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| Cameroon | Introduction | Back to Top |
Cameroon, republic in western Africa, bounded on the north by Lake Chad; on the east by Chad and the Central African Republic; on the south by the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea; and on the west by the Bight of Biafra (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean) and Nigeria. The country is shaped like an elongated triangle, and forms a bridge between western Africa and central Africa. The country has a total area of 475,442 sq km (183,569 sq mi). Yaoundé is the capital, and Douala is the largest city.
Official Name -Republic of Cameroon| Cameroon | Provinces | Back to Top |
Adamaoua, Centre, Est, Extreme-Nord, Littoral, Nord, Nord-Ouest, Ouest, Sud, Sud-Ouest.
| Cameroon | People | Back to Top |
The Sudanic-speaking peoples include the Sao, who live on the Adamawa Plateau; the Fulani; and the Kanuri. The Fulani came from the Niger basin in two waves, in the 11th and 19th centuries; they were Muslims who converted and subjugated the peoples of the Logone valley and the Kébi and Faro river valleys. The third ethnic group consists mainly of small tribes, except for the Bantu-related Bamileke, who live between the lower slopes of the Adamawa Plateau and Mount Cameroon. Other western Semi-Bantu-speaking tribes include the Tikar, who live in the Bamenda region and in the western high plateau.
The population of Cameroon (2001 estimate) is 15,803,220. The overall population density is 33 persons per sq km (86 per sq mi). Cameroon contains about 200 ethnic groups who speak 24 major languages. The capital is Yaoundé (greater city population, 1997 estimate, 1,000,000). Douala, on the Bight of Biafra, with an estimated population of 1,500,000 in 1997, is the chief port. Other principal towns include Garoua (160,000) and Maroua (140,000). About 25 percent of the population adheres to traditional religions; about 22 percent of the population is Muslim; the remaining majority is Christian. Muslims predominate in the north and Christians in the south.
| Cameroon | History | Back to Top |
The coast of present-day Cameroon was explored late in the 15th century by the Portuguese, who named the estuary to the south of Cameroon Mountain Rio das Camerões (“river of prawns”). Merchants established trading stations along the coast in the 17th century, buying slaves, ivory, and rubber. British traders and missionaries were especially active in the area after 1845. The Germans and British began to explore inland after 1860, and in 1884 the former established a protectorate over the Douala area; the British, taken by surprise, offered no resistance to their claim.
After World War II ended in 1945, the mandates were made trust territories of the United Nations (UN). In the following years political ferment grew enormously in the French territory, where more than 100 parties were formed between 1948 and 1960. The campaign for independence, intermittently violent, gained steady momentum during the 1950s, until the French granted self-government in December 1958; full independence was achieved on January 1, 1960. Ahmadou Ahidjo, prime minister since 1958, became the first president. The new republic was admitted to the UN in September 1960.
When Cameroon became independent, President Ahidjo’s government was faced with a rebellion incited by the Cameroonian People’s Union, a pro-Communist party. By 1963, however, the revolt had been suppressed, and Ahidjo soon established the authority of his regime. In 1966 the six major parties merged into the National Cameroonian Union, which was declared the only legal party in the country. In 1972 Ahidjo sponsored a national referendum that changed Cameroon from a federal to a unitary state, called the United Republic of Cameroon.
| Cameroon | Culture | Back to Top |
Each major ethnic group of the country has developed its own culture. The vigorous rhythms played on the drums by the people of the southern forest region contrast with the flute music of northern Cameroonians. In the Adamawa area, the Muslim Fulani produce elaborately worked leather goods and ornate calabashes (gourds used as containers), and the Kirdi and the Matakam of the western mountains produce distinctive types of pottery. The powerful masks of the Bali, which represent elephants' heads, are used in ceremonies for the dead, and the statuettes of the Bamileke are carved in human and animal figures. The Tikar people are famous for beautifully decorated brass pipes, the Ngoutou people for two-faced masks, and the Bamum for smiling masks.
L'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire (French Institute of Black Africa) maintains a library in Douala that specializes in the sociology, ethnology, and history of Africa. Of the several museums, the Diamare and Maroua Museum has anthropological collections relating to the Sudanese peoples, and the Cameroon Museum of Douala exhibits objects of prehistory and natural history.
| Cameroon | Life | Back to Top |
The country has been described as a racial crossroads because of its more than 200 different ethnic groups. There are three main linguistic groups: the Bantu-speaking people of the south, the Sudanic-speaking people of the north, and those who speak the Semi-Bantu languages of the west. The Bantu settled in the Cameroons from equatorial Africa. The first group that invaded the country included the Maka, Ndjem, and Duala. They were followed at the beginning of the 19th century by the Fang (Pangwe) and Beti peoples.
| Cameroon | Land | Back to Top |
Cameroon can be divided into the southern, western, central, and northern geographic regions. The southern region extends from the Sanaga River to the southern border and from the coast eastward to the Central African Republic and Congo (Brazzaville). It consists of coastal plains that are about 25 miles (40 kilometres) wide and a densely forested plateau with an average elevation of a little more than 2,000 feet (600 metres). The western region extends north and west from the Sanaga River and continues north along the Nigerian border as far as the Bénoué (Benue) River. The relief is mostly mountainous, the result of a volcanic rift that extends northward from the island of Bioko (Fernando Po). Near the coast, the active volcanic Mount Cameroon rises to the highest elevation in western Africa—13,435 feet
| Cameroon | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
Cameroon’s valuable rain forests contain a number of species of trees, including oil palms, bamboo palms, mahogany, teak, ebony, and rubber. Wildlife is diverse and abundant and includes monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, antelope, lions, and elephants, as well as numerous species of birds and snakes.
| Cameroon | Economy | Back to Top |
Agricultural activities are the main occupation of 70 percent of Cameroon’s population. In 1998 the national budget showed revenues of $1.5 billion and expenditures of $1.3 billion.The principal commercial crops in Cameroon are cacao, coffee, tobacco, cotton, and bananas. In 2000 production of cacao and coffee, the leading agricultural export commodities, was 150,000 metric tons for the former and 70,000 metric tons for the latter. Other commercial products include rubber, palm products, and sugarcane. Subsistence crops include plantains, sweet potatoes, cassava, corn, and millet. Livestock raising is important in the Adamawa Plateau region. In 2000 the livestock population included 5.9 million head of cattle, 3.8 million goats, 3.9 million million sheep, and 1.4 million pigs.
Cameroon's main problem, in common with the other developing countries of Africa, is the acquisition of capital to finance resource development. When foreign investment capital is scarce, the country depends largely on the sale of its products on the world market. Fluctuations in world prices of raw materials such as cocoa and coffee, however, make the future unpredictable. Foreign indebtedness rose along with development spending, though the government was successful in keeping its debt service within reasonable levels. In the late 1980s, however, budget deficits compelled Cameroon to resort to external borrowing and to accept the intervention of the International Monetary Fund's structural readjustment programs.
Because of its oil resources and favorable agricultural conditions, Cameroon has one of the best-endowed primary commodity economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Still, it faces many of the serious problems facing other underdeveloped countries, such as a top-heavy civil service and a generally unfavorable climate for business enterprise. Since 1990, the government has embarked on various IMF and World Bank programs designed to spur business investment, increase efficiency in agriculture, improve trade, and recapitalize the nation's banks. In June 2000, the government completed an IMF-sponsored, three-year structural adjustment program; however, the IMF is pressing for more reforms, including increased budget transparency and privatization. Higher oil prices in 2000 helped to offset the country's lower cocoa export revenues. A rebound in the cocoa market should increase growth to over 5% in 2001.
| Cameroon | Communications | Back to Top |
Available only to business and government domestic: cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat
| Cameroon | Languages | Back to Top |
Cameroon contains about 200 ethnic groups who speak as many different languages. In general, Bantu-speaking peoples inhabit the south, and Sudanic-speaking peoples dominate in the north. Among the more important ethnic groups are the Bamileke, a Bantu-speaking people, and the Fulani, a Muslim people. French and English are both official languages. French dominates, however; English is confined mainly to the west.
| Cameroon | Politics | Back to Top |
Cameroonian Democratic Union or UDC [Adamou NDAM NJOYA]; Democratic Rally of the Cameroon People or RDCP [Paul BIYA]; Movement for the Defense of the Republic or MDR [Dakole DAISSALA]; Movement for the Liberation and Development of Cameroon or MLDC [leader NA]; Movement for the Youth of Cameroon or MLJC [Marcel YONDO]; National Union for Democracy and Progress or UNDP [Maigari BELLO BOUBA, chairman]; Social Democratic Front or SDF [John FRU NDI]; Union of Cameroonian Populations has two sections UPC-N [Ndeh NTUMAZAH] and UPC-K [Augustin Frederic KODOCK]
| Cameroon | Government | Back to Top |
Cameroon is governed under a constitution promulgated in 1972 and subsequently revised. The president of the republic is chief of state and commander of the armed forces and is elected by universal suffrage. A 1995 amendment to the constitution extended the president’s term from five years to seven and introduced a two-term limit. The federal ministers, including the prime minister, are appointed by the president and by statute are not permitted to be members of the legislature. The president also appoints the governors of the ten provinces. Legislative power in Cameroon is vested in the single-chamber National Assembly, which consists of 180 members elected to five-year terms.
| Cameroon | organization | Back to Top |
ACCT, ACP, AfDB, BDEAC, C, CCC, CEEAC, CEMAC, ECA, FAO, FZ, G-19, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO.
| Cameroon | Education | Back to Top |
Cameroon has achieved one of the highest rates of school attendance in Africa, although the literacy rate is still just 94 percent. Mission schools play an important role in education and are partly subsidized by the government. In 1996, 85 percent of primary school-aged children were enrolled in school, while only 26 percent of appropriately aged children attended secondary school. The University of Yaoundé, which was established in 1962, has faculties of law, arts, and science. In the early 1990s a total of 33,000 students were enrolled in institutions of higher education.
| Cameroon | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches: Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Air Force, National Gendarmerie, Presidential Guard
Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 3,762,369 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males males: 174,308 (2001 est.)
| Cameroon | International Disputes | Back to Top |
Delimitation of international boundaries in the vicinity of Lake Chad, the lack of which led to border incidents in the past, is complete and awaits ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria; tripartite maritime boundary and economic zone dispute with Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria is currently before the ICJ
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