Nizaa people

The Nizaa are primarily farmers. They used to grow finger millet and sorghum as their main crops, with yom grass (Tephrosia vogelii) being planted after harvest.^[2] Tephrosia vogelii is often used to replenish nitrogen in the soil and kill pests, as the plant contains rotenoids, which are a natural pesticide.^[3][4] However, Fula pastoralists practiced transhumance, or moving cattle into river valleys and farmlands during the dry season to find grass and water. Because millet matures late, Fula cattle herds had already started migrating through the fields, and they would eat or trample both the millet and yom grass. As a result, the Nizaa switched to primarily growing maize in the 1950s and 1960s, which has a growth cycle of only four months.^[2] The Nizaa also grow other crops such as yams, peanuts, and cassava, and their main food is a paste made from cooked flour, sorghum, millet, or cassava.^[5] Hunting and fishing are also regular food sources among the Nizaa, with beekeeping and ironsmithing being used as sources of income by some communities.^[6]

The Nizaa believe that they came from Bibemi, a town in the North Region of Cameroon. A people called the "Nyam-nyam", who spoke the Nimbari language, lived in this region in this time, but were completely assimilated by the Fula by the beginning of the twentieth century. It is not clear whether these people were related to the Nizaa, because the pejorative was applied by Islamised peoples to numerous groups who practiced traditional religions.^[7] The Nizaa believe that they moved to Galim around 1765, under their first chief Túkúm Ríìcùn;^[8] this belief is central to their cultural identity and pride, as they view their current homeland as earned through effort and resilience.^[9] In the early 19th century, Usman dan Fodio launched a jihad with the goal of eliminating pagan elements from Islam and spreading Islam in West Africa. As a result, the Sokoto Caliphate was founded.^[10] From the 1830s to 1850s, Fodio's disciple, Modibo Adama, led the Fula expansion into Adamawa, establishing the Adamawa Emirate with Yola as its capital and creating over 40 lamidates (small Fula sub-emirates).^[11] The Adamawa Emirate was part of the Sokoto Caliphate, which at this point was a loose confederation of multiple different emirates across West and Central Africa.^[12] The expansion introduced Islam as a mark of legitimacy for rulers, encouraged Fula as a lingua franca, and brought slave raids and economic exploitation of non-Muslim groups.^[13] The Nizaa reacted to this expansion by fortifying themselves on the Jim Mountain near Galim. In 1856 and 1865, the Fula ruler of the Lamidate of Tibati tried to conquer the fortified Nizaa town twice, but failed both times, as the settlement was hard to attack with cavalry. For the next 30 years, each ruler of the Lamidate of Tibati tried to conquer the Nizaa, but all of their attempts were repulsed.^[14] The Nizaa then became a constant threat to the surrounding groups, looting trade caravans and stealing cattle of the nomadic Jafun Fula for meat.^[15]

In 1902, the Germans, who had gained control of Cameroon during the Scramble for Africa, decided to discourage further disruption by the Nizaa by burning the fortified village on Jim Mountain. However, the Nizaa hid in caves in the mountain and continued to resist the Germans. In 1906, a party of Nizaa killed several German troops and stole their firearms. In retaliation, the Germans, with the help of several Fula lamidates, including the Lamidate of Tibati, used artillery strikes, sieges, and famine to subdue the Nizaa, who continued to fight back with guerilla warfare under chief Njomna. This conflict went on until 1915, when French and British forces took over Cameroon in World War I, essentially saving the Nizaa from annihilation.^[16] After 1915, the French pacified the region by stopping the continuous conflict between the Lamidate of Tibati and the Nizaa, who left their settlement on Jim Mountain and moved back to Galim. Over time, the Nizaa became more integrated into the French colonial administration, though they kept their traditional chieftaincy, and Islam began to slowly spread among the Nizaa, as it was tied to being a legitimate political ruler. A more active process of Islamisation began after 1956 under chief Mohammadou Diallo Hamadina, and traditional religious practices have steadily declined ever since.^[2]

Today, most Nizaa practise Islam, though some do practise Christianity or a traditional religion that incorporates ancestor worship and animism.^[17][18]