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Duala
Total population
Total: roughly 400,000 if one includes all the subgroups (Bodiman, Ewodi, bassa,Pongo, Mungo, Bakweri, Isuwu, Oroko, Bakossi, Balong, Mbo
Regions with significant populations
Cameroon
Languages
Duala
Religion
Predominantly Christianity and/or African traditional religion
Related ethnic groups
Bakole, Bakweri, Bamboko, Isubu, Limba, Mungo, Wovea, Oroko and other Bantu peoples
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.[1] 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.
Sawa Dance Group
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 the Oroko (or Balondo), 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.[2]
Moreover, the Oroko language is classified as a Duala language, seems to be closely related to Bakweri (Mokpwe),[3] 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.
^Jonathan Derrick, "The 'Germanophone' Elite of Douala under the French Mandate." Journal of African History (1980): 255-267 online.
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...
Duala (Duala: ɓwambo ba duālā; also spelt Douala, Diwala, Dwela, Dualla and Dwala) is a dialect cluster spoken by the Duala and Mungo peoples of Cameroon...
with the other coastal peoples, they belong to the Sawa ethnic groups. The Mungo have historically been dominated by the Dualapeople, and the two groups...
Rudolf Duala Manga Bell (1873 – 8 August 1914) was a Duala king and resistance leader in the German colony of Kamerun (Cameroon). After being educated...
Duala or Douala can refer to: Dualapeople, an ethnic group in Cameroon Duala language, part of the Bantu languages Douala, the largest city in Cameroon...
Kevin Francis Duala (born 23 May 1964) is a British actor, broadcaster, television host, and presenter. He is perhaps best known for hosting the United...
the Duala are the headmen, chiefs, paramount chiefs, and kings of the Dualapeople of Cameroon. The earliest known Duala rulers, according to Duala oral...
1458-1471), king of Bohemia Dualapeople of Cameroon George (Duala king) (late 18th century), king of the Dualapeople Georgia George I of Georgia (998...
shopkeeper Rulers of the Dualapeople who lived on the Wouri River estuary of Cameroon: Elame a Doo, Duala ruler Priso a Doo, Duala ruler Doo (bird), the...
Manga Ndumbe Bell (c. 1851 – September 2, 1908) was a leader of the Dualapeople of southern Cameroon from 1897 to 1908 during the period after the German...
competition, which in my (Fischer's) opinion means their demise." The Dualapeople, a Bantu group in Cameroon, readily welcomed German policies. The number...
Lobé Bell or King Bell (c. 1839 – December 1897) was a leader of the Dualapeople in what is now the southern part of Cameroon during the period when the...
beliefs of the Sawabantu groups of Cameroon, like the Duala, Bakweri, Malimba, Subu, Bakoko, Oroko people. Among the Bakweri, the term used is liengu (plural:...
it is called in Lingala: kwanga; or in Kongo: kikwaga miondo, by the Dualapeople in Cameroon (more specifically, a version of bobolo that is wrapped into...
was head of the Dualapeople in Cameroon, German officer and French politician. Alexandre Douala Manga Bell - then named Alexander Duala Manga Bell - was...
violent behaviour lost him his birthright and catalysed the split of the Dualapeople into rival Bell and Akwa sublineages. European sources mention several...
town formed by immigrants, said to have arrived from Congo, who spoke the Duala language. During the 18th century it was the center of the transatlantic...
Momolu Duwalu Bukele (sometimes known as Momolu Duala Bukare, or spelled as Mɔmɔlu Duwalu Bukɛlɛ) was the inventor of the Vai syllabary used for writing...
Swahili; ŵanthu in Tumbuka; anthu in Chichewa; batu in Lingala; bato in Duala; abanto in Gusii; andũ in Kamba and Kikuyu; abantu in Kirundi, Lusoga, Zulu...
Cameroon. They are closely related to Cameroon's coastal peoples (the Sawa), particularly the Duala and Isubu. Early survey discussion of these topics may...
County Tipperary Dualla, Ivory Coast The Dualapeople of Cameroon The Duala language spoken by that people Douala, a city in Cameroon Anastasia Dualla...
Cameroonian Bell family, of which Rudolf Duala Manga Bell and Ndumbe Lobe Bell, both kings of the Dualapeople, were also members. He started writing poems...
a scorched earth policy against the indigenous Dualapeople to repress an alleged "people's war". Duala women women were victims of wartime sexual violence...
given name. It may refer to the following people: Ndumbe Lobe Bell (1839–1897) a leader of the Dualapeople in Southern Cameroon Ndumbe Eyoh (1949–2006)...
far northeastern parts of Nigeria. The first German trading post in the Duala area on the Kamerun River delta was established in 1868 by the Hamburg trading...
Kribi. There were German trading posts and agreements in the land of the Dualapeople, at Akwa-Town, Bell-Town and Dido-Town, which also had similar arrangements...
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