On 13 November 1888, the French officer Treich-Laplène signed a Protectorate treaty with the Abron king of Bondoukou, but the city fell to Samori between September 1895 and July 1897, and unlike nearby centers, he did not destroy the old city, but deposed the Abron in favour of the Muslim Dyula.

In November 1890 Alfred Sharpe arrived in Bunkeya from Nyasaland on behalf of the BSAC and the British Commissioner in Central Africa/Nyasaland, Sir Harry Johnston with a mineral rights concession and a British Protectorate treaty for signature.

Since then and until independence of Somaliland Protectorate in 1960 each clan maintained connections with the British government separately from other ones as the Protectorate treaties signed between United Kingdom and clans recognized that each clan area was a separate Territory.