Origins of the use of Paramount Chief titles in Africa.

Brief History and Insight on the Use of Paramount Chief Titles in Nigeria and Africa.

ICMS, Inc Educational Series
By Tom Okure, Ph.D
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A paramount chief in the African context is used to describe a very powerful chief of the highest order. In Nigeria as in many parts of West Africa, the British Colonial Governors and their administrators created Chieftaincy systems which transformed local societies they governed by empowering a set of Paramount Chiefs as the sole authority of local government in the various Protectorates that they British controlled.

Chief Mutondo (of Zambia) who 

was declared paramount chief of Nkoyas

A paramount chief unlike a local chief has power which extends over an entire governing region. In British Colonial times, the term was used to designate the highest level political leader in a colonial regional or local polity or country administered politically with a chief based system. Such a ruler had great authority which transcended multiple chiefdoms or the rulers of exceptionally powerful chiefdoms that have subordinated others. 

The title of Paramount Chief was a convenient formal title established and used by the British colonial administrators during the 19th and 20th-century in Africa, India and Asian colonies to describe very powerful local rulers equivalent to "kings" in Europe. The term was coined and used because of necessity as a substitute for calling local tribal leaders "King." Calling a supreme local leader King was prohibited because only the "British Monarch" was entitled to be called King. Since the title of chief was frequently used to describe local rulers and by British district and town administrators, it became necessary to add "Paramount Ruler" title to a very powerful regional Chief in order to differentiate such a ruling tribal monarch from a local aristocracy (chief).

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