symbols reserved by whites were taken over by Afrikans. This represented an insecurity in the colonial objectives of the germans. The usage of military uniforms by Africans was a common practice that can also be seen among the Herero of Namibia and the Beni Ngoma of Tanzania. Though the Germans were at the center of Njoya’s diplomatic and political efforts from 1904-1909, Before and after he oriented himself towards the Fulbe and Islam. Njoya abandoned the german style abruptly in 1909 due to some disappointing political results of engagement with them. By 1912 the Bamum turned away from the Germans and aligned themselves with the Fulbe. After the original Foumban palace was burned down in 1913, Njoya embarked on the design and construction of the current one. The architectural systems of the Bamun feature many of the prominent elements of Afrikan architecture in their: • vaulted roofs with ventilation • framed opening molding • projecting sills • Adobe bricks • bioenvironmental mimickry • fractal proxemics Njoya was exposed to a variety of architectural and building traditions during his childhood and early years of reign from his own travels, encounters with external merchants as well as his reading of Ajami texts. He encountered Hausa traditional homes, the Mousgoum teleuk in Northern Cameroon, as well as the Ssola Somolo and Batammaliba Tata Somba building systems of northern Togo and Burkina Faso. A combination of these unique structural forms contributed to the development of the new Foumban Palace. Many of the German ethnographers were quite impressed with the new Palace and thought that Njoya must have copied the building style of the europeans. The problem with this assumption is that prominent indigenous elements are identified in the new structure such as: • Encircling verandahs • Deep eaves • Carved wood posts • Raffia Palm formwork • Laterite clay bricks According to Marie Thorbecke: "The way in which the brown wood walls of the upper floor rise out of the white plaster of the stone wall bellow attests to a natural instinct that the negro could never ever learn form whites, an instinct that lies in his blood through the inheritance of generations." Mfon Njoya affirmed that the design of the Foumban Palace had been the result of his own ingenuity and structural engineering expertise. According to Njoya: "Long ago, King Njoya built behind the palace a more beautiful dwelling than any that existed.