Ibrahim Njoya

Njoya, rarely also: Njoja, Ibrahim Njoya († 1933) was from 1894 to 1933 Sultan of the Kingdom of Bamum Bamum people in the west of present-day Cameroon.

Life

After the death of his father Nsangou 1885 first seized his uncle Nzi Monkuob the throne, but the Njoya was able to rush through an alliance with the Fulani. But Nzi Monkuob allowed to continue to act as a royal advisor.

Since the German colonizers after the seizure of Cameroon were advancing deeper into the interior, the young King Njoya developed a strong interest in the culture of the new " mother country ". He welcomed the Germans with great celebrations at his residence city Foumban, which soon earned him the title of an official governor of the German provinces.

King Njoya strove throughout his life to establish a good relationship with the German Empire, he also underscored 1908. Birthday of Emperor Wilhelm II, he had the governor in Buea handed over his throne as a gift for the monarch. This was very pleased with the favor from Njoyas and allowed Felix of Luschan, the director of the Berlin Museum of Ethnology, the African king throne, which had been occupied in great craftsmanship with colored beads, issue. To date, the throne at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin is seen.

In return, Wilhelm II sent for his " royal brother ," as he put it, a German Cuirassier uniform of the Imperial Guard. Just as an oil painting of Wilhelm II, the uniform is on display in the Palace Museum to Foumban.

Njoya was convinced that German and Bamun culture are to be agreed. In cooperation with the German administration he built schools at which expand the Bamun children the knowledge of their native language and were also able to learn, introduced by Njoya Bamun font, but also basic knowledge of the German language were passed. The technique of Germans also held in the food processing catchment, reflecting the introduction of a hand-operated, mechanical grain mill.

1917, King Njoya demolished the old, built in a traditional setting Palace and build in its place a new residence in the Prussian brick style.

A year earlier the French occupation forces had taken control of German - Cameroon, whereby the Kingdom Bamun its partial autonomy completely lost. Since Njoya to 1931 resided in spite of his formal dismissal by France in Foumban, he was by then de facto role of the king. But they therefore sent him the same year to Yaounde into exile, where he died in 1933 at the age of 66 years. His successor was Seidu Njimoluh Njoya.

Because of his great services to the Bamun he is to this day revered by his people.