The final phase of European rule in Cameroon provided the Duala with an opportunity to play out their own last actions as a collective historical force. In retrospect the failure of these efforts – at least in their own political and economic terms – appears inevitable. The fate of Cameroon would again be determined by international forces – this time linked to World War II, the struggles of West European recovery, and the global blocs of the Cold War – over which local communities could exercise little control. In the new territorial electoral politics, the indigenous peoples of the Littoral had to contend with much larger populations in other regions of Cameroon. Finally, within their own city the Duala had now clearly become a minority and could only act as bystanders to the most momentous local events.

However in the transition to independence, Duala individuals and organizations retained a surprisingly prominent role. They could do this because of the historical prestige of their hereditary rulers, the greater exposure to European education and modern institutions of their younger elite, and an even more growing ethnic consciousness, now articulated through their “Traditional Assembly,” the Ngondo. Even if no elements of this last hurrah succeeded in retaining or restoring the power previously enjoyed by the Duala, they do reveal a great deal about the larger field of African experience that this middleman people still attempted to bestride.