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In the VI century the relation between Nubia and Nigeria was established ( Baba Kake – 11). We know as ascertained by archeological findings, that the Saos were establish the Benoue areas in northern Cameroon by the VII century(Lebeuf -7), following a migration south bound. and we know also that from East Africa came migrants who transited by the Lake Chad to Kano between the Vth and the VIIth century, it is therefore highly possible that existed a contact between the Sao and Benin, because the migrants from Benin going to Nubia stopped in the Chad where the Saos had settled. In those cases where a country has become a crossroad between two cultures (here Benin and Nubia), elements of one or the other infiltrated the later; in the triangle Nubia-Chad-Benin, such principle would be verified.. So far archeological findings in one or the other area confirmed their respective implantation in location (Saos in Chad area, in Kanem-Bornu and in Cameroon) but don’t pay enough attention to the migratory movements endemic in Africa from early times . It is our understanding that merchants from Nubia stopped in the Chad before continuing to Benin (Baba Kake-11), therefore it is logic to concur that the Saos or Sohs being in Chad interacted with Nubians and people e from Benin’s, leading to the cultural exchanges that would have resulted. The cultural delta Benin-Sao-Grassland could very well illustrate how the conglomeration of different cultures in sub-Saharan Africa affected the respective groups before the colonial era. Archeological data placed the Sao in the Chad and in North of Cameroon up to the XVI century. The Benin shone in the Nigeria around the XIII and XIV century. Between the XIII and the XVI century a large group of migrants came from the actual Nigeria to the North West of actual Grasslands and to the Highlands of the Adamaoua massif[13]. Did they then interact with the Sao who were migrating from the North? We believe they did! What is clear is that by the XVII centuries they encountered the Fulbes who had established themselves North of Cameroon and were now invading their neighbors southward. The migrants then continued their journey to actual Bamenda, to Bali and Foumban, otherwise, to the Grassland. The Fulbes later (XIXth century)entered into an alliance with the Bamuns under the leadership of king Njoya[14] (the kingdom itself was founded in the XVIIth century by the Tikar’s dissident Prince Nshare Yen) converted to Islam. It therefore appeared that relatively within five hundred years span, series of migrations occurred toward the Grassland and lead to the founding of a cluster of minute kingships: the Bamilekes.
From BAMILEKE: PEOPLE OF FAITH BY JOSEPH FEYOU DE HAPI
