Tikar people
Ethnic group in Cameroon / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Tikar (also Tikari, Tika, Tikali, Tige, Tigare, and Tigre)[1][2] are a Central African people who inhabit the Adamawa Region and Northwest Region of Cameroon. They are known as great artists, artisans and storytellers. Once a nomadic people, some oral traditions trace the origin of the Tikar people to the Nile River Valley in present-day Sudan.[3] Such ethnic groups were referred to in the 1969 official statistics as "Semi-Bantus" and "Sudanese Negroes."[4] They speak a Northern Bantoid language called Tikar. One of the few African ethnic groups to practice a monotheistic traditional religion, the Tikar refer to God the Creator by the name Nyuy. They also have an extensive spiritual system of ancestral reverence.
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Total population | |
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170,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
The Adamawa Region of Cameroon | |
Languages | |
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Religion | |
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Related ethnic groups | |
Bafut • Bamum • Kom • Nso |
The current population of the Tikar in Cameroon is approximately 170,000.[2] This is a vast difference from other enslaved and trafficked ethnic groups, such as the Kirdi, who still number around 15 million people.[5] This could be due to the high number of Tikar people who were kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Americas.[6] The Bamum people and other ethnic groups have also asserted their link to the Tikar people through Tikar rulers in the Kingdom of Bamum. However, the Kom, Nso, Bamum, Ndop-Bamunka, and Bafut peoples are the only ethnic groups that anthropologists and historians believe have a legitimate claim to Tikar lineage.[7][6]
There are currently six adjoining Tikar kingdoms: Bankim (Kimi), Ngambé-Tikar, Kong (Nkong/Boikouong), Nditam (Bandam), Ngoumé, and Gâ (Ntchi). The boundaries of these kingdoms have remained since German colonizers arrived in Cameroon.[6]