Bimbia: Difference between revisions

[[File:Duala ethnic groups.png|thumb|Map showing the location of the various ethnic groups of coastal Cameroon. Bimbia was the kingdom of the [[Isubu people]]]]

 

'''Bimbia''' consists of three villages:

* [[Dikolo]]

* [[Bona Bille]]

 

 

 

==History==

 

===Origins===

Tradition makes them the descendants of [[Isuwu na Monanga]], who led their migration to the west bank of the [[Wouri River|Wouri estuary]]. When a descendant of Isuwu named [[Mbimbi]] became king, the people began to refer to their territories as Bimbia.{{sfn|Fanso|1989|pp=51}}

 

===Early European contacts===

[[File:Merrick at Isubu funeral.jpg|right|400px|Joseph Merrick at an Isubu funeral in Cameroon, 1845.]]

 

 

Bimbia, the primary Isubu settlement, grew quickly.

 

 

===British influence===

With William's blessing, Bimbia became a haven for repatriated slaves and escapees from the illicit trade, which continued for many more years.

 

In 1858, the Spanish ousted Protestant missionaries from their base at Fernando Po. King William sold a portion of his domains to the missionary [[Alfred Saker]], who then founded Victoria (today known as [[Limbe, Cameroon|Limbe]]). By 1875, numerous missions and schools sprung up in Victoria and other settlements. Victoria came to be a mixture of freed slaves, working Cameroonians, and Christianised Cameroonians from the various coastal groups. [[Cameroonian Pidgin English]] began to develop at this time.

 

On 17 February 1844, King [[William I of Bimbia]] and the chiefs of Bimbia concluded a treaty with Lieutenant Edward Charles Earl, commander of the English brig ''Rapid'' in which the slave trade was prohibited in exchange for goods worth $1,200, and free trade was guaranteed.{{sfn|Anyangwe|2010|pp=15}}

On 19 December 1850, a further treaty with Thomas Rodney Eden, captain of the ''Amphitrite'', regulated trade terms, covering subjects such as payment of "comey", a customary fee paid by trading vessels to chiefs in exchange for permission to trade.{{sfn|Anyangwe|2010|pp=17ff}}

 

===German protectorate===

 

===Fishing and Farming===

 

===Technics===

and [[Moleke]].

 

 

The women dry all the fish, sell it or battler for household needs. During the dry season, the men go to sea in the night. The women work until morning on the [[efefe]] to sort out the fish in their different species, put on very big baskets called ‘ndenge’ and start drying them on the ‘wokas’. Woka is a stab make of [[bamboos]] from the [[palm tree]]. Then carry the wokas to the ‘etaka’ or bandas where a long fire is made to smoke the fish at night. The dried [[benyanya]] is stored away to give way for other fish to be dried also. When the season for [[meyo]] is over, the season for [[mwanjamoto]] and crayfish (njanga) starts.

 

Men are responsible for the sale of the big [[benyanyas|benyanya]] to pay school fees.

 

==Chiefs==

Mbimbi and Mabetefutu with their family heads and a traditional chief.

 

* In [[Bona Bille]] the Billa Lozenge family have the chieftaincy, the descendants of king [[William of Bimbia]].

 

==References==

'''Citations'''

{{reflist|colwidth=20em}}

'''Sources'''

{{refbegin}}

|title=The Secrets of an Aborted Decolonisation

|chapter=British Treaties with the Chiefs of Bimbia and Victoria

|publisher=African Books Collective

|year=2010

|title=Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: the Duala and their hinterland, c.1600-c.1960

|first1=Ralph A. |last1=Austen |first2=Jonathan |last2=Derrick

|publisher=Cambridge University Press

|year=1999

|year=1989

|title=Introduction to the History of Cameroon in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century, Part 2

|chapter=Trade and diplomacy on the Cameroon coast in the nineteenth century, 1833–1879: the case of Bimbia

|publisher=Palgrave MacMillan

|year=1989

|title=Cameroon History for Secondary Schools and Colleges: Prehistoric times to the nineteenth century

|location=Hong Kong

|publisher=Macmillan Education Ltd

{{refend}}

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