107:, which had allowed several rivals to William's primacy to emerge. Sometime between 1878 and 1879, Thomas Comber asked William to prevent a Bimbian man from being hanged for witchcraft. William expressed his agreement that something should be done but stated that he was too afraid to call the chiefs to a palaver in
131:
A number of people came from Bimbia; young King
William came to me and told me they had met and had a big palaver about my being among the Bakweris. A great many wanted to come take me away to Bimbia and make me live there; but he had quieted them, and now he wanted to warn me not to trade with them,
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European traders and missionaries saw the new monarch as, in the words of
Baptist missionary Thomas Comber, "a quiet, well-meaning, young man" and dubbed him young King William. Despite his agreeable nature, young William inherited a state in tatters. His difficult accession was a symptom of the many
62:
ethnic group who lived there. Young King
William inherited a kingdom where power was shifting from the monarchy to wealthy traders, a situation that only grew worse under William II's impotent rule. As competition for European trade among the coastal peoples of Cameroon grew more intense, young King
159:
was blamed for ordering the deed. The
Bimbian monarchy crumbled completely. No heir could unite all Bimbia under his banner, and Bimbia as a nation essentially ceased to exist. However, the fact that young King William was able to reign at all, however briefly, indicates the prestige and power that
114:
Another of young
William's major concerns was the Europeans' steady push inland. Although most of these explorers were missionaries, William feared that their efforts would result in direct trade with the inland tribes and the elimination of the Isubus' role as
111:, his capital. The king explained that Comber would have to get several other powerful Bimbian chiefs to agree to take action, since they had just as much power as William did.
83:
had been in a state of almost perpetual war since its height in the early 19th century, as rival factions fought for favour with
European traders. The power of the
75:. As a Bimbian prince, Ngombe enjoyed a status equal to that of Isubu chiefs. On 31 March 1848, for example, he was among the signatories for an engagement ending
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316:
311:
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was called in to settle the dispute, although his degree of input is not known. Ngombe won the contest and was crowned
William II of Bimbia.
194:
Elango 55 explains that Acting Consul
Hopkins officially reported the death in December 1878, but that the real date is uncertain.
284:
Elango, Lovett Z. (1990). "Trade and diplomacy on the
Cameroon coast in the nineteenth century, 1833–1879: the case of Bimbia."
306:
103:
inter-Isubu conflicts that characterised the coast. Wealth had become just as important as heredity in determining
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William I had been able to establish and that young King
William had managed to at least partially retain.
119:. Baptist missionary Quintin Thomas described a confrontation with the king on a ship awaiting landfall at
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William's rivals multiplied and his centralised authority crumbled. He was murdered in 1882.
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43:
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Introduction to the History of Cameroon in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
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Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast, 1500–1970
17:
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55:
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Ardener offers both names: Ngombe on p. 48 and Ngomb' a Bila on p. 105.
47:
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and not to spoil their prices. He said he wanted a whiteman [
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51:
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Sometime before 1 December 1882, young King William was murdered in
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monarchy thus waned as well. Although Ngombe was next in the
91:, his ascension was opposed by another claimant, known as
123:, a settlement of a rival ethnic group, the inland
79:in Bimbia. William I died sometime before 1877.
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8:
215:Comber, 1877. Quoted in Ardener 141 note 4.
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138:] at Bimbia, and I was to see about it.
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151:, a village on the Bimbian coast. King
7:
25:
233:Thomas, Quintin (31 March 1877):
322:19th-century monarchs in Africa
317:19th-century murdered monarchs
312:Cameroonian traditional rulers
1:
95:. Acting Consul Hopkins of
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281:. New York: Bergahn Books.
71:Ngombe was born to King
277:Ardener, Edwin (1996).
155:of the Bakweri village
307:1882 murders in Africa
237:. Quoted in Elango 55.
140:
38:(died 1882), was, as
40:William II of Bimbia
288:Palgrave MacMillan.
246:Ardener 141 note 4.
73:William I of Bimbia
89:line of succession
28:Young King William
18:Young King William
143:Murder and legacy
16:(Redirected from
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54:on the coast of
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77:human sacrifice
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153:Woloa wo Fike
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105:social status
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97:Great Britain
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36:Ngomb' a Bila
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109:Williamstown
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93:Yellow Money
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27:
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302:1882 deaths
58:and of the
296:Categories
272:References
264:Elango 57.
224:Elango 56.
206:Elango 55.
117:middlemen
125:Bakweris
121:Bonjongo
56:Cameroon
149:Limbola
30:, born
81:Bimbia
52:Bimbia
42:, the
32:Ngombe
164:Notes
157:Soppo
85:Isubu
67:Reign
60:Isubu
44:chief
48:king
46:and
135:sic
50:of
34:or
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199:^
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20:)
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