Swedish Ventures in Cameroon, 1883-1923

Shirley Ardener teaches at the Center for Cross-Cultural Research on Women, University of Oxford, and is a member of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women, of which she was also the founding director.

... a rich source of information on the detailed operation of a new colonial business venture and on a number of key events in the developments of the protectorate and the plantations. Accounts like this, which give details of the relationships between different groups of colonists and between colonists and Africans in nineteenth-century Cameroon, are rare and are great treasures.A" * African Affairs On being asked to review this book, it must be confessed, I was not bowled over with enthusiasm ... Once into the text of Knutson's Memoir, however, one becomes hooked, as well as convinced that this document was well worth translating from Swedish for publication.A" * African Affairs Knutson's memoir is very well balanced out with the addition of extracts from the diaries of some of those he refers to, as well as of other contemporary commentators on that region.A" * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute In publishing these two books [Swedish Ventures and Cameroon's Tycoon] Berghahn have done West-Central African studies proud. The authors are highly regarded Cameroonists - The two volumes make an important contribution to the late pro-colonial and early colonial history of the Cameroons.A" * The Australasian Review of African Studies " - a fascinating account - [of considerable] ethnographic and historical value." * Social Anthropology "While the volume is best suited for specialists of Cameroon, its coverage of economics, gender, ethnography and racial stereotyping also recommends the book to anyone interested in the multiple dimensions of European-African encounters. It would make a splendid assigned reading for courses on European colonialism generally and German imperialist ventures in particular." * H-Net

• Chapter 1. Sweden and the Cameroons Chapter 2. Fauna and Flora Chapter 3. Misery and India Rubber Chapter 4. The German Invasion, 1884-1885 Chapter 5. Travel in the Interior, 1885 Chapter 6. The Ancient Races Chapter 7. Adventures on Cameroon Mountains and in Biaffran Swamps Chapter 8. Religion and Customs of the Bakhiviris and Bobbokkos Chapter 9. Slave Trade Chapter 10. Black and White Chapter 11. The Missionaries, the Explorers, and the Men I met at the Cameroons Chapter 12. The Future of the Cameroons Appendices: Appendix I: Knutson and Waldau's Contracts with the Notables on the Cameroon Mountain Appendix II: A Climb of the Big Peak of the Cameroon Mountain K. Knutson Appendix III: About the Ba-kwileh People G. Valdau Appendix IV: English Epitome of Waldau's "A Journey to the Country North of the Cameroon Mountain" E. Ardener and E. M. Chilver Appendix V: Sir Richard Burton's Visit to Mafanja, 1861-1862 Appendix VI: George Thompson's Stay in Mafanja, 1871-1889 Appendix VII: Stefan (Etienne) and Sczolc (Scholz)-Rogozinski, 1861-1896