Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: The Duala and their Hinterland, c.1600-c.1960

by Ralph A. Austen, Jonathan Derrick

Overview

This book is about the Duala "middlemen," who functioned as intermediaries between Europeans and their own hinterland for over three hundred years. Originally traders in ivory, slaves and palm products, they then became colonial-era cocoa planters, and finally took a leading role in anti-colonial politics. One of their lasting advantages was European education, which they used to develop ideas about their ethnicity and its historical basis. The authors criticize these local beliefs about the past but indicate what they reveal about power and identity in this region and elsewhere in Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521562287
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/21/1999
Series:	African Studies , #96
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. From fishermen to middlemen: the Duala inland and on the coast in the formative period, c.1600–1830; 3. Hegemony without control: the Duala, Europeans and the littoral hinterland in the era of legitimate/free trade c.1830–84; 4. Mythic transformation and historical continuity: Duala middlemen and German colonial rule, 1884–1914; 5. Middlemen as ethnic elite: the Duala under Grench mandate rule, 1914–41; 6. Between colonialism and radical nationalism: middlemen in the era of decolonization, c.1941–c.1960.

Editorial Reviews

"With a sure hand, the authors analyze Duala trading history with reference to the historiography of the more important trading communities of southeastern Nigeria. Their coverage of economic, political, social, and cultural changes will be of interest to scholars of a number of disciplines." David Northup, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"...let us be grateful for their thorough history of the Duala which will not be superceded soon." Jan Vansina, American Historical Review

From the Publisher