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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Chief Johannes Manga Williams and the Making of a 'Native' Colonial Autocrat among the Bakweri of the Southern Cameroons
Author:Takougang, JosephISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Transafrican Journal of History (ISSN 0251-0391)
Volume:23
Pages:9-31
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs., ills.
Geographic terms:British Cameroons
Cameroon
West Africa
Subjects:Kwiri
indirect rule
traditional rulers
History and Exploration
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
colonialism
History, Archaeology
imperialism
Williams, Johannes Manga
Kwiri (African people)
political systems
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24520267
Abstract:In an effort to effectively administer their large African holdings cheaply and with the limited European manpower available, the various colonial powers were forced to use traditional African rulers in the administrative process. However, in order to make these chiefs effective instruments of colonial administration, they were given tremendous power and authority, unprecedented in most traditional African societies. Such was the case with Johannes Manga Williams, a Bakweri chief in Cameroon. First appointed as district head of Victoria by the Germans in 1908, and later reappointed to the same position by the British, Manga Williams was able to exercise enormous power over previously independent villages. Efforts in 1938 and 1958 to reform the native administrative system in Victoria Division did not diminish his authority. Like many other African chiefs and 'native' colonial administrators, Manga Williams was accused of using his authority for his personal benefit, for example, through the illegal occupation of land. In spite of opposition to Manga Williams in the post-World War II period, he was able, with the support of colonial administrators, to remain in power until his death in 1959. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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