King Ibrahim Mbouombouo Njoya (Bamum: , Iparəim Nʃuɔiya, formerly spelled in Bamum as , and Germanicized as Njoja) in Yaoundé, was seventeenth in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon dating back to the fourteenth century. He succeeded his father Nsangu, and ruled from 1886 or 1887 until his death in 1933, when he was succeeded by his son, Seidou Njimoluh Njoya. He ruled from the ancient walled city of Fumban. Person and life Njoya was born circa 1860. His father passed away when he was just three years old, and his mother ruled the kingdom until he could ascend to the throne at the age of 11. Colonel Gorges of the British Army, who met Njoya in 1914, described him thus as "a fine upstanding man." He practised polygamy — Gorges reported that he had 600 wives and 149 children by 1915; it is thought that he had 177 children in all. In two other sources such as Images from Bamum German Colonial Photography at the Court of King Njoya, Cameroon, West Africa, 1902-1915 by Christraud M. Geary as well as a text by Kristian Kristiansen and Michael Rowlands cite that he had 1200 wives and concubines and 350 children in total. Under the influence of a German missionary, Njoya converted to Christianity. He later created a new syncretistic religion based on Christianity and traditional Bamum religion before converting to Islam along with much of his court in 1916. He accepted the authority of the Sokoto Caliph, requesting the caliph send him an emir's flag and Muslim teachers. Rule Njoya's mother, Njapdunke, acted as regent until he reached majority. His official rule was further delayed because his father's head was held by an old adversary, the Nso people. (By tradition the head or skull of an ancestor is of ceremonial importance to the Bamum.) The Germans helped him in recovering the head and this, along with their allowing him relative independence, caused him to have generally good relations with them. German legal scholar Christian Bommarius has refuted the claim that Mfon Njoya betrayed Rudolph Manga Bell's resistance proposal against the Germans. This claim originated from German colonial officials who sought to incriminate Manga Bell for resisting their attempts to seize Duala land. He greeted the Germans with great celebrations in his residence in Foumban , which soon brought him the title