Swedish Ventures in Cameroon, 1883-1923

Trade and Travel, People and Politics

Shirley Ardener

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN:
  9781571813114
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782388715
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: Social Sciences

The 1880s were a critical time in Cameroon. A German warship arrived in the Douala estuary and proclaimed Cameroon a protectorate. At that time, two Swedes, Knutson and Waldau, were living on the upper slopes of the Cameroon Mountain. Very little is known about their activities. One, Knutson, wrote a long memoir of his time in Cameroon (1883-1895) which is published here for the first time. It gives fascinating insights into everyday life in Cameroon and into the multifaceted relationships among the various Europeans, and between them and the Africans, at the end of the 19th century; we learn about the Swedes' quarrels first with the Germans and later with the British, over land purchases, thus revealing the origins of long on-going disputes over Bakweri lands. We are given vivid descriptions of Bakweri notables and their, and the Europeans', cultural practices, a rare eye-witness account of the sasswood witchcraft ordeal, and learn about Knutson's friendships with slaves. Together with appended contemporary correspondence, legal opinions, and early (translated) texts, this memoir must be considered as a unique and invaluable primary source for the pre-colonial history of Cameroon.

Table of contents

• SWEDISH VENTURES IN CAMEROON 1883–1923
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• PART I. Introduction
• CHAPTER 1. Biographical Notes on Knutson and Waldau
• CHAPTER 2. The Manuscript
• PART II. Knutson’s Memoir
• CHAPTER 1. From Sweden to Cameroon
• CHAPTER 2. Fauna and Flora
• CHAPTER 3. Misery and India-rubber
• CHAPTER 4. The German Invasion 1884–1885
• CHAPTER 5. Travel in the Interior 1885
• CHAPTER 6. The Ancient Races
• CHAPTER 7. Adventures on Cameroon Mountains and in Biaffran Swamps
• CHAPTER 8. Religion and Customs of the Bakweri and Bomboko
• CHAPTER 9. The Slave Trade
• CHAPTER 10. Black and White
• CHAPTER 11.The Missionaries, the Explorers and the Men I met at the Cameroons
• CHAPTER 12. The Future of the Cameroons
• PART III. Land and Plantations
• CHAPTER 1. Knutson and Waldau’s Contracts with the Notables on the Cameroon Mountain
• CHAPTER 2. Knutson’s Legal Battles
• CHAPTER 3. Waldau’s Last Years in Cameroon
• PART IV. Alternative Perspectives
• CHAPTER 1. About the Ba-kwileh [Bakweri] People
• CHAPTER 2. Epitome of Waldau’s Journey to the Country North of the Cameroon Mountain
• CHAPTER 3. Sir Richard Burton’s Visit to Mapanja, 1861–1862
• CHAPTER 4. George Thomson’s Stay in Mapanja 1871–1879
• CHAPTER 5. Stefan Sczolc-Rogozinski
• CHAPTER 6. Hugo Zöller, Journalist
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX