The Bamilekes and Geo-architecture in the Mechanisms of Defense and Security: An Attempt at a Historical-Anthropological Study Based on the Alignment of the Buildings and Structures in the Grassfields Chieftaincies of West Cameroon Between the 15 th and 19 th Centuries

The sudden and massive arrival of the Bamileke on the highlands of West Cameroon between the 15th and 16th centuries A.D. through spontaneous, sporadic and sometimes disorganized migratory waves, marked an unprecedented change in the socio-cultural evolution and political configuration of the region. Indeed, this had led not only to the progressive populating of the entire plateau


Introduction
Since the dawn of time, man has been aware of the importance of his immediate environment on his existence and it is in a measure of survival that he established and wove bonds of coexistence. Thus, the question of survival has always intervened in the first rank of security concerns. The natural resources coming from its environment have therefore always been the ticket on which the equilibrium and survival of humanity rested, as they have led to the visible beginnings of the latter's action through the emergence of technical advancements in defense and security intended to protect him from the antagonistic and bellicose velleities of each other. After settling on this plateau, the Bamilekes were confronted with problems of survival due to the recrudescent and continuous scarcity of natural resources in the face of an exponentially growing demography inherent in strong uncontrolled dynamics that caused and altered crises in the region. In other words, it was the scarcity of land, the density of the population and even the irregular methods of land appropriation that made the living space precious and obliged the chiefs to conquer and/or preserve it even at the cost of their lives and above all by force of arms. Thus, in a survivalist logic both warlike and secure, they would have developed a defense mechanism taming their immediate geographical environment, that is to say making use of nature in the development of techniques and methods of defense and security. Indeed, it was therefore quite right that Hubert Deschamps declared, I quote, "traditional societies were closed worlds that only had relations with their neighbors and most often to wage war against them" (Deschamps, 1970: 11).
A report recent to the period of study from the chief administrator of the Bamileke region in 1949 outlining the political situation of the area gives us a picture of what might have been of this plateau in previous centuries, for it says, "The Bamileke had to participate constantly in wars...on which the life of his clan depended in the material form of a piece of land that had to be maintained or conquered by cultivation, which was necessary for a very dense and growing population" (ANY, IAC, 1949). The facts established by this report concerning the omnipresence of wars in this locality allow us to glimpse and above all to conceive with sufficiency that the Bamileke region was once a powder keg of conflict given the impressive number of inter-tribal wars such as: Bangou-Bangang-Fodji in the 16 th century (Toukam, 2008: 45), Bemendjou-Bansoa 16 th century, Bamendjou-Bangam, Bamendjou-Baham 19 th century, Bandenkop-Bangou just to name a few.
The Bamileke ethnic group is a people of Central Africa who live in the region of West Cameroon located between latitude 50 30 north and longitude 100 30 east covering an area of about 13,936 km 2 which corresponds to 2.98% of the national territory. In West Cameroon, this ethnic group constitutes the people of the high plateaus who together form the Bamileke land located between the 5 th and 6 th degrees of north latitude covering an area estimated at 8,200 km 2 . These people are grouped and organized into a multitude of chiefdoms composed of 126 tribes, each of which corresponds to a kingdom, i.e., a proper and autonomous political entity headed by an assiduous chief and assisted by a relatively centralized traditional administration, highly structured and absolutely devoted to the sovereign management of its territory. It is this cultural institutional trait that characterizes them that is the key element that justifies and consolidates their bond of consanguinity with their Bamoun and Tikars brothers through their common ancestors, their similar social structures and their languages. Indeed, due to their ideological and cultural singularity, the diversification of rites and ancestral practices that characterize them and distinguish between tribes at the level of traditions with circumstantial variable geometry, the tumultuous history that governs their trajectory and migratory processes, their capacity of adaptation and the dynamism of foundation and consolidation of the chieftaincies make of this ethnic group, a mythical and mystical people, complex and paradoxical, both individualistic and solidary, materialistic and expansionist, proud and disciplined and above all very dynamic. This people of the highlands of West Cameroon share borders to the north with the Grassfields of the northwest, to the south with Bassas, to the west with Bakweris, to the east with Bamoun, to the northeast with Tikars (Adamawa region) and to the southeast with Eton. Geo-architecture is made up of two words, "geo" and "architecture". The term "geo" is a prefix and word of Greek origin that means "the earth". The term "architecture" simply refers to the art of constructing buildings (LaRousse, 2022). The synthesis of these two words refers to the art of designing, transforming and constructing buildings and outdoor spaces according to aesthetic criteria following social, economic, environmental and technical rules on a soil or space or an environment previously determined to needs. But in this study, the notion of "geoarchitecture" is quite different, that of studying the influence of the physical geographical elements; terrestrial and aerial on the architectural orientation in Bamileke land so as to elaborate mechanisms of defense and security in order to protect oneself from ambient hostilities. With regard to the study of migratory trajectories, as far as we go back in time, geography was at the forefront of the most prodigious factors that there is and would have undoubtedly determined the framework of survival, security and defense of civilizations, as well as that of the Bamileke people throughout their history and evolution up to the present day. It is in this sense that Diarra had declared, "It is difficult without doubt to separate African history from the geography that served as a framework and support" (Diarra, 1980: 346). Thus, since the Belgians of the Nile in pharaonic Egypt, passing through Sudan, Chad until Cameroon in Adamawa and then in Bamoun country, the course of this people in an existentialist measure was haloed and punctuated by geography which served as a compass and a lantern.
In fact, in an existential logic, the Bamileke had to make use of geographical elements a weapon of survival; hills and mountains, rivers and forests were for them respectively in a warlike and secure quietude a defensive and offensive tool for protection and at the same time a nourishing breast as well as an instrument of reference and orientation for their displacements during their migratory trips. Therefore, yesterday as today, of all the data that make up history, geography is and remains the constant datum. This simply mean that, the contribution of geography on communities or peoples responding to their needs or sociological realities allowing them to ensure their survival and development would be almost the same everywhere despite geographical variations. Certainly, a reality that the Bamileke would not have escaped.

Theses on the origin and name of the Bamileke people
The question about the origin of this mythical people remains enigmatic since then until today, as it still remains a mystery for many, a detail that did not escape E. Ghomsi when he declared, "These populations whose we believe we know the customs and manners…still remain an enigma…a shadow still covers the pre-colonial history and the post-colonial history is not very well known either" (Ghomsi, 1972: 2). Indeed, while remaining an enigma, the origin of this people has become an intriguing and topical subject in the scientific world between researchers and men of science of all stripes, namely: Claude Tardits (Tardits, 1960), Jean-Claude Barbier (Barbier, 1976), Eldridge Mohamadou (Eldrigde, 1971), Enow Kwayep (Kwayep, 1960), etc., causing a lot of ink to flow given the impressive number of works dealing with and covering various themes and parts of their history.
Many of these authors or scientists, in their attempt to demystify the origins of this people in a cartesian, logical and rational manner, have demonstrated interdisciplinarity by making wise use of other disciplines such as: linguistics, cultural ethnography, archeology and of course oral traditions. In some respects, the results of these researchers have been haphazard, leading to controversy and dissension in the scientific community. Nevertheless, the majority if not almost all of these scientists succinctly attribute the Tikars land as the place of origin of this so-called Bamileke people. Some, such as Dieudonné Toukam, with a different point of view on the subject, have even gone further by locating Pharaonic Egypt as the place of origin of the Bamileke (Toukam, 2008: 10). However, in general, according to the oral traditions and several epic stales of historical character collected within the chieftaincy institutions, several of which are centuries old, the synthetic aspirations expressed and continued are those of a quasi-singular claim to a very ancient belonging to Pharaonic Egypt, which dates back to the ages.
The name of this ethnic group, as well as its origins, has remained somewhat of a mystery: a subject of debate and dissension, with several theses and hypotheses on the question of its origin. But according to Jean-Louis Dongmo, this name is in fact the work of an administrative term, a neologism, which appeared and was very quickly widely used during the colonial period, resulting from the distortion of the local expression mbalékéo, both misunderstood and mispronounced, which means in the Bali language "the people from below" (Dongmo,198: 57). One of Ramsay's reports quoted by Jean-Pierre Notué in 1930 confirms this explanation when he states: "Tradition reports that one of the German explorers, astonished and impressed by the very humanized landscape he saw from the heights of Mount Bamboutos, asked his guide-interpreter, a native of Bali, what the people of this region were called. The guide immediately replied: "mba-lékéo", which means: "They are the people from below" (Ramsay, 1903). Obviously, this name is generally more related to the geographical area that this people occupy and precisely to the type of relief that it covers or that characterizes it, than to the glorious history that has always preceded them. According to this analysis, we can observe the influence of geography on this people as well as its prevalence on the toponymy. The geography would be by essence the unifying element of first plan that would have determined the cultural anthropology of this people; politico-militarily, socio-religiously, psychologically, etc.

Dynamism of the foundation of Bamileke chieftaincies
The dynamics of migration and the formation of Bamileke chieftaincies in the highlands of West Cameroon are as complex as the anthropological traits that characterize this people in a singular and systematic way. The Bamileke, already occupants of the area, had to face repeated incursions and raids either from their own tribes or from their neighbors such as the Bamoun. However, feeling constantly insecure due to the demographic pressure and the assaults of their neighbors and Bamoun cousins and many others were forced to be in perpetual movement. These internal movements took place through sudden, sporadic and sometimes disorganized migratory waves that gradually populated the entire plateau, which following the conquest of new lands gave rise to the creation of the first forms of political entities, not often organized. It was only later, following a conquest and submission to the control of a powerful leader, generally an ambitious hunter or adventurer, that these political entities were truly structured militarily, economically and socio-culturally and took the name of chiefdoms. This is how almost all of the first great chieftaincies of the region and those that followed came to be. Therefore, the multitude of existing chieftaincies in this region of the sunset of Cameroon was the result of a long process of accelerated disintegration and continuous fragmentation of the mother chieftaincies, i.e., first chieftaincies creating others throughout their anthropological evolution. In short, the differences that existed between their period of intrusion and the process of formation of these chieftaincies constitute one of the key elements that distinguish them alongside ancestral traditional practices as separate and autonomous unit within a set of unitary entities that is the ethnic group.

Chieftaincy: Etymology of its name and prerogative
As for the definition of chieftaincy, even here opinions are divided and varied regarding its origins and roles depending on what angle each author conceives it vis-à-vis its prominent presence in our society. According to Pérrois and Notué, the chieftaincy is "the fundamental religious, political and social unit in the Grassland... it is a kind of small nation-state with a well-defined territory and population. The supreme power is in the hands of a single person, the chief, named fo..." (Perrois, 1984: 4). As for Hurault, the chieftaincy is "...the hamlet of the chief. There live his wives, the servants who make up his staff and his representatives; there are kept the skulls of the chief's ancestors and the sacred objects; there are gathered the customary societies which constitute the frameworks of the country" (Hurault, 1962: 60). According to our observations drawn from its structural organization and daily missions in the political sense, the chiefdom would be a public administrative center that brings together and unites a people around its chief and institutions at the political, economic and socio-cultural levels. In general, and at first sight common, when we refer to the chieftaincy, we mean the village, intuitively disregarding the chief and all the governing bodies. In this way, the chieftaincy in Bamileke land would be a place of reference of individual and collective identification as a whole, for it is a mark of belonging that connects and federates the individual to his or her original stock, to his or her people and to the authorities that govern them. Summarily, the chieftaincy is the seat of all the decisions made by a legitimate, quasi-divine chief who ensures his regal management, continuity and enjoys a relatively absolute notoriety over his people in a well-defined territory.
3. The influence of geography as a support for defense and security in the Bamileke chiefdoms of West Cameroon through the architectural alignment of buildings and structures

The defensive and security impact of geography on the alignment and construction of buildings in chieftaincies
The aim here is to highlight the impact of geography on the development of defense and security techniques and strategies based on the architectural mode of construction. In order to understand the influence of geography on the anthropology of defense and security in Bamileke land, it would first be necessary to go back in time, to analyze the dynamism of the trajectories and migratory processes that have characterized the history of this people from Pharaonic Egypt to the highlands of the western region of Cameroon. Indeed, throughout their migratory transit, and even after their sedentary settlement on this plateaus, the Bamileke faced eminent challenges of insecurity, that of physical confrontations and food insecurity that expressed a desire to control vital spaces due to an exacerbated recrudescence of natural resources that continued to dwindle in the face of a growing demography in full swing. In response to a repeated cycle of hegemonic spirit and bellicosity, this people in phase with their immediate environment had opted and made use of geography in the elaboration of defense mechanisms in order to protect themselves against possible attacks or incursions of other tribes.
The geography through the element of mountainous relief dotted with valleys that characterizes this plateau is what in a survivalist security quietude both tactically and strategically would have obviously played a determining role in the construction of the Bamileke chiefdoms as well as their spiritual conception. The optimal use of the relief in the whole Bamileke region and more precisely in the chiefdoms had established and defined the strategic bases of the defense and security system of the architectural mode of construction in the valleys or the lowlands sheltered by a grove. From then on, the construction of a chieftaincy obeyed a rigid architectural style: defensive and offensive, so its complexity, took into account the choice of its site, the layout and the utility of the openings in a most realistic and adapted security measure. The chiefdoms, in conformity with this security ideal, adopted an architectural model of construction in the valleys where the buildings followed a descending rectilinear order, i.e., from the top to the bottom on uneven ground. Generally, in chiefdoms of the Bamileke land, from the main entrance to its enclosure and the hut of the fo, 1 there was a descending march on a long corridor that could extend for hundreds of meters depending on the size of the chiefdom. The image below gives us a glimpse of what was once and still is for some of this type of chiefdom building pattern.
The rectilinear and descending alignment of the buildings in the Bamileke chieftaincies was strategic, as it permitted them to protect and defend themselves against external attacks. In the face of a major threat, the rectilinear position of the buildings gave the chief and the chieftaincy army a tactical advantage in many respects: it allowed them to see the advancing enemy from a good distance, to analyze and appreciate their actions and to determine the course of action to be taken as they descended the long passageway that led to the chieftaincy enclosure. The two main gates that served as entrances to the chieftaincy housed two gigantic drums, one on each side. According to the traditional orality, the drum was one of the most widely used communication tools of the time, which made it possible to communicate and broadcast very longrange messages, either of joy or distress (Tchinda, 2020). But in times of war or conflict, in the face of an attack, it was used to transmit special information to the allies; the type of aid, strategy and tactics, etc., and to the whole village with a view to receiving reinforcements respectively for immediate mobilization (Wambo Kamdem, 2020). Responding favorably to the call, the threat could nevertheless either be neutralized or defeated, depending at least on the objective of defense against the adversary and the mitigating realities of the moment. As for the various rectilinear buildings built on both sides, all along the corridor or path leading to the enclosure of the chiefdom from the entrance for the most part, served as armories housing weapons of all kinds, ranging from hunting tools to those of farm activities, all war instruments varying respectively from throwing weapons to hand-to-hand weapons such as: spears, slingshots, rifles, arrows, swords, machetes, clubs and all kinds of daggers (Kuenou, 2021: 75-80). These structures allowed the chief and his army to intercept the threat (the enemy) before it went further into the chieftaincy and the situation got out of control. In so doing, these edifices were set up as military poliorcetics i.e., acted as real barriers or fortifications in the Bamileke sense of the term. During an eminent attack, the narrowness of the long corridor that punctuated the various chieftaincy buildings from the top to the bottom of the chieftaincy forced the enemy to concentrate in one place and thus limited the efforts of the chieftaincy army to divide up and fight simultaneously in dispersed ranks in several places at once. More importantly, this posture made the enemy's strength negligible, because the corridor reduced their mobility and prevented them from organizing themselves, unlike the chieftaincy army, which could surround and take them by surprise between the small intervals of those buildings. Thus, the enemy could neither retreat nor advance and had no choice but to fight or simply surrender.
In the same vein, the multitude of buildings built within the chieftaincy were strategic in nature and did not only meet the needs of accommodation, but also of security. Indeed, their positioning and alignment fulfilled this belief of mirage, as they generally linked the corridor leading to the large enclosure and the courtyard or simply led nowhere. Serving as a mirage to the enemy, they allowed to confuse them. In times of invasion, this allowed the chieftaincy army to set up surprise ambushes for the enemy who did not see the danger coming due to the multitude of openings (Kamgué, 2020). The paramount chieftaincies of Bandjoun, Bamendjou, Bafou, Batoufam, Bafoussam, etc., were pioneers of this strategic defense architectural mode of construction.

The defensive and security contribution of geography at low altitude: The case of lowlands
As a reminder, the West Cameroon region is being characterized by a mountainous terrain with steep slopes, hills and valleys. This region has a characteristic vegetation of grassy savannah with the plains and lowlands as fertile areas due to erosion that washes the sediments from the top to the bottom, fed either by torrential rains or simply by the water circuits from the mountains. As paradoxical as it may be, by being a little curious and by studying the geographical environment of the Bamileke more closely, one finds that it is easier to defend oneself down, in shallows than up, on the hills because the means of survival and security were more operational and optimized than one might think and believe. At the back of the Bamileke chiefdoms were the shallows located in the upper forest below the chiefdom, which served as barracks (Gaïma Djoukeng, 2020). When the chieftaincy was attacked, this place, which served as barracks, allowed the chieftaincy army to retreat (Gaïma Djoukeng, 2020). The existence and choice of this location was taken into consideration when establishing a chiefdom as an avant-garde measure of prevention. The operational utility of this place was amplified and magnified by the fact that it brought together in a one place all the possible natural resources such as: water, forest and fertile land that could allow the chief and the chieftaincy army to supply themselves with food and water respectively in a systemic and continuous manner through the practices of fishing, hunting, gathering and agriculture while waiting to receive reinforcements or to prepare a plan of action for reconquest.
In a nutshell, this place was a rear base that housed almost everything essential and vital to ensure the survival of the resistance in times of crisis. In this strategic position, they could face the enemy and hold out for a very long time if need arose. It is also important to note that this place was a two-edged sword in the sense that if it happened to fall under the control of the enemy, it was the chief and the chieftaincy army that would suffer the wrath of the place. Thus, it was imperative for the survival of the chief and the entire chieftaincy that this link never fall into the hands of the enemy, who, having everything at their disposal, would make life difficult for them. For security reasons, this sensitive place remained secret; almost unknown to the public, for it was strictly forbidden for whoever to pass, hunt or undertake any activity there. It was due to this tactical and strategic act of genius that the shallows had allowed many chieftainships of the Bamileke country to protect themselves and to survive the warlike attacks of their persecutors and today to be resilient to the adversity of foreign civilizations.
Today, although this place is no longer used as a barracks and/or rear base, it is erected and remains nevertheless through its sacred secret policy, a real living conservatory of past memories and preservation of fauna and flora, i.e., for animal and plant species in danger of extinction, for it is not accessible to any of such activities like that of hunting, gathering or farming.

Geo-architecture and the Bamileke spiritual anthropology
Among the Bamileke, as among many other peoples and/or civilizations around in the world, geography, apart from its influence in terms of defense and security strategy, has also played a tedious role in spirituality and cosmogony. According to our observations, there is really no different between the Bamileke spirituality and cosmogony, for they are two sides of the same coin. Indeed, both being linked, they are modelled on a geographical support that allows them to orient their earthly religious beliefs towards the cosmos. In facts, signs and symbols from various geometric shapes inspired by the universe and nature pace not only their conceptions and religious beliefs but also their daily activities and practice. What is fascinating and revealing in this explanation, was the directional link between the top and the bottom, the same orientation on which were elaborated the mechanisms of defense and security chieftaincies following a descending order. According to oral tradition, traditional Bamileke cultural orthodoxy would have each chiefdom have two forests, the upper forest and the lower forest (Tchinda, 2020), but our concern is with the upper forest at the bottom of the chiefdom, as this was in keeping with the preestablished spiritual order and energy fluid of the cosmic forces that governed the construction and alignment of the buildings, which in essence had to be on a slope, preferably high up, sheltering the Leufeum 2 and a watercourse (stream). Isn't it said that water is life? Water alone constitutes about 70% of the earth 3 , composed of 65% in an adult body, 75% in infants and 94% in three-day-old embryos 4 , and has an even more pronounced use in daily household tasks: laundry, washing, farming, industrial and spiritual activities.
In general, water played an essential role in Bamileke and Negro-African spirituality, as well as among Christians and other religious groups, but on different scales depending on the aspirations expected. In Bamileke land, it has a place of choice and enters into numerous rites and ceremonies, either of initiation or of purification, depending on the extenuating circumstances of the moment. There would be links of very wise similarities between the authentic ancestral beliefs of this people and those of these imported religions, because it would even seem that they would find justification and roots in the latter. According to authentic Bamileke ancestral beliefs, the forest, its upward position and water would represent respectively for Catholic Christians, the Garden of Eden in the Bible, the sky and the element of purification serving as a vessel through which the soul of a deceased person should ascend or the rite of passage from pagan to Christian expressed in the ideal of transformation from sinner to saint. From this observation, from this people who constitute a tiny sample of a large component of African peoples, we can conclude that religious universality was fundamentally an African thing.
According to oral tradition, the Bamileke ancestry belief and practice was clear and almost unanimous on the question of thanatology, aiming at regulating the habits and customs concerning the management of dead bodies and the funeral rites, especially that of the fo (Ndongmo, 2020). As in a fortress where monarchs lived their royal solitudes which added to their characters mysteries as it is appropriate to the royal condition, when a fo was "lost", i.e. died, a certain number of conditions had to be observed beforehand, namely; formal prohibition to put his body in the mortuary, to expose it in public and to make his body enter the chieftaincy by the main door (entrance) (Tapondjou, 2020). Taking into consideration these geocosmic rules, this people at the time of the construction of the chieftaincies had taken into account the position of the Leufeum and all that went with it: water and forest among others. The position of the chieftaincy was such that the chief's remains, in order to reach the upper forest, inevitably had to pass to the behind the chieftaincy from the fields (scrubland) from where it would take its rise and transit all along this route in an ascending manner to its final destination which is the Leufeum. This transitional circuit is, however, very important and challenging, as it reveals the ideological subtlety of enlightenment or spiritual elevation that would eminently pass through an ascent from the bottom, earth to the top, sky, i.e., from an impure place to a pure one, that of the holy paradise so much advocated by the Christians. In the same tone, in order to prepare a peaceful journey for the deceased fo in the afterlife where his ancestors resided, the various traditional castes having jurisdiction over the management of initiation and funeral rites, used water from the upper forest 2 The Leufeum or Leufeum or Lefem designates the royal cemetery and at the same time the sacred woods and prohibits the public from the chiefdom in the term yemba of the Bamileke tribes of the Menoua department of West Cameroon. 3 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origine_de_l%27eau_sur_la_Terre, assessed 04/08/2022. 4 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eau, assessed 04/08/2022. at the bottom of the chieftaincy considered sacred and possessing therapeutic virtues to wash his body in a spirit of purification, in order to rid it of any earthly defilement. Always in this momentum, this water served as a conductive fluid through which his soul was to ascend to heaven. Apart from the chief and his use, this water was also used for several rites such as that of widowhood, exorcisms scenes, cleansing of curses and the preparation of decoctions and remedies to treat and cure ordinary and especially mystical diseases.
Although comparison is not always right, this Bamileke spiritual knowledge and knowhow were similar to, or even coincided with those found in ancient Egyptian eschatological thanatology. This similarity could nevertheless justify or bring any Bamileke claim to an ancient authentic Egyptian affiliation. Among the ancient Egyptians, the remains of the pharaoh were placed in the highest burial chamber of the pyramid to facilitate the ascent of his soul into the afterlife. When we go back in time to ancient Egypt and the history behind the construction of the pyramids, we can see that the eschato-thanatological and spiritual conception behind it was oriented towards a higher and higher construction, as was the case with the Bamileke who also advocated the construction of the Leufeum on ascending sites. The evolution in the construction of the pyramids of the different pharaohs confirms and reinforces this observation; Djoser (2630 to 2611 BC) 61m, 5 Cheops (c. 2551-2528 BC) 137m, 6 Chephren (c. 2560-1526 BC) 143m, 7 all during the old empire, etc.
Another notorious and similar observation that exists between these two civilizations is that of social status, i.e., those to whom the pyramids benefited or were awarded. In ancient Egypt, only the royal family; the pharaoh, his mother, the princes (ses), etc., with the exception of a few nobles and/or wealthy people could enjoy the funeral privilege of an architectural jewel. Similarly, in the Bamileke customary tradition, this was also the case with the fo and his mother and with a few exceptions, the princes (ses), who have not yet had a house or land were also buried in the Leufeum, i.e., in the sacred forest which shelters it. In the same vain, another obvious similarity between these two civilizations was the sacred use of water in the thanatological and spiritual funeral rites. During the preparation of the pharaoh's dead body, water from the Nile was used to bathe his body in order to purify it from all earthly evil stain; this was also the case among the Bamileke with water from the Leufeum. In the same logic, after the long process of mummification, the mummified body of the Pharaoh was going to reach its last residence, the funerary chamber at the top of the pyramid, and to do this, it had to go upwards through all the different levels of this building in order to facilitate the ascent of its soul towards the kingdom of the dead where it would live eternally after a favorable judgment from the god Osiris. This was also the case among the Bamileke with the remains of the fo who had to take flight in an ascending and continuous way from the back chieftaincy to the Leufeum where he would rest for eternity with his ancestors.
Still, during our research, another important observation was that of the pyramidal shape of most of the royal vaults in the Bamileke chieftaincies that have preserved the authenticity of the ancestral precepts despite the erosion of the past time in the face of the adversity of exogenous forces from imported civilizations: colonization, neo-colonization, globalization, etc., which were probably similar to the ancient Egyptian pyramids used for tombs. Its triangular shape was a kind of trilogy that represented the life cycle: present, past and future and therefore designated femininity which was synonymous with life, procreation and above all continuity on earth as in the afterlife. In any case, the eschato-thanatological spiritual conception and the attention given to the mortal remains of the rulers were almost the same, including the geocosmic orientation of the funeral buildings even though it's no longer the case in most chieftaincies today. The only difference was in the materialization of this ideal, which was somewhat heterogeneous due to the differences in geographical variation that characterized the evolutionary context of this people imposed by a constant quietude of security and conservation of the assets that required the principle of adaptation as the only imperative of survival.

Conclusion
This study, which focuses on geo-architecture as a defense mechanism within the Bamileke chieftaincies, is part of an ideological framework of African renaissance, and more specifically that of the Bamilekes. Thus, in a logic of return to the ancestral sources, question of reconnecting and reconciling with our past and our rich cultural heritage identity, it lends an attentive ear to the shadowy areas that still obscure part of the historicity of this people and Africa in general and invites everyone to an awareness of values, knowledge and endogenous knowledge. In this article, now more than ever, it has been demonstrated with clear evidences that geography was a major ally for this Bamileke people. In short, geography taking into account the realities of survival and the disparity between demography and natural resources, has enabled this people to fully establish themselves, as it has effectively punctuated their trajectory and migratory movements, determined the choice of their settlement, sedentary lifestyle and architectural mode of construction, influenced their socio-political and structural organization, defined the balance of power between its different tribes, paced their exchanges, oriented their religious perception and, above all, in a warlike and security concern both defensive and offensive, enabled them to defend and protect themselves. Indeed, the geography by lending itself in a coherent and decisive way to the different activities and daily constraints of this people as a response or solution became a civilizing factor of this already millenary civilization.