Causes, Manifestations and Nature of Indigenous Wars in Upper Bakweri Land, 1880-1939

Abstract

The pursuit to control the villages of Upper Bakweri Land (UBL) by the villages of Soppo Mokongo (Great Soppo) and Gbea (Buea Town) led to a series of wars which erupted in the area between 1880 and 1939. The desire for domination resulted to the formation of two main groups which aligned the other villages of UBL under the leadership of either Soppo Mokongo or Gbea. The creation of competing blocs culminated to the upsurge of indigenous wars among the villages of UBL that dragged the two lead villages to support one side or the other. This paper examines the reasons for, the manifestation and the nature of indigenous wars in UBL between 1880 and 1939. To attain the goals of the paper, the chronological and thematic methods were employed in analyzing and synthesizing data obtained from primary and secondary sources. Information from primary sources came from the National Archives Buea (NAB) and oral interviews. Material gotten from secondary sources was from both published and unpublished works. The findings show that political, economic and socio-cultural factors were the driving force behind indigenous wars in the area. That ritualized combat, the cutting of the head of the leader illustrated the nature of warfare. That the weapons of war used were dane guns, cutlasses and clubs. Although, the wars were classified as either “just” or “unjust’; they never succeeded in establishing a lead village in UBL.