrians was humbled. Pharaoh Tanutamun lost control of Upper Egypt in 656 BC when Psammetichus I extended his authority into Thebes in that year.
Tanutamun successors came to settle at Napata, where they established a Kingdom (656 - 590 BC) then later, at Meroe (590 BC - 4th century AD). The Kingdom of Meroe was, in the strictest sense, a Priestly State, for nowhere was the priesthood ever so powerful. According to Herodotus, the priest-cast was the ruling body and choose a King from among themselves. Meroe was the centre of the great caravan trade between Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Northern Africa and India. Ammonium also was a small Priestly State, with a King, founded by Egyptians and Ethiopians from Meroe. Meroe, and Axum (in Abyssinia) which appears to have been also a colony from Meroe, remained the centre of the southern commerce till the time of the Arabians. The existing monuments of their architecture, and many other vestiges of them, prove their early religious and social cultivation. Frederic Caillaud of Nantes has given us the accounts of these memorials of Ethiopian antiquity in his "Voyage à Méroé, au Fleuve Blanc, en 1819-22" (Paris, 1824, in three parts, with engravings and maps).
From the books of Manetho (it means Etho's child in Bankon), the most famous Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos (ancient Egyptian : Tjebnutjet) who lived during the Ptolemaic era (3rd century BC), we learn that Sabakon the Ethiopian took Pharaoh Bocchoris of the Twenty-fourth Dynasty prisoner in war, and caused him to be burnt alive; Herodotus tells us that Sabakon, the King of Ethiopians, marched through Egypt with a mighty army of his people; and the King of Egypt fled into the marshes. Sabakon was a mild ruler, and did not punish any Egyptian with death. Those who had committed an offence, he condemned to raise the dams which Sesostris had caused to be thrown round the cities, according to the measure of offence.
The rule of Pharaoh Sabakon and his Ethiopian successors appears as the restoration of the Old Egyptian State of affairs. It was the reverence of the priests, the participation, the worship, the correct behavior, in which Sabakon and his Ethiopian successors come forward as genuine followers of the Pharaohs, which appear to have won for Sabakon - who is to the Greeks the representative of the Ethiopian dynasty - that reputation of gentleness and justice which Herodotus and Diodorus repeat from the tradition of the Egyptians. At the temples at Memphis, at Luxor and Karnak, Sabakon undertook works of restoration. On the pillars of the main gateway at Karnak, the goddess Hathor embraces him; the inscriptions on this gate describes him as "the good god, the giver of life for ever, like the sun", and declares that he has received the tribute for the Negroes, and the tribute for the Chalu, i.e. the inhabitants of Palestine.
Pharaoh Sabakon died in year 707 BC and left the Empire over Napata and Egypt to his nephew Sebichos - Sabakon was Piye's brother, it was the custom in Ethiopia for brothers of a ruler to have priority over the sons in succession. Some cartouches with the name of Pharaoh Sabakon have been discovered in the ruins of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh (Assyrian Empire). Marriage alliances with Pharaoh Psemtek (Psammetichus I) of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty are proved by three inscriptions. One shows that Queen Netaqert was a daughter of King Psemtek and Queen Shep-en-apet. Another shows that Queen Shep-en-apet was a daughter of King Piye (or Piankhy) and Queen Amen-artas, and that Queen Amen-artas was a daughter of King Kashta and Queen Shep-en-apet, a daughter of King Uasarken. The other shows that Queen Amen-artas, the daughter of King Kashta, was the sister of Pharaoh Sabakon. Thus, Pharaoh Sabakon was brother to Amen-artas, the mother of Shep-en-apet, the wife of Pharaoh Psemtek.
Pharaoh Sabakon's rules extended over the whole of Egypt, and he appears to have ruled from Memphis. Sabakon followed the policy of earlier Pharaohs and appointed a son, Horemakhet (it means Horus in the horizon), as High Priest of Amun at Thebes. Pharaoh Taharka followed similar policies as his predecessors. His daughter was installed as eventual successor to Shep-en-apet II; a son was appointed as Second Prophet of Amun at Thebes; Sabakon grandson, Horkhebi, succeded his father as High Priest. Taharka's successor, Tanutamun, confronting Assyrian invasions, adopted the same pragmatic approach to the Lybian rulers, accepting their allegiance when they came to pay fealty. The Assyrians, too, confirmed and reappointed dynasts who have previously been loyal to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Later, when the dynasts reverted to Ethiopian allegiance, some were deported to Nineveh, and apparently executed.
The Bankon descend from the Prince and High Priest Horkhebi son of the Prince and High Priest Horemakhet son of Pharaoh Sabakon son of Kashta King of Napata.
The Duka in Ancient Egypt
The Bankon canton of North Abo has seven villages : Manduka (it means Duka's child) the Chiefdom, Besungkan, Mangamba (it means Gamba's child), Fiko (or Kiko), Bansen (= plural of Nsen), Kunan, Mpobo (or Mpoo).
The Duka clan was particularly known in Ancient Egypt history. In "A dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, sects and Doctrines A to D", Mister William Smith wrote : "Early in 356 Syrianus, the Duka of Egypt began the open persecution of the Catholics at Alexandria, and Constantina when appealed to, confirmed his actions and meet Heraclius to head over all the churches to the Arians, which was done with great violence and cruelty. George of Cappadocia was intruded into the church, and Athanasius was forced to hide in the desert. In the same year, Hilary of Poitiers was banished from Phrygia."
Manduka was called in Egypt Scarabaeus Beetle. Scarabaeus were principally used for their rings, necklaces and other ornamental trinkets, as well as for funeral purposes. Some of a larger size frequently had a prayer, or legend connected with the dead, engraved upon them; and a winged Scarabaeus was generally placed on those bodies which embalmed according to the most expansive process. The Scarabaeus may then be considered an emblem of the Sun; of Ptah the creative of power, and of Ptah Tore; of Ptah-Sokari-Osiris; of the world; connected with astronomical subjects and with funeral rites. The French historian Frédéric Caillaud discovered a beetle in Meroe (the actual Sudanese Sennar) which he thought likely to be the Egyptians original sacred beetle, because of its golden green colour.
Manduka (Marduk or Marduka in Akkadian) was the Babylonian name of a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi (18th century BC), started to slowly rise to the position of the head of the Babylonian pantheon, a position he fully acquired by the second half of the second millennium BC. Marduk was also regarded as the son of Ea (Sumerian Enki) and Damkina and the heir of Anu. The Jewish name Mordechai is most commonly connected with that of the god Marduk. It is considered equivalent to Marduka, well attested in the Persepolis texts as a genuine name of the period.
Relations between Bankon and Semitic
Logon means God in Bankon.
Acoording to Joseph A. Fitzmyer, the Jesus Aramaic statement "ton Logon" means "the God (who is) the leader in speaking" or "of words".
In the Hebrew concept of God as a plural structure, the Elohim were of degree and rank as an order of spirit beings, who achieved their unity with Eloah from the emanation of the Logon; individual manifestations of which been refered to as the Logos or Logoi in plural form. In the Assyrian Theory of Soul, Logon is the Father of all existent things, and the Holy Spirit.
Nkon (plural = Bakon), derived from the Hebrew verb KQI, "to purify". It always means "to cleanse, expurgate, decontaminate" (Milgrom 1991 : pages 232, 253). It is required when an individual or a community commits an inadvertent sin (as in Lev. 4), or when a person is under the influence of a severe impurity (Lev. 12-15). The names Nkon and Kon were found several times in Aramaic documents from Ancient Egypt.
Many Semitic idioms are similar to those of the Bankon language : ANKon, Nkon and Bakon (= plural of Nkon) the generic names of Bankon; Duka, the historical Chiefdom of Bankon canton; Lea, the commune's name; but also Bankon villages names (Gamba, Kiko, Nsen, Kunan, Mpoo), belong to these similarities which could be explained by the meeting of Bankon and Semitic in Ancient Egypt.
An exhaustive work on the Elephantine Papyri written in Aramaic, Archives from Elephantine, published in 1968 by Bezalel Porten, includes significant research concerning the Jewish-Aramean military colony on Elephantine Island (or Abo Island). This colony had probably been established at a time when Judah was a subservient ally of Egypt, possibly at the outset of the reign of Jehoiakim (609 BC). These Jews were charged with protecting Egypt borderlands in that region, and with general duties to do with the supervision of land and river routes trade to and from the south.
According to Hebrew legend, the book of the Angel Rezial called the Sepher Rezial, was presented to Adam, the first Human being, in the Garden of Eden, given by the hand of God, and delivered by the angel Rezial. The myth thus suggests that this is the first book ever written, and is of direct an divine provenance.
These are some extracts of the prayer of Adam, the first Human (IHOH is the Holy name of God) :
"When in the first season, perform works that the water may be purified by heat. Speak the name of the first day of the week, A'areon; and the name of the spirit of the east, Qonedek; and the names of the princes, Gabrial, Raphal, and Avorial; and the names of the second season, Nanial and Tzedeqiel; and the name of the prince, Abier Abieriem; and the name (Hebrew : IHOH ANKON); and the names of the sign of Cancer, Qoheder, Voba'ayi, and Mieniyeh. Speak, Heh Yehieh Yedied Adoked Yedied Yechotzoriya Ivavar Aberesekem Yeh Yeh Yeh Yeh Yeh Ahieh Asher Ahieh zeqoqoveheyi Yehoveh (IHOH); and the seven names. By heating the water of the well, purify it and make it fit to consume."
"When in the second season, perform works that the cattle may thrive. Speak the name of the sixth day of the week, Atheroph; and the names of the second season, Nemoval, Tzedieqial, A'anial; and the prince Abier Abieriem; and the name (Hebrew : IHOH ANKON); and the names of the sign of Cancer, Qeheder, Ovalien, Thenonial, Benebod, and Ayiepheten; and the seven names. Serve Gediehon and Geremiehon."
Bankon Language
Bankon (or Abo) is a language spoken in the neighbourhood of the Wuri River, in the Cameroons. It is classified No. A42 by Malcom Guthrie (Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston's No. 212), under the Basa language. According to the British explorer, administrator and great Bantu linguistic expert Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston (1858-1927), Bankon has been strongly influenced by the languages of the North-East of Africa. In fact, Bankon is an Ancient Egyptian dialect, with a great number of Semitic similarities (especially Aramaic, Akkadian, Hebrew, Sumerian and Syriac), spoken by the Pharaoh Sabakon descendants; many Duka still live nowadays in Egypt. Its relationship to the more typical African Eastern Bantu languages may be deduced from the following table of noun-classes :
| Prefixes | English | Bankon | Ganda | Nyanja | Swahili |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mu | Man | Mut | Omu-ntu | Mu-ntu | M-tu |
| Va | Men | Bot | Aba-ntu | A-ntu | Wa-tu |
| Mu | Heart | Muem | Omu-tima | M-tima | M-tima |
| Mi | Hearts | Miom | Omi-tima | Mi-tima | Mi-tima |
| Ki | Thing | Kyom=Ki-om | Oki-ntu | Chi-ntu | Ki-tu |
| Vi | Things | Bi-om | Obi-ntu | Zi-ntu | Vi-tu |
| Ni | House | Ndaw | Onju | Numba | Numba |
Bankon is related to Ancient Egyptian and Semitic languages : Mut of Bankon corresponds with Mut of Napata (Meroe) and Mut of Karnak (Egypt). The vocable Mut (meaning Human being) is attested in Akkadian and early West Semitic pronoun names in the Hebrew Bible.
| Ancient Egyptian | English | Bankon | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nta | I am not | Nta | I am not |
| Nta dja | I do not eat | Nta djé | I do not eat |
| Ancient Egyptian | English | Bankon | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sah | Country | Sa | We |
| Is | Eye | Dis | Eye |
| Mè | Me, I | Mè | Me, I |
| Ks | Bone | Kifés | Bone |
| Ka | Cosmic energy | Kà | To talk |
| Nu | This, That | Nu (or Anu) | This, That |
| May | Water | Maléw | Water |
| Beb | Bad | Bê | Bad |
| Djo | To say | Jò | To say |
| Mut | Woman | Mutan=Mut-an | Woman |
| Dja | A sort of bread | Djé | To eat |
| Ibhw | Tooth | Ison | Tooth |
| Betk | To beat | Bòm | To beat |
| Ikhps | Arm | Ikaa | Arm |
| Teka | To look, to see | Tâh | To look, to see |
| Meneme | Identity | Mè nè mè | I see I |
| Per-ndaw | Small house | Ndaw | House |
Ancient deities An, Anu and Ki in Bankon language
An, Anu and Ki are often used in Bankon : Anu (or Nu) means "this", "that"; Ki means "the", "of".
In Ancient Egypt, the tale of An was similar to that of Ra of the Egyptians where Isis refers to the Supreme God. The Egyptians called An a form of Osiris, meaning sun or moon god.
Anuket (Anukis in Greek) is an ancient Egyptian goddess of the cataracts or rapids on the Nile River in the region of Abu (or Abo) Island in the south of Egypt. She is the sister or daughter to Satet, another Nile goddess of the area of the First Cataract, and the two of them plus Khnum, a local Ram-God, made up the Elephantine Triad from Middle Kingdom times (2040-1640 BC). Anuket is associated with the gazelle, as Satet is with the antelope, and both animals were linked with water in the Egyptian mind.
Some say the name Anu is the Akkadian form of An, High God of heaven. The goddess Nammu who personified the eternal primeval sea is the mother of the Sumerian sky god An. With Ki, the earth goddess, An became the father of the God of air Enlil. In later times Enlil superseded An as chief of the Sumerian pantheon. Semitic Assyrians referred to Anu and Anatu (Anath) as god and goddess of heaven. Anu (or An) was part of the Sumerian trial of high gods : An, Enlil and Ninhusag. Some say the trinity was An, Enlil and Enki.
| Bankon | English |
|---|---|
| Man | Child |
| Nyan | Mother |
| San | Father |
| Wan | To buy |
| Nsan | Peace |
| Ntan | Slave |
| Ngan | A lot |
| Nkan | Root |
| Ilôtâk ki ndaw | House's wall |
| Kolà ki san | Father's basket |
| Ki kèé ki kwô | The tree which falls |
| Anu mutan a lòn | That (this) woman is singing |
| Anu mut a yé bê | That (this) human being is bad |
| Anu molom a ton ndaw yes | That (this) man wants our house |
| Anu man a ta tsaw ni bes | That (this) child does not play with us |
Bankon and Southern Abo rebellion of 1891
The trade in Abo country was only provided by palm oil revenue. However, at the 19th century, ten tons of palm oil were equivalent to a ton of ivory. It's in this context that in February 1891, the village of Miang inhabitants (Southern Abo canton) block the passage of the Abo river to Chancellor Leist. According to the "Annales coloniales" , the villages of Bonakwassi (Northern Abo canton) and Miang were set up in fortress. Always according to the "Annales coloniales", the stake of this battle was the Germany prestige and the maintenance of obedience by the German colonial administration of Cameroon. That's why the colonial administration used captain Hauptmann Karl Von Gravenreuth army, but also two German boats : the "Habicht" and the "Soden". On November 5, 1891, captain Von Gravenreuth perished in front of the Bankon village of Duka during the attack of this fortified village.
Whole villages were destroyed, the losses of Bankon and Abo of South populations were very high. A peace treaty was signed by the belligerents at the beginning of 1893.
Deido Ebele-Bankon clan origins
See also
Other articles including lists of ancient Egyptians :
- List of Pharaohs
- List of children of Ramesses II
- Great Royal Wife (including list of title holders)
- God's Wife of Amun (including list of title holders)
References
- A manual of ancient history, by William Cooke Taylor, Caleb Sprague Henry, L. L. Smith; page 14. Edition 5, 1844.
- A concise dictionary of the Bible: comprising its antiquities, biography, geography, and natural history: being a condensation of the larger dictionary, by Sir William Smith, 1865.
- Les descendants des pharaons à travers l'Afrique, par le Prince Dika Akwa nya Bonambela. Editions Osiris-Africa, 1985.
- The Acts of the Apostles, by Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1998.
- Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt : Ostraca, by Bezalel Porten, Ada Yardeni; 1999.
- Mysticism and the origin of world religions, by Wade E. Cox, 2005.
- Sepher Rezial Hemelach : The Book of the Angel Rezial, by Steve Savedow.
- A dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, sects and Doctrines A to D; by William Smith.
- The history of antiquity, by Maximilian Wolfgang Duncker; volume III, 2008.
- Memphis and Mycena; an examination of Egyptian chronology and its application to the early history of Greece, by Cecil Torr.
- Empires : perspectives from archaeology and history, by Susan E. Alcock.
- The Cambridge ancient history, volume 3, by John Boardman.
- Egyptian Hieroglyphics, by Samuel Sharpe.
Notes
- Précis du système hiéroglyphique des anciens Egyptiens, par Jean-François Champollion. Tome 1, page 152, 1828.
- L'Egypte au temps des pharaons : la vie, la science et l'art, par Victor Loret, 1889.
- Esquisse ethnique des principales populations de l'Afrique Equatoriale Française, par le Docteur Poutrin. Masson, Paris 1914.
- Le milieu biblique avant Jésus Christ, par Charles-François Jean, 1936.
- Inventaire ethnique du Sud-Cameroun, Idelette Dugast, 1949.
- Die Sprache der Bo oder Bankon in Kamerun, par Friedrich Spellenberg, 1969.
- Bànkón (A 40): éléments de phonologie, morphologie et tonologie. Gratien Atindogbé, 1996.
- Austen, Ralph A., and Derrick, Jonathan (1999): Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: The Duala and their Hinterland, c. 1600–c.1960. Cambridge University Press.
- A rapid appraisal survey of the Abo and Barombi speech communities, by Melinda Lamberty, Sil international, 2002.
- The rescue of Jerusalem : the alliance between Hebrews and Africans in 701 BC, by Henry Aubin, 2003.
- Bankon: a language of Cameroon. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (editor), 2005.
External links
- Logon.org
- Pharaoh Sabakon.
- The Sabakon Stone.
- Statue of Prince Horemakhet, son of Pharaoh Sabakon and High Priest of Amun at Thebes.
