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Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast, 1500-1970 (Cameroon Studies, V. 1)

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On the slopes of an active volcano, Mount Cameroon, from which the country of Cameroon takes its name, are a fascinating people called the Bakweri. Their locale geographically dominates the entire region, and historically the Bakweri leveraged this into various forms of advantage, at times commercial and at times political.

When the Europeans arrived, they too saw the strategic significance of the Bakwiri's area. Four centuries of interaction followed, as described here in a posthumous collection of papers written by the anthropologist Edwin Ardener. He covered many aspects of that history in research that took him decades to amass.

Some readers may find most compelling the narrative of how the Bakwiri defeated the Germans in an 1894 battle, though they eventually lost that war. A European defeat in Africa in the 19th century was rare indeed. But for some reason, this battle has been far less remembered than the British defeat by the Zulus at Isandlwana.

The author does a great job painting what Kamerun was like before Kamerun and Cameroon. A detailed account of Joseph Merrick's trip. Narrating the German infiltration into this Nation alongside the importance Mount Cameroon posed for the Germans economically; the building of plantations and securing a route to Douala for exporting. Mr. Ardner compares notes made by the Germans (translated) and narratives from locals to tell the true story of what the atmosphere was like. How the building of plantations affected the Bakweri and the surrounding villages; divorces; migration; a fear for a lost "real Bakweri"; concubinage; traditions; the fight of Kuva Lykenye with the Germans; the Plebiscite and so much more...Great Job by Edwin and Shirley Ardner.