Duala

History

The founder of the Duala people was a man named Mbedi who originated in the Bakota region of Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. By all accounts, he was very industrious, and his sons, Ewale and Dibango, followed their father's adventurous nature and soon moved their families to a place called Pitti on the Dibamba River. However, the brothers soon argued over leadership and decided that each should go his own way. Accordingly, Dibango and his families moved to the southeast near the Sanaga River. Some headed upstream with Dibango, whereas others moved downstream with a relative named Elimbe. Ewale took his families near the mouth of the Dibabma River and northwest to the east bank of the Wouri River estuary. The people who followed Ewale became the Duala, and those who followed Dibango became known as the Malimba. Hence, they are all related peoples.

When the Portuguese traders reached the Wouri estuary in 1472, they met the Duala people whom they referred to as Ambos or Ambozi. They were a fishing and hunting people who had small farms in the interior. The Duala traders were rich with ivory, kola nuts, and peppers. The Portuguese provided guns, mirrors, shoes, and textiles.

After decades of trading with the Portuguese, the Duala observed an increasing demand that people be provided to the traders. This was the beginning of the slave trade along the coast. The Portuguese used Africans to grow foodstuffs on the islands of Sao Tome, Fernando Po, Annonbon, and Principe. Because chattel slavery was not a part of the Duala custom, they found the European customs contrary to their own moral code. In effect, among the Duala, people who had been held in servitude could only be sent between other Duala people. They were not to be traded to outsiders. Tremendous rifts occurred between the Duala and the Europeans over the slave trade.

One of the most destructive periods in Duala history occurred as a result of the European propping up of the puppet leader, Ndumb'a Lobe, who called himself King Bell. He was frequently beguiled with gifts and titles by the Europeans. Their fake adulation of King Bell caused him to cede land to the Europeans and to grant Europeans monopolies in certain trade objects. It was this condition that caused the 1814 revolt of Ngando Mpondo, better known as King Akwa, and his allies, King Ekwalla of the Deido and Kum'a Mbape of the Bonaberi.

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