The Slave Trade, Slavery and the Struggle for Supremacy in the Momo River Valley, North West Region of Cameroon, to 1926

Abstract This paper examines issues of the slave trade and slavery in the Momo River valley of Cameroon. Using primary sources (oral tradition and archival materials) and secondary sources, the paper shows the impact of the transatlantic slave trade in the region not only in the slave trade and slaving activities but also in the transformation of some old social institutions and the emergence of new ones. The paper argues that the transatlantic slave trade introduced capitalists in this part of Africa, who continued to make profits from legitimate commerce after the abolition of the slave trade through the persistent enslavement of other Africans to work in the palm oil industry. The Momo River valley continued to be a major source of these slaves. This paper therefore brings into the limelight slavery and the slave trade in an area which contributed to the transatlantic and the post-transatlantic slave trade but which has still not received adequate scholarly attention.