Oshie, Cameroon

Oshie is a small beautiful mountainous village located in the English-speaking Northwest Province of Cameroon. The people who make up part of the semi Bantu ethnic group of Cameroon are said to have originated from Mbeitong near Ntadkon in present day Mezam Division in the Northwest Province. These people were forced to migrate down south because of the forceful spread of Islam in west and central Africa. They then migrated in two waves one through Oshum, Widikum and Ngie. The other through Njinibi and Frigyien. These people today occupy a land surface estimated at 70 square kilometers and has as extreme coordinates of 6 degrees 5' and 6 degrees 13' North of the equator and 9 degrees 45' and 9 degrees 55' east of greenwich meridian. It is located to the east of Njikwa Sub-division in Momo Division and forms a geographical gate way into Njikwa. The present site was initially inhabited by the Konda and Beba people, who were driven out by the migrant Oshie people. Early settlement sites were places such as Tikob, Edek, and Togobeiku. Certainly these sites were chosen for defensive purposes, taking advantage of the strategic landscape.

2004 population projections placed the population of the village at 10,822 inhabitants. This population is structured into families that were born out of two principal families; Andek and Oyemi. Though the population is made up predominantly of indigenes, the society is ethnically and religiously pluralistic, yet very peaceful. The village is structured into quarters with Nyebai, Beimban and Bereje being the main quarters. They are further broken into sub quarters each under a quarter head. Oshie is a land of rich physical diversity and presents an undulating landscape which is an extension of the Bamboutos Highlands of the Western Highlands of cameroon.