[3] The Bakossi are related to other people of the region including the Bafaw, Bakundu, Balong, Bassossi, Mbo, Abo, Miamilo, Baneka, Muaneman, Muange, Bareko, Bakaka, Babong, Balondo, Manehas, Bongkeng, and Bakem.

It has fertile soils, watered by streams that rise in the mountains, and is covered by dense forest which contain a wide variety of trees, birds and animals.

[citation needed] More exotic foods include tadpoles and males of the Hairy Frog, which are thought to fall from the sky and, when eaten, to help childless human couples become fertile.

They believed that Nyongo, or members of the ekom association of witches, could put people to work on invisible plantations on the mountain.

While still living, the future slaves would be given to a witch by a greedy relative in return for joining the association and gaining a plantation.

On waking up, the ekongeur would explain that he now should take his time to decide what he would do...[12] There may be an echo in this belief of early experiences with the slave trade.

[11] By the 1950s a belief had risen that anyone who could afford a modern house with a tin roof must be a Nyongo, earning his wealth from the labors of his dead relatives.

Heinrich Balz, in his 1984 study of the Bakossi, Where the Faith Has to Live, reported that before dying the last Ekom men left a message that there was no longer anything good to be found on Koupe.

Starting in the first half of the 20th century, Bamileke people began to migrate into Bakossi territory, particularly to the Tombel area, where they found work on the plantations and escaped the harsh forced-labor conditions on the French side of the border.

Cocoa prices were high, and the farmers did not have to work since they could employ a sharecropper to tend the crop in return for one-third of the earnings.

With nothing else to spend their money on, the men would buy cases of Spanish gin and brandy, consuming the booze in long drinking bouts that lasted all night.

By the 1960s, the hangover set in as the people started to realize the need to invest in more important things, particularly education and became aware that they may have lost control of their land.

[21] Full unification was resisted by the people of Southern Cameroons since they had a more democratic society than prevailed in the rest of the country under the oppressive regime of Ahmadou Ahidjo.

[3] In the late 1950s and early 1960s, tensions began to rise between the Bakossi and the Bamileke people, who were becoming increasingly successful as farmers.

The remainder turned to living off the land, demanding supplies from the villages and capturing youths whom they inducted into their forces.

In response the army moved in, rounded up all able-bodied Bakossi men in the Tombel area, and placed them in detention camps.

[23] As of 2008, young Bakossi farmers faced the difficult choice of trying to make their way in the city or taking their chances in rural development.

Earlier cooperatives that gave some collective bargaining power had been disbanded leaving cash crop farmers at the mercy of private buyers.

[26] A 2006 article described Kome as a member of the Kupe Muanenguba elite, which also included Mr Ekinde Sone Bernard Ivo, an educationist and politician; Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, appointed Minister of Forests and Wildlife on 22 September 2006; Chief Justice Epuli Aloh Mathias;[27] Professor Charles Epie Alobwede; Thomas Kolle Ekaney; Late Hon Nhon Nzuobontane Andrew Ngabe, Late Chief Lucas Nzuonkwelle; Ambassador Nkwelle Ekaney; Mr. Ngole Philip Ngwese; Nhon Mesue Stephen Nzuonkwelle; Makoge Ivo Charles; Nhon Nzuonkwelle Emmanuel Nkwelle; Nicolas Nkwelle Metuge; Dr. Nhon Nkwelle Jude Nzuonkwelle; General Ekongwese Divine Nnoko, appointed Military General on a presidential decree of 29 June 2017; Paul Elung; Hon.

John Ebong Ngole; Dr. Nkwelle Akede Aaron, a pediatrician;late Ebong Ngalame and Late Justice Ngalame Kome, Mr Ekane Ivo Ekoti Supreme Court Justice and former Secretary of State ; actress Syndy Emade and vocal Junior parliamentarian, Ekane Loïc Evrade.