The grasslands Bamum people, who were accomplished bronze workers, cast this pipe probably using the lost-wax process. The Bamum kingdom was one of the last parts of Africa to be brought into the domain of the European colonial powers. The first recorded visit of a European to the kingdom was in 1902 and Germany ruled the region until 1915 after which the League of Nations mandated France to govern Cameroon. For a similar example, see Herbert M Cole, Icons: ideals and power in the art of Africa, Washington, 1989, p.153.