 After a brief stay in Europe , Atangana returned to his homeland in Cameroon , which by then was a League of Nations mandate territory under the administration of the French Third Republic . The French doubted his loyalties at first , but Atangana served them with the same ardour he had shown the Germans and regained his post as paramount chief . During the remainder of his life , he oversaw the Westernisation of his subjects and the improvement of his domains despite the erosion of his powers due to French policies and unrest among his people . He never advocated resistance to the European powers , preferring to embrace the European as a means of personal enrichment and in the service of African interests . After his death in 1943 , Atangana was largely forgotten . However , since Cameroon 's independence in 1960 , Cameroonian scholars have rediscovered his story . 
