The Oroko (also Bareka/Batekka) are an

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. They belong to the coastal Bantu group, widely known as ''Sawa'', and primarily occupy the

Ndian Ndian is a Departments of Cameroon, department of Southwest Region, Cameroon, Southwest Region in Cameroon. It is located in the humid tropical rainforest zone about southeast of Yaoundé, the capital. History Ndian division was formed in 1975 ...

and

Meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

divisions of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The people predominantly speak Oroko, English, and Cameroon Pidgin English. The Oroko are related to several ethnic groups (or tribes) in Cameroon's coastal areas, with whom they share a common traditional origin, and similar histories and cultures. These include the

Bakweri The Bakweri (or Kwe) are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group of the Republic of Cameroon. They are closely related to Cameroon's coastal peoples (the The Sawa peoples of Cameroon, Sawa), particularly the Duala people, Duala and Isubu. Early surve ...

(Kwe), Bakole,

Duala Duala or Douala can refer to: Relating to Cameroon * Duala people, an ethnic group in Cameroon * Duala language, part of the Bantu languages * Douala, the largest city in Cameroon, founded by the Duala people * Rudolf Duala Manga Bell (1873–1914), ...

, Ewodi, the Bodiman, the Pongo, the

Bamboko The Bamboko are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group of the Republic of Cameroon. They are part of the Sawa (ethnic group), Sawa ethnic groups, those who live on the coast. The Bamboko probably moved to Mboko, Cameroon, Mboko, the area southwest ...

, the

Isubu The Subu (Isubu, Isuwu, Bimbians) are a Bantu ethnic group who inhabit part of the coast of Cameroon. Along with other coastal peoples, they belong to Cameroon's Sawa ethnic groups. They were one of the earliest Cameroonian peoples to make con ...

(Isuwu or Bimbians), the Limba (or Malimba), the

Mungo Mungo may refer to: People * Mungo (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Mungo people, an ethnic group in Cameroon Places * Mungo, Angola, a town and municipality * Mungo National Park, Australia * Lake Mungo, Australia * ...

, and the Wovea.

Geography

The Oroko occupy the

and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

plains as well as the most part of the

Rumpi Hills The Rumpi Hills are an undulating mountain range with its highest peak, Mount Rata about located between the villages of Dikome-Balue, Dikome Balue and Mofako Balue, Ndian division in the Southwest region of Cameroon. The hills are situated at 4 ...

towards the Bakossi Mountains to the northeast and the

Ejagham forest "Ekoi" or "Ejagham" may refer to: * Ekoi people, a group of people found in south-eastern Nigeria, also known as Ejagham * Ekoid languages, the language spoken by the Ekoi people of south-eastern Nigeria * Ekoi mythology * Lake Ejagham, a small lak ...

to the northwest. The Ndian and Meme rivers, together with the Massaka and Makunge rivers form the major watersheds of the Cameroonian coast, northwest of the Cameroons River. All rivers played significant roles in the migration and settlement of the Oroko people. There are currently 250 known Oroko towns and villages, the largest semi-urban center being Ekondo Titi and the largest indigenously settled community being Dikome Balue.

Culture

Very few Oroko communities are urban or semi-urban. Hence, the majority of Oroko people live in rural areas with usually large villages of over 3000 people. So much of Oroko culture is shared with the ethnic groups that surround them. The Oroko claim to have founded the

Ekpe Ekpe, also known as Mgbe/Egbo ( Ekoi language: ''leopard''; derived from the Efik term for the same), is a West African secret society in Nigeria and Cameroon flourishing chiefly among the Ejagham. It is also found among a number of other ethni ...

secret society, a type of masonic organization which traditional kept the peace in the Bight of Biafra, and its secret writing system,

Nsibidi Nsibidi (also known as Nsibiri, Nchibiddi or Nchibiddy) is a system of symbols or proto-writing developed by the Ekpe secret society that traversed the southeastern part of Nigeria. They are classified as pictograms, though there have been sugges ...

. The word, ''nsibidi'', is possibly derived from the Oroko word, ''njibidi'', which means "violence" or "chaos". Today, Ekpe has been popularized by the Ejagham and Efik-speaking peoples of Cameroon and Nigeria, as well as their diasporic communities in the Caribbean, in the form of Abakua. Apart from Ekpe, the Oroko also share several cultural traits with, especially, the Bakweri and Bamboko. The

Malle Malle () is a municipality located in the Campine region of the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the villages of Oostmalle and Westmalle. In 2021, Malle had a total population of 15,620. The total area is 51.99 km2. ...

(or Elephant cult) and the Nganya are some of their most visibly shared cultural heirlooms.

Language

The Oroko speak the

Oroko language Oroko, also ''Bakundu-Balue'' or ''Balundu-Bima'', is a Sawa Bantu dialect cluster spoken in Cameroon. Varieties are Kundu/Nkundu (''Lokundu, Bakundu''), Lue (''Lolue, Balue''), Mbonge, Ekombe, Londo (Londo ba Nanga; ''cf''. Londo), Londo ba Di ...

, a

Narrow Bantu The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central, Southern, Eastern and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The to ...

language which appears in Zone A.10 of

Guthrie's classification The 250 or so "Narrow Bantu languages" are conventionally divided up into geographic zones first proposed by Malcolm Guthrie (1967–1971). These were assigned letters A–S and divided into decades (groups A10, A20, etc.); individual languages ...

. The Oroko language is a

dialect cluster A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

comprising nine dialects, namely: Londo, Lolue, Lokoko, Lotanga, Lokundu, Lokombe (Ekombe), Longolo, Loma (Bima), and Lombongi (Mbonge). Some

linguists Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures ...

have treated these dialects as separate languages.Jouni Filip Maho, 2009
New Updated Guthrie List Online
/ref>

Notable people

* Joshua Osih, politician and businessman * N.N Mbile , Politician * Mambe Churchill Nanje, Software engineer * Justice Itoe Benjamin, State official * Justice Abednego Kalla Bea, State official, Justice of the Supreme Court of Cameroon

References

{{authority control Ethnic groups in Cameroon