Douala History: The Incredible Journey Of Cameroon’s Largest City

Douala History

Douala History: Douala is Cameroon’s largest city and primary seaport. Douala sits on the tidal Wouri Estuary, a site of centuries-long trade with the West. From the 1600s to the 1800s, the Duala people, who established the city that bears their name, traded slaves and later palm products with Europeans. The abundance of crayfish in the Wouri Estuary led to its renaming as the Cameroons River. In 1884, the Duala chiefs made a deal with Germany, allowing Germany to settle in the area. The Duala town’s name inspired the new country’s name, Cameroon.

The Duala had four main parts at that point. On the south bank, there were the Bonaberi, the Bonambela (also called Akwa), and the Bonebela (also called Deido). On the north bank. The town was first called Kamerunstadt by the Germans. Later, the people who lived there before the arrival of the Europeans named it Douala.

The town was a hub for missionary work, schooling, and some modernization when the Germans were in charge. The Duala became like any other elite group on the West Coast. They got an education in the West and worked for Europeans in low-level jobs, but they also felt the weight of colonial power and fought against it. 

The most well-known protests against Duala were against a plan to separate them from other people. The plan involved moving the Duala, who resided on the southern shore of the river, to new areas a little farther inland. In 1914, the first part of the plan came into effect. The Bonadoo were mostly forced to leave their homes, and their leader, Paramount Chief Rudolf Duala Manga Bell, was put to death. 

However, an invading force, primarily composed of British soldiers, quickly took control of Douala when World War I broke out. The British ruled Douala primarily from September 1914 to April 1916. France took over it and most of Kamerun after that, making it the first city of the French-mandated Territory of Cameroun. The French did not take back the land they took from the Duala people along the southern shore of the river, even though they had been protesting and asking for self-government for years. 

The land that was taken from the Bonadoos, especially the Bonanjo area, was used for buildings in Europe. Some Duala still lived there, as well as many others in Akwa, Deido, and Bonaberi, where many more wealthy people (clerks, teachers, etc.) built stone homes. In the 1930s, Bell Duala, expelled from his home, constructed these types of homes in Bali, near Bonanjo.

The Duala officially owned the land, but by the 1920s, most of the residents of the area they set aside for them, a little further inland, were Africans from other parts of Cameroon. Douala was the main port and business hub of French Cameroon before it became the capital city of Yaoundé in 1921. In particular, business offices were set up in Akwa. Africans, unable to construct modern homes, faced forced departure from Akwa in 1937, preserving their land rights.

In 1939, there were 34,002 people living there, including 17,871 Duala and 13,847 other Africans. Prior to that, the population may have primarily consisted of other Africans. Since the 1920s, a significant number of other Cameroonians (Bassas, Betis, and especially Bamilekes) have been arriving. This kept going and got worse after World War II, when the Free French took over French Cameroon and made Douala the city again for a few years. 

The city grew very quickly in the 1940s and 1950s because of economic growth and port facilities expansion. The Bamilekes were the first immigrants to the city, and they have stayed there. They quickly outnumbered the Duala and are now the biggest immigrant group in the city. The growing number of people living in cities around Douala was very active in nationalist politics in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as in times of political unrest like 1955 and 1960.

This happened again when multiparty politics came back in 1991. At the time, Douala was still a major center of government resistance. A bridge over the Wouri connected the main (southern) part of the city to Bonaberi in 1955. After the Germans, both railroads ended in Douala. One of them starts in Bonaberi. 

The airport grew from a small one in the 1930s to become Cameroon’s main international airport, a role it still holds to this day. Douala has been Cameroon’s most important port for trade with other countries ever since it became independent. It handles more than 90% of the country’s trade, including some trade with Chad and the Central African Republic.

The port has expanded and remains a significant West Coast port, but it is currently facing issues such as river silting up and high fees. Douala is the economic capital of Cameroon. It is a busy place for all kinds of businesses, with many of them based in the Douala-Bassa area, which is east of the ancient city center. Between that neighborhood and the airport, the built-up area now includes parts that used to be rural. 

The city has kept growing and becoming more populous, with newcomers coming in all the time. People from other African countries have been coming to the U.S. for decades, and now there are big communities of them, mostly Nigerians. Bamilekes, reported to number 215,460 out of a total population of 458,426 in Douala in 1976, run most of the city’s small and medium-sized businesses. These businesses include taxi services, movie theaters, bars, hotels, import businesses, and shops of all kinds. 

The Duala are now a small group, but they still own a lot of land, and a lot of people speak their language. In wealthy areas like Bonanjo, some minorities live in comfortable conditions. Since the oil boom began in the 1970s, when the Douala region pumped some oil, these areas have become even wealthier. Various racial groups reside in densely populated areas in other districts, facilitated by numerous markets, shops, services, and prayer centers. There are a lot of Muslims in the city, but most of the people are Christians, and the Catholic cathedral in Bonanjo (1934) is an important landmark. 

Douala is a busy, noisy, and crowded city that has been known for a long time for its cool spots and lively nightlife. However, the city faces numerous social issues, such as poor drainage due to the flat terrain and heavy rainfall, and a shortage of affordable housing for a large population. There are now more than a million people living in the city.

Also Read: African History: Think Africa Never Knew Its Own Past?