Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in 1970 by an Italian ethnographic mission working near the largely Muslim city of Rey Bouba in northern Cameroon. It was taken in front of the Lamido Palace. The Lamido, once a real sultan, is still accepted by the Cameroonian order as a traditional chief. It was taken just before the start of the celebration of the end of Ramadan. The women are pouring water to reduce the dust on the square. They were coming from inside the palace. The interpreter told the anthropologists that the women were slaves. The Cameroonian Giverment had outlawed slavery, but it still existed de facto. We don't know how strictly the Muslim rules were followed, but it's unlikely that free women would be so dressed in public. This is one reason to think that the women were probably slaves. The Lamido Ahmadou nect had his wives bring out bread and other food as a gift to the people. He is believed to have 50 wives. Obviously that was not possible according to the Koran, but he could have as many slaves as he wanted as slave concubines. Hus wives were dressed differently than the yioung women here. They wore skirts, but were still shirtless.

Slavery existed in Cameroon and other countries before. the arrival of the Euroopeans. here were domestic conflicts beteen states and between pastoral nomads and indigenous tribes resulted in captives. Arab slave raders were also active. There is not a lot known about slavery before the Europeansarruved. These were not literate sicities sob there is no written record. There is no doubt thec arrival ofv the Eurooeans and the profits assiciated with the skave trade greaky added tithis pernicious trade. After Portuguese explorer Fernão do Pó reached what is modern Cameroonn (1472), he was followed by merchants/traders and slaves became a major commodity. As a resultv of the Dutch Portuguese War, the Dutch for a while dominated the slave trade (17th century) and were eventually replaced by the British (18th century). Cameroon became an important part of the Atlantic slave trade. The Bamileke, Bamoum, and other interior kingdoms were the principal providers of captive Africans. The captives were taken in the Limbe area as well as the grass lands northern and western Cameroon. The captives were driven over tortuous routes to the ports. They were sold at markets in Bimbia, Douala, and other ports. Bimbia was especially important. Along with the island of Gorée off Senegal and Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, Bimbia was of huge imortace, but less well known. Something like 10 percent of the enslaved Africans transported to the Americas went through Bimbia, primarily in the 18th century. The British outlawed the slave trade (1807). This significantly reduced the flow of captive Africa frim Cameroonia ports. The United States abolished the slave trade in thesame year, but it had little imopact because the United States was the destination for such a small portion of the transported Africans. Britain began using the Royal Navy and diplomacy to stop other countries from participating in the slave trade. As the slave trade declined. , rubber, palm oil, and other commoditues replaved slavery ineconomic importance. While the Atlantic slave trade was stamped out, slavery coninued in domestic life. Christian missionaries began entering the country and played a role in reducing slavery domestucally. Englishman Alfred Saker and West Indians such as Joseph Merrick, a Baptist station was established at Akwa Town (now Douala) (1845). Saker established a larger post at Victoria (now Limbe) (1858). The American Presbyterian mission opened a station (1871) and other missionaries followed. Domestic slavery, however, cintinued in the Muslim areas of northern Cameroon into the 20th century. Germany as part of the Scrable for Africa claimed Cameroon as a colony (1884). Germans established plantations to suppy tropical priducts. There were many plantations in southwestern Kamarun. Working conditions were very harsh, approaching slavery. 【DeLorme, et. al.】 The Germans did not make a major issue out of slavery in Kamarun, it was much more of a problem in German East Africa. 【Eckert】 During the colonia era there was a substantial slave trade from German northern Cameroon to British northern Nigeria. This is not something the Germans were involved with, it wa conducted by Muslim tribesmen in Kamarun, but the German authorities made little effort to stop it. In fact, German colonial policy was to form an alliance with Muslim tribes in the north, the very people involved in the domestic slave trade. 【Weiss, p.143.】 The British and French seized German Kamarun during World War I (1916). While slavery was outlawed, it continued in traditional society well into the 20th century. .

Sources

DeLorme, Charles D. Jr., David Kamerschen, and John Mukum Mbaku. "Land and labor problems in the German colony of Kamerun, 1884-1916,"

Journal of Third World Studies: Roles of Third World Militaries Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring1988), pp. 146-59.

Eckert, Andreas. "Slavery in Colonial Cameroon, 1880s to 1930s", Slavery & Abolition Vol. 19, No. 2, (1998), pp. 133-48.

Weiss, Holger. "The illegal trade in slaves from German northern Cameroon to British northern Nigeria," African Economic History No. 28 (2000), pp. 141-97.

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