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preface
The Bangka have been excellent seafarers since ancient times, but now their numbers are small. They dispersed into small groups and lived along the coast, from the Spanish territories of Cape San Johann (Ngongo), the Corisco Islands (Mangi-Bonga) and Elobe (Loja), to the French Cape Estelia (Ebeenge or Eveenge), the Santa Clara Cape (Macvèth or Aqwango) and Libreville.
According to the oldest version, the Gbarnga people lived on the side of the Great Forest on the side of Upper Cameroon. The Iquieki warriors who were besieging them were very tight, but for several days the Bangka could not find a shoal in the river to cross smoothly to the other side. According to legend, one morning they saw an antelope running towards the sloping shore.
The hunters were ready to kill it, but the chiefs objected, saying, "Who knows if God didn't mean to call this antelope to show us the way," and sure enough, the antelope jumped into the river, walked to the opposite bank, and disappeared into the forest.
Seeing the sight, there was joy and thunder everywhere, like crazy: the shoal that crossed the river was found after all. Immediately, the whole tribe, men, women, and children, took action together. Everyone hastened to pack their packages, fished to the pointed path, and crossed the river on the shallows, avoiding the fierce enemy. To commemorate the event, the Bangka people and their descendants have forever forbidden the red and yellow antelope.
After several migrations
Once they fled to the opposite bank of the Lokonya River, with a large forest as cover, the Bangka people could no longer be fearless and continued to advance. Legend also points out that they walked to a large tree, and the trunk of the tree blocked the way. As they struggled to dig trees to make a way, the chief named Kota got tired of waiting too long, so he and his family set foot on the surrounding terrain.
After a few months of this, the Ibándo River, an antelope of medium stature and red coat (Ann Valker's note), settled there. From him was handed down the Bakota clan, meaning the people or sons of Kota. The Bakota people still consider themselves close relatives of the state that lives by the sea.
"The Bakota people have long lived in the Makoju place on the Ivandor River. They were probably expelled by the Backwelais, who were chased by the Fang. Later, the Bakota gathered between the waterfalls of the Makoju and Ivando rivers, an area in the very wet Menyanji lowlands near the Libemba and Yadié rivers. They now live along the Makoju-Mecambo road, as well as along the route from Macoju to Buweni. ”
The other clans gradually left the group in the center. Generally, after an infighting, different paths are taken to reach the sea. The Bonga-Lesse left the other families farther and reached the Kampo River and finally into Cameroon, near Krija and Bondanga, south of the Banoco and Baramba.
Settlement convergence
The Bobena family is the most powerful and powerful. The Boroba family (chief: Ngaro), the Bodiquito family (chief: Mboto), the Kaeende family (chief: Yucambala) and Bokongo (chief: Rügeengi) follow the same path towards the sea.
Halfway through, a group of the Dubwe and Gabénje families, led by the chiefs Ikombo and Ekeira, headed south, reached Cape Diecay on the Mini, facing Kokobeic.
A group of Gbarnga Lesje settled in Cameroon. There are still a few of their small villages there. They have completely mourned the Bangka people in Upper Cameroon and have changed their language somewhat. The Dibwe live in Greater Elobé. Some of them went into the small bay of Ivenay and then landed and settled on Cape Santa Clara.
The Gabénje also went to sea and settled on Corisco, and later a part of the Bocongo clan and the Bobenya clan also went to join them
Bangka of Mangi Island
The families of Boroba, Bodikiko and Caeendé preferred to stay on Cape St. John's and live next to the Bapiju. Bapiju is quite close to Bangka. Another part of the Baubenya also lives on Cape St. John. There the villages of Mbangwe (chief: Ikenge) and Ondo (chief: Ayoyo) were established. The village of Ondo is now the Spanish part of Calatrava.
On the last eve, another part of the same clan crossed the Gulf of Corisco under the leader Toconier and settled at Cape Estria. From here they dispersed to Cape Santa Clara to join the Dibwes, who had arrived first, and came into contact with the Mpenwe Chapter 9.
Later, in order to reward the small piece of land that the people gave them by the people of Mpenwe, the Banga people signed a friendly agreement to marry their women to the Mpongwe men, but did not stipulate that their men could have women from the Mpongwe. Thus, the leader of the Mpenwe clan, Ray Ogayoni (of the Agekaza clan), married a woman named Éangalais.
She was the daughter of the Bangka chieftain Melomba, the sister of Eboy, and the aunt of Ibabo. After her marriage, she changed her name to Nwe-Bongo. Ray Yidove or King Louis was born to her. The people on Manggie Island are of the Bangka ethnic group. The island was discovered by Portuguese navigators in the fifteenth century.
The two communities fought each other
It is said that when they first landed on the island, they encountered a terrible storm, a whirlwind and tsunami, and thunder and lightning. The island was originally a missionary by Jesuit priests, and later joined by the Fernand missionary area to which it belonged to the Enfants du Coeur lmmaculdde Marie in Spain, where the venerable Rev. McKay set up an American Christian church around 1845.
To this day, it is remembered that there was a battle at sea between the Banga people on the island of Corisco and the Orenju people of Cape López, both of whom were known for their seafaring skills.
It is said that "the youth of the two tribes had an altercation when they visited the crew of a boat at the same time." In any case, Ego was dominated by self-esteem, and the two sides provoked each other and finally decided to go to sea to fight each other: at the appointed moment, a small boat convoy of the Bonga people on the islands of Elobe and Corisco went straight to the Orenju.
The latter is equally active and has been waiting at sea for hours. Suddenly, a ship led by Xi informed that a sail shadow appeared on the horizon and greeted Xi. This is the same determination of the Bangka people to use their knives and axes in battle, and the youth of the Olunju are both good at weapons and good at hand-to-hand combat, and are no less inferior to their enemies.
The verdict is merciless
"The fleets of both sides each closed their sails, and the decisive battle depended only on whose fist was hard. The two sides collided with each other for a long time, blood stained the sea, but the two sides had no intention of ending the fight, suddenly. The Oren dwellers pretended to flee and sailed towards the sea, and Xi seemed to have fled in full.
"This cunning tactic was fully successful. The brave seamen of Gbarnga are now scattered, and the enemy's ships are small and nimble, maneuvering as they wish, besieging the unsuspecting Bonga from all sides, killing and wounding them. Several boats cut by axes fluttered with the waves, which showed the intensity of the battle. It was only then that the Banga realized the tactical mistakes they had made over the past few hours, so they readjusted their positions and covered their retreat. They recognized that they had suffered heavy losses, and they knew that the enemy had also paid a great price
"As night falls, the situation is terrible. The attacker and the attacked, the winner and the loser, gave up contact and slipped away in their respective directions. At dawn, the fleet of Bonga approached its shore and soon landed. The people on the shore learned of the defeat, and Xidu was so angry that the fury of the masses could not be quelled, so that the leader of the combat expedition was sentenced to death and executed immediately. Although he was married and had children, the trial was harsh: immediate execution!
According to legend, the younger brother of the sinner sentenced to death by Xi was not yet married, so he calmly and resolutely walked up to his brother and gently pushed his brother away with his hand, and Xi was willing to die for his brother. This moving sight seems to be enough to invite leniency. But the verdict of the conference cannot be shaken.
The death penalty was finally carried out
The younger brother saved his brother, who had a wife and children, with his own life. This young hero belongs to the famous Bobenya clan, a descendant of one of the greatest chiefs of the Gbarnga tribe. Bangka from Upper Cameroon to the Atlantic Ocean
Cape Esteria, which belonged to the French, and Eberne or Eveenge, which belonged to the natives, were discovered at the same time and were annexed by France in 1852. This was three or four years after Father Rothda established the Catholic Church of St. Joseph of the Banga tribe in 1849.
In May 1855, riots broke out in the area when several converts to Catholicism were caused by the forced polygamy of several Catholics, and Father Puso, who was the elder at the time, was injured. One or two converts to Catholicism were thrown into prison and threatened with death. The naval commander received a report from a chief of Cape Santa Clara and immediately intervened resolutely to save them.
St. Joseph's Station was abandoned in 1859 and re-established in 1878, and in 1904 the fork decided to abolish it. From the time came, the missionaries only kept a foothold there, and went for a few days a year because of the proximity to the sea of people, the fresh air, and the promotion of health, and many Europeans and Africans came there from Libreville, thirty kilometers from there, to taste delicious anchovies, prawns, crabs, oysters, and other shellfish.
The Bangka people, like their ancestors, are fearless fishermen,
Every dry season, he follows the ancestral rules of driving a flat boat to the sea to catch fish with Lijun; In the evening, the bighead fish loaded with delicious meat enjoyed by both whites and blacks returned to shore. In previous years, they caught marine fish on the shore in winter with large forks. It's a big fish. It is commonly known as heel fish or silver kingfish, because the scales are silvery-white, which is very beautiful. They also catch large sea turtles. But today this fishery is monopolized by the people of Corisco.
The Banga people who came to Santa Clara found a group of dwarves settled by the Otandai River. They later disappeared. But where exactly did they come from, it is said that they crossed the bay on foot from the Denis peninsula to the reef in Santa -Clara.