Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: The Duala and Their Hinterland, C.1600-c.1960The Duala people entered the international scene as merchant-brokers for precolonial trade in ivory, slaves and palm products. Under colonial rule they used the advantages gained from earlier riverain trade to develop cocoa plantations and provide their children with exceptional levels of European education. At the same time they came into early conflict with both German and French regimes and played a leading - if ultimately unsuccessful - role in anti-colonial politics. In tracing these changing economic and political roles, this book also examines the growing consciousness of the Duala as an ethnic group and uses their history to shed light on the history of 'middleman' communities in surrounding regions of West and Central Africa. The authors draw upon a wide range of written and oral sources, including indigenous accounts of the past conflicting with their own findings but illuminate local conceptions of social hierarchy and their relationship to spiritual beliefs. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
From fishermen to middlemen the Duala inland and on the coast in the formative period c 16001830 | 5 |
Hegemony without control the Duala Europeans and the Littoral hinterland in the era of legitimatefree trade c 18301884 | 48 |
Mythic transformation and historical continuity Duala middlemen and German colonial rule 18841914 | 93 |
Middlemen as ethnic elite the Duala under French mandate rule 19141941 | 138 |
Common terms and phrases
accounts administration African ANC/FF Archives Austen Bakoko Bamileke Baptist Basaa Bele Bell and Akwa Berlin Betote Bimbia Bonaberi Bonanjo Britain British Buchner Buea Calprof Cameroon Cameroonian chapter coast coastal cocoa commercial Consul Court Court of Equity cultural Deido Dika Duala chiefs Duala language Duala Manga Bell Duala middleman Duala oral Duala political Duala rulers early economic Edea efforts elite established estuary European merchants export expropriation French German Governor Grassfields hegemony indigenous inland interior internal ivory jengu Kamerun King Bell land Littoral Lotin major mandate Mandessi Mbedi middleman role mission missionaries Moumé Etia Mpondo Mungo Nations Ndumbe Ngondo nineteenth century official Old Calabar oral traditions palm Paris period petition plantations population position precolonial Puttkamer regime region Reichstag Rio del Rey river rule Sanaga Seitz ships slave trade territory tion treaty West Africa Woermann Wouri Wouri estuary Wouri river Yabassi Yaoundé