King Njoya

King Ibrahim Njoya
ꚩꚫꛑꚩꚳ ꛆꚧꛂ
A photograph of Ibrahim Njoya
17th Mfon of the Bamun
In office c. 1886 or 1887 – 1933
Preceded by	Nsangou
Succeeded by	Seidou Njimoluh Njoya
Personal details
Born	c. 1860
Died	c. 1933
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Bamum

King Ibrahim Mbouombouo Njoya (Bamum: ꚩꚫꛑꚩꚳ  ꛆꚧꛂ - , occasionally spelled as Njoja) c. 1860 – c. 1933 in Yaoundé, was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon dating back to the 14th century. He succeeded his father Nsangu, and ruled from

1886 or 1887 until his death in 1933, when he was succeeded by his son, Seidou Njimoluh Njoya. He ruled from the ancient walled city of Fumban.

Colonel Gorges of the British Army, who met him in 1914, described him thus: "A fine upstanding man, not very negro in type, dressed in blue robes and wearing a turban with the end tied under his chin and over his mouth." He practised polygamy — Gorges reported that he had 600 wives and 149 children by 1915; it is thought that he had 177 children in all.

Njoya's mother, Njapdunke, acted as regent until he reached majority. His official rule was further delayed because his father's head was held by an old adversary, the Nso people. (By tradition the head or skull of an ancestor is of ceremonial importance to the Bamum.) The Germans helped him in recovering the head and this, along with their allowing him relative independence, caused him to have generally good relations with them. Since the German colonizers after taking possession of Cameroon and were advancing inland, the young King Njoya developed a strong interest in the culture of the new "fatherland". An additional factor seems to have been a belief that fighting the Germans would prove counterproductive to his people, hence he rejected the resistance proposals of Rudolf Duala Manga Bell. He greeted the Germans with great celebrations in his residence in Foumban , which soon brought him the title of an official figure-holder of the German colonial government. King Njoya tried to maintain a good relationship with the German Empire during his lifetime. On the birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm II, he had given him the throne from the governor of Buea. This put Njoya in the Kaiser's favor, and enabled Felix von Luschan, director of the Berlin Museum of Ethnology, to exhibit the throne, which had been imprinted with dyed pearls in great skill. To this day the throne can still be seen in the Berlin Ethnological Museum. In return Wilhelm II sent for, as he put it, his königlichen Bruder (royal brother), a German Cuirassier uniform of the German Imperial Guard. Like an oil painting of Wilhelm II, the uniform is now exhibited in the Palace Museum at Foumban.