The Adouma (or Duma) are an ethnic group of

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, in central Africa. They primarily live on the South bank of the upper Ogooué River, in the vicinity of

Lastoursville Lastoursville or Mandji is a city in east-central Gabon, lying on the Ogooué River, the Trans-Gabon Railway and the N3 road. It was founded as a slave depot named ''Mandji'', renamed ''Maadiville'' in 1883 and finally took its current name ...

(originally an Adouma village), and are known as expert

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

ists or the boatmen. They speak Duma, a Nzebi language of the Bantu family. Their traditions hold that they arrived from the East or Southeast, coming down the

Sebe River The Sébé (or Sebe) River (French: ''Rivière Sébé'') is a river which flows in Gabon. It is a tributary of the Ogooue River, and passes through Okondja Okondja is a town in Haut-Ogooué province, eastern Gabon. It is the capital of the Se ...

to the Ogowe, and thence to the Doumé rapids. They made canoes of Aucoumea wood, and sold

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

s to the

Okandé The Okandé are a people of north-eastern Gabon who belong to the Mèmbè language group (Okandè, Apindzi, Simba, Vové, Tsogho, Evia and Kotakota). Their language overlaps that of the Apindzi and the Simba about 80/86% according to professor Va ...

, receiving European products such as guns and cloth in exchange. The

Société du Haut-Ogooué Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

(SHO) established a post at Lastoursville and engaged the Adouma in trade for

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, a ...

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals ...

, and

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

. During the 1970s and 1980s, many Adouma moved down the Ogowe, towards Port-Gentil.

References

David E. Gardinier David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, ''Historical Dictionary of Gabon'', 2nd ed. (The Scarecrow Press, 1994) pp. 34–35 Ethnic groups in Gabon {{Africa-ethno-group-stub