Duala people

The Duala (or Sawa) are a Bantu ethnic group of Cameroon. They primarily inhabit the littoral and southwest region of Cameroon and form a portion of the Sawabantu or "coastal people" of Cameroon. The Dualas readily welcomed German and French colonial policies. The number of German-speaking Africans increased in central African German colonies prior to 1914. The Duala leadership in 1884 placed the tribe under German rule. Most converted to Protestantism and were schooled along German lines. Colonial officials and businessmen preferred them as inexpensive clerks to German government offices and firms in Africa. They have historically played a highly influential role in Cameroon due to their long contact with Europeans, high rate of education, and wealth gained over centuries as slave traders and landowners.

The Duala are related to several ethnic groups (or tribes) in the Cameroon Coastal areas, with whom they share a common traditional origin, and similar histories and cultures. These include the Ewodi, the Bodiman, the Pongo, the Bakole, the Bakweri (or Kwe), the Bamboko, the Isubu (Isuwu or Bimbians), the Limba (or Malimba), the Mungo, the Wovea and Oroko, they are generally known as the SAWA PEOPLE.

The Batanga of the region of Kribi could be added to the preceding list as they claim they are descendants of Mbedi and they report some degree of mutual comprehension between their own language and Malimba.

Moreover, the Oroko language is classified as a Duala language, seems to be closely related to Batanga region of kribi and Bakweri (Mokpwe), which is a Duala language. Thus the Kundu, Lue, Mbonge, Ekombe, Londo ba Nanga, Londo ba Diko, Ngolo, Bima, Tanga and Koko are Duala (Sawa) people. The Duala have dominated the others historically, and these other groups all profess some sort of kinship to them.

In addition, many other coastal ethnic groups such as Balong, Bakossi and so on – who are culturally and historically more or less related to the Duala – are under Duala influence, and most of these people speak Duala to some extent. Duala is also spoken by a great part of the Bakoko people. The word "Duala" may refer to the Duala "proper" or to the whole set of Duala-like tribes or even possibly to some "duala-ized" Bakoko or Manenguba tribes.

Early Duala history may only be conjectured from oral traditions. The Duala trace their ancestry back to a man named Mbedi, who lived in an area called Bakota in what is today Gabon or the Republic of the Congo. His sons, Ewale and Dibombo, migrated north and reached a place called Pitti on the Dibamba River. Here, the brothers parted ways after a row. Ewale moved to the mouth of the Dibamba with his followers and then northwest to the east bank of Wouri River estuary. Meanwhile, Dibongo and his companions migrated southeast to the Sanaga River and then split up, some heading upstream with Dibongo and others moving downstream with a man named Elimbe. Ewale's people became the Duala, and Dibongo's the Limba.

According to Duala traditions, the Bakoko and Bassa ethnic groups occupied the Wouri estuary when the Duala arrived. The Duala then drove them inland, a displacement that likely occurred in the late 17th or early 18th century.

The Duala emerged by the 16th century as the leading traders on the Cameroonian coast, though the Isubu and Limba did not trail far behind. The earliest Duala merchants were likely chiefs or headmen.