Ndumbe Lobe Bell

Ndumbé Lobé Bell
Bell King of the Duala
King Bell around 1874
Reign	1858–97
Predecessor	Lobe a Bebe
Successor	Manga Ndumbe Bell
Born	1839
Died	December 1897

Ndumbé Lobé Bell or King Bell (1839 – December 1897) was a leader of the Duala people in Southern Cameroon during the period when the Germans established their colony of Kamerun. He was an astute politician and a highly successful businessman.

The first European records of the people of the Douala region around the Wouri estuary noted that they were engaged in fishing and agriculture to some extent, but primarily were traders with the people of the interior via the Wouri River and its tributaries, and via the Dibamba, Kwa Kwa and Mungo rivers. The main Duala communities at the mouth of the Wouri River were Bell Town, with the subordinate Bonapriso to the south and Bonaberi in the opposite shore of the river, and Akwa Town with the subordinate Deido to the north.

Douala was a dependable if minor source of slaves for the Atlantic Slave Trade. The British became active in suppressing the trade in the 1820s. In November 1829 the British ship "Eden" seized the Brazilian slave trader "Ismenia" of Rio de Janeiro after it had given its trade goods to the then King Bell for the purpose of obtaining slaves. On 7 March 1841, King Bell's predecessor signed a formal treaty with William Simpson Blount, commanding the British ship Pluto, in which he agreed to suppress the sale or transport of slaves in his territory.

With the abolition of slavery, the Duala people expanded their barter trade in palm oil, palm kernels and ivory from the interior in exchange for European goods. The practice of domestic slavery continued long after abolition of the overseas slave trade. Slaves were not necessarily mistreated. For example, David Mandessi Bell was brought as a slave from the Grassfields region into King Bell's household in the 1870s and became a rich and powerful member of the Bells, although he was not eligible to become chief.

An 1880 guide said the towns of King Bell and King Aqua, "separated only by a little brook, are apparently of great extent and considerable population. The houses are neatly built of bamboo, in wide and regular streets, with numerous plantain and cocoa-nut trees, and even large fields of maize... A considerable trade has been carried on for many years with the natives, who from their activity in collecting palm oil, and their intercourse with Europeans, have become a large and important community, possessing a high degree of civilization".