Mpongweadj.n.

1844 Missionary Herald (Boston) June 185/1 The precise language spoken by the Mpongwe people, is not used by more than six thousand souls; and these are all on the Gaboon River.

1847 J. L. Wilson Gram. Mpongwe Lang. 32 Mpongwe verbs have five moods.

1897 M. Kingsley W. Afr. xiii. 305 I found an exceedingly neat, well-educated M'pongwe gentleman in irreproachable English garments.

1959 Chambers's Encycl. XII. 397/2 The Mpongwe women have a powerful society whose main purpose is to protect women against the ill-usage of men.

1983 Amer. Hist. Rev. 88 446 The shifting pattern of European trade was to the disadvantage of the Mpongwe middlemen who soon lost their basic economic function.

1987 Jrnl. Mod. Afr. Stud. 25 289 Most members in Libreville were educated men of the Mpongwe ethnic group (part of the larger Myènè language family), which had lived on the estuary for centuries.

1844 Missionary Herald (Boston) June 185/1 The Mpongwe is not a difficult language to acquire.

1883 R. N. Cust Sketch Mod. Langs. Afr. II. xii. 417 (heading) Pongwe, called also M-Pongwe, Pongouee... Eight tribes habitually use it, and eleven other understand it.

1966 B. Weinstein Gabon v. 117 The Protestants..chose Mpongouè [sic] as the language for their work because they thought it must be spoken from the estuary to the River Congo.

1997 Jrnl. Black Stud. 27 309 Maat plays a ‘fundamental role’ in a fairly long list of African languages that crisscross the continent. These are..mpongwe of Gabon [etc.].

1849 R. S. Fisher Bk. of World II. 663 American Missionaries settled in this country, that it is inhabited by a great number of different tribes, living in villages. These are called—the Mpongwe, Shekani, Bakali, Kama, Batanga, &c. nations, all speaking different languages, some of which have been reduced to writing.

1879 J. L. Wilson Heads of Mpongwe Gram. 7 The Mpongwe, or Ayogo (wise ones, as they modestly call themselves), live on both sides of the Gabun River, about a half degree north latitude, extending fifty or sixty miles interior.

1915 E. Andrews tr. A. L. Cureau Savage Man Central Afr. III. ii. iii. 260 The investigator will find a truly captivating sight..in the cotillons, fancy-dress balls, and masquerades of the Mpongwes.

1928 H. Bauman in Africa July 307 Women and slaves nearly always work together, as among the..Mpongwe.

1997 Internat. Jrnl. Afr. Hist. Stud. 30 433 In the 19th century Jeki la Njambè was a tale about the marvels wrought by the hero told among Mpongwe, Benga and Batanga.