Dume (district)

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The Dume district was an administrative unit in Cameroon during the German colonial rule.

District area

The district, which was in the area of ​​today's province of Est , bordered in the west on the district office of Yaounde , in the east on the French border. In the north, the Lom formed the border against the Adamaua residence or, from 1913, Ngaundere. The Nyong marked the southern border against the Lomié district in the western district area . In the south, the district also bordered the Molundu district, which was newly created in 1911 .

population

The area was predominantly populated by Bantu-speaking societies, especially Omvang , Makaa and Kaka, as well as by the Uubangi-speaking Gbaya . The total population was 97,566 inhabitants according to a census of 1909. The political centers of the indigenous population were Gamane / Bertua (Gbaya), Baturi, Mokbe, Bimba and Beri (Kaka).

history

The development of the region by the colonial power began in 1897 with the expedition of Lieutenant Ernst von Carnap-Quernheimb to the Sanga-Ngoko area. In 1899 government councilor Dr. Plehn in the southeastern tip of the colony with the establishment of the administration of the Sanga-Ngoko district. Ludwig Freiherr von Stein zu Lausnitz undertook extensive expeditions to the Makaa, Gbaya and Kaka territories between 1901 and 1903 and, in August 1902, led the integration of the area through the disempowerment of the Bertua chief and his replacement by his loyal son Sanaga and Doume River into the German rule structures.

In 1906/07 there was a major armed conflict between the German Schutztruppe and the Omvang and Makaa in the region between Sanaga, Dja and Doume, in the wake of which the transition area between woodland and savannah between the 4th and 6th parallel from the Sanga- Ngoko administration (Lomië district) was separated and made independent. A fort was built on the Doume River, which was named Dume (today's Doumé ) and the seat of the district administration and location of the 9th Company of the Protection Force. Due to its location at the end of the navigability of the river, the square soon developed into the crossroads of important trade routes.

The district's first head of administration was Captain Peter Scheunemann , who was soon replaced by Captain Adolf Schipper (* November 12, 1875, † November 4, 1915 in Cameroon). The protection force pushed the further pacification and development of the district area. After the killing of a German businessman from May to July 1910, another extensive military conflict broke out. The cause of the escalation of violence was primarily the attacks by German and African traders on the indigenous societies in the course of the expansion of the rubber trade, but also the involvement of the population for tax work and road construction measures, dam building and river cleaning on the Doume. Within a few weeks, the unrest was suppressed under the leadership of Captain Hans Dominik . In 1913 the previous military district was converted into a civil district office. In 1916 the district fell under the administration of the French, who moved the district headquarters to Bertoua .

literature

  • Florian Hoffmann: Occupation and military administration in Cameroon. Establishment and institutionalization of the colonial monopoly of violence 1891–1914 , Göttingen 2007