FOUMBAN

Foumban or Fumban is a city in Cameroon, lying north east of Bafoussam, west-central Africa. It lies 140 miles (225 km) north-northwest of Yaoundé. It has a population of 113,100 (2001 estimate). It is a historic capital of the Bamoun people and is home to a museum of traditional arts and cultures. A palace there dates from the 18th century. Njoya (1889–1933), the most famous of the Bamoun kings also known as the Sultan, established schools, invented a system of pictographic writing, and patronized the arts. The palace now houses the Foumban Museum of Bamoun…There is also a market and a craft center, while Foumban Royal Palace contains a museum with information on Ibrahim Njoya who invented a new religion and the Shumom alphabet.
Cameroon has several hundred small kingdoms, different tribes and different languages. But the Foumban kingdom is something special. Mainly because of the king (later sultan) who constructed the royal Palace about 100 years ago. The architecture is his own very special design. The king also constructed a unique alphabet for writing down the history of the Foumban. Today the Sultan holds court in the palace which also has a very interesting museum.