The Bamum, sometimes called Bamoum, Bamun, Bamoun, or Mum, are a Grassfields ethnic group located in now Cameroon.

This is mainly due to its location between a forest zone in the south and a tropical savannah grassland in the north.

[4]: 72 As the kingdom developed slowly over the years, a main factor of society was the agricultural farms near the villages.

Slaves and war captives were used to supply a labor force for farms of kingdom officials and other title holders.

[4]: 72 The Bamum traditional religion placed great emphasis on ancestral spirits which were embodied in the skulls of the deceased ancestors.

He is said to have disliked abstaining from polygamy when Christian, and from alcohol when Muslim, so ultimately split the difference toward the end.

According to oral history, Sultan Ibrahim Njoya had a dream during the 1890s that inspired him to create a written language.

In this dream, he was told to draw an image of a hand on a rock slate then wash it off and drink the water.

Taking this dream, he gathered his officers and instructed them to draw symbols for any objects they noticed over some time.

[5]: 46 During the time of reforming his script, there was political concern with surrounding villages and colonial conquests in the area.

At first, alongside the creation of his script, he sent officials to a neighboring state, Hausa, to learn Arabic.

[3]: 38 This is not to be confused with another of Njoya's inventions, an artificial spoken language known as Shümom, which was devised after the script.

The Koms were independent of the state and not controlled under the authority of the king, allowing them to censor any royal actions that went against the common law.

The Bamum territory covered major trade routes, allowing them to gain access to multiple mediums.

This is shown in brass statues that were created showing a Bamum male holding the head of an enemy.