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Concept
Rudolf Duala Manga Bell
Summary
Rudolf Duala Manga Bell (1873 – 8 August 1914) was a Duala king and resistance leader in the German colony of Kamerun (Cameroon). After being educated in both Kamerun and Europe, he succeeded his father Manga Ndumbe Bell on 2 September 1908.
Bell styled himself after European rulers and at first generally supported the colonial German authorities. He was quite wealthy and educated, although his father left him a substantial debt.
In 1910 the German Reichstag developed a plan to relocate the Duala people living along the river, to be moved inland to allow for wholly European riverside settlements. Manga Bell became the leader of pan-Duala resistance to the policy. He and the other chiefs at first pressured the administration through letters, petitions, and legal arguments, but these were ignored or rebutted. Manga Bell turned to other European governments for aid, and he sent representatives to the leaders of other Cameroonian peoples to suggest the overthrow of the German regime.
Sultan Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamum people reported Bell's actions to the authorities, and the Duala leader was arrested. After a summary trial, Manga Bell was hanged for high treason on 8 August 1914. His actions made him a martyr in Cameroonian eyes. Writers such as Mark W. DeLancey, Mark Dike DeLancey, and Helmuth Stoecker view his actions as an early example of Cameroonian nationalism.
Manga Bell was born in 1873 in Douala in an area that would later become part of the German colony of Kamerun. He was the eldest son of Manga Ndumbe Bell, king of the Bell lineage of the Duala people. Manga Bell was raised to appreciate both African and European ways of life. His Westernized uncle David Mandessi Bell had a great impact on him, and as a youth he attended school in both Douala and Germany. During the 1890s he attended the Gymnasium of Ulm, Germany, although no direct record of his time there survives. Manga Bell was made Ein-Jähriger, indicating that he held a certificate for education beyond the primary level but below the Abitur earned for completion of secondary studies.
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