Kwe people
 A Bakweri farmer working his cocoyam field on the slopes of Mt. Fako in the Southwest Province of Cameroon |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Total: 32,200 (1982)) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Cameroon | |
| Languages | |
| Mokpwe | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Christian and/or ancestor worshippers | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Bakole, Bamboko, Duala, Isubu, Limba, Mungo, Wovea |
The Bakweri (or Kwe) are an ethnic group of the Republic of Cameroon. They are closely related to Cameroon's coastal peoples (the Sawa), particularly the Duala and Isubu.
According to Bakweri oral traditions, that they originated from Mboko, the area southwest of Mount Cameroon. The Bakweri likely migrated to their present home east of the mountain in the mid-18th century. From the foothills, they gradually spread to the coast, and up the Mungo River and the various creeks that empty into it. In the process, they founded numerous villages, usually when individual families groups split off. A rival Bakweri tradition says they descend from Mokuri or Mokule, a brother of the Duala's forebear Ewale, who migrated to the Mount Cameroon area for hunting. In addition, a few isolated villages, such as Maumu and Bojongo, claim some alternate descent and may represent earlier groups whom the expanding Bakweri absorbed.
Portuguese traders reached the Cameroonian coast in 1472. Over the next few decades, more adventurers came to explore the estuary and the rivers that feed it, and to establish trading posts. The Bakweri provided materials to the coastal tribes, who acted as middlemen.
Germany annexed the Cameroons in 1884. In 1891, the Gbea Bakweri clan rose up in support of their traditional justice system when the Germans forbade them to use a trial by ordeal involving poison to determine whether a recent Christian convert was in fact a witch. This revolt was squelched with the razing of Buea in December 1894 and the death of Chief Kuv'a Likenye. The reprisals disunited the Bakweri, and they lost all rights under the German government.
The Germans initially ruled from Douala, which they called Kamerunstadt, but they moved their capital to the Bakweri settlement of Buea in 1901. The colonials' primary activity was the establishment of banana plantations in the fertile Mount Cameroon region. The Bakweri were impressed to work them, but their recalcitrance and small population led the colonials to encourage peoples from further inland, such as the Bamileke, to move to the coast. In addition, constant shipping traffic along the coast allowed individuals to move from one plantation or town to another in search of work. The Duala and Bakweri intermingled like never before.
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