Cameroon's national literatures : an introduction

• Published in: Tydskrif vir letterkunde 2016-01, Vol.53 (1), p.5-11
• Main Author: Nfah-Abbenyi, Juliana Makuchi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0041-476X; 2309-9070
• DOI: 10.4314/tvl.v.53i1.1

In the Afterword of my book The Sacred Door and Other Stories: Cameroon Folktales of the Beba (2008), I wrote the following: "My earliest impressions of Cameroon were gleaned from the stories told by older people. Their comments revolved around two things: first, that Mount Cameroon also known as Mount Fako, the Throne of Thunder, and the Chariot of the Gods the highest peak in West and Central Africa, is the site of the earliest recorded volcanic eruption in the region; and second, that the country they call home was named after prawns by some white people. It is said that in the fifth century BCE, while sailing along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, Hanno, the Carthaginian explorer and ship's captain, observed Mount Cameroon erupting and inscribed in his travel writings the name Theon Ochema, Chariot of the Gods. He is said to have noted that the fires from the mountain were so hot and so bright that the flames reached up and touched the stars. Firm believers in this historical version point out that Mount Cameroon (also called Mount Fako because it is situated in Fako Division of the South West Province) is the only active volcano on the coast of West Africa, erupting seven times in the twentieth century alone. They also point to the fact that the mountain is known locally as monga-ma loba Seat of the Gods.