Ewale a Mbedi

Ewale a Mbedi was the eponymous ancestor of the Duala people of Cameroon (named for a variant spelling of his name, Dwala). According to the oral histories of the Duala and related Sawa peoples of the Cameroon coast, Ewale hailed from a place called Piti. He and his followers migrated southwest to the coast and settled at the present-day location of Douala. The area was inhabited by the Bassa and/or Bakoko, who were driven inland by the new arrivals. Meanwhile, Ewale and his followers set up trade with European merchant ships.

Historians and anthropologists find Ewale's existence and major deeds to be mostly plausible. The stories lack overt mythological elements, and the genealogies of the rulers of the Duala place Ewale at a feasible distance before historical Duala chiefs and kings. The most reasonable estimation places the migration from Piti in the late 16th century. Although many of the stories ascribe this move to a desire to trade with Europeans on the coast, a more likely reason may be that Piti had simply become too crowded. Driving away the Bassa and Bakoko is believable in that these peoples were farmers, not traders or fishermen, so a coastal homeland was not a necessity for them.

Ewale a Mbedi's life and ancestry are known only from the oral histories of the Duala and other Sawa ethnic groups in the Cameroon littoral, the details of which vary greatly from story to story. According to some narratives, Ewale travelled north from the Bakota region of the lower Congo. He had reached the lower Sanaga River when a fight with family members drove him yet farther north to Piti. However, other stories make this migration to Piti the work of Ewale's father, Mbedi.

All tales agree that Ewale travelled from Piti to the present location of Douala on the Cameroon coast. However, the impetus for this move varies from source to source. One common reason given is that Ewale hoped to set up trade relations with European merchants on the coast. Alternately, Ewale may have wanted to trade fish with the coastal Bakoko. Another variant states that Ewale and members of his family had a dispute. Depending on the tale, this was over something as simple as a chicken and a canoe prow to a fight with Ewale's uncle, Ngasse, whose daughter Ewale married against his uncle's wishes. This led to war, during which all of Mbedi's offspring were driven from Piti. Yet another story says that Ewale fought with his father over cloth imported from European coastal traders. A version from Lungassi near Piti claims that the inhabitants of that village drove the Duala from Piti. Various Sawa coastal ethnic groups claim descent from Ewale's siblings, whom they claim accompanied him on his trek.

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