Cameroon
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The Republic of Cameroon is a unitary republic of central and western Africa. It borders Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Duala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. The country is well known for its successful national football team. English and French are the official languages.
Compared with other African countries, Cameroon today enjoys political and social stability. This has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, railways, and large petroleum and timber industries. Nevertheless, large numbers of Cameroonians live in poverty as subsistence farmers. Power lies firmly in the hands of the president, Paul Biya, and his Cameroon People's Democratic Movement party, and corruption is widespread. The Anglophone community has grown increasingly alienated from the government, and Anglophone politicians have called for greater decentralisation and even the secession of the former British-governed territories.
Contents
History
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The territory of present day Cameroon was first settled during the Neolithic period. The longest continuous inhabitants are the Pygmy groups such as the Baka.[1] The Sao tribes arose around Lake Chad c.AD 500 and gave way to Kanem and its successor state, the so-called Bornu 'empire'. Kingdoms (fondoms), and chiefdoms arose in the west.
Portuguese sailors reached the coast in 1472. They noted an abundance of prawns and crayfish in the Wouri River and named it Rio dos Camarões, Portuguese for "River of Prawns", and the phrase from which Cameroon is derived. Over the following few centuries, European merchants regularised trade with the coastal peoples, and Christian missionaries pushed inland. In the early 19th century, Modibo Adama led Fulani soldiers on a jihad in the north against non-Muslim and partially Muslim peoples and established the Adamawa Emirate. Settled peoples who fled the Fulani caused a major redistribution of population.[2]
Colonies
The German Empire claimed the territory as the colony of Kamerun in 1884 and began a steady push inland. They initiated significant projects to improve the colony's infrastructure.
With the defeat of Germany in World War I, Kamerun became a League of Nations mandate territory and was split into French and British Cameroons in 1919. The French carefully integrated the economy of Cameroun (as they spelt it) with that of France[3] and further improved the infrastructure with capital investments, skilled workers, and continued forced labour. The British administered their part of the territory from neighbouring Nigeria. Nigerian migrant workers flocked to the southern Cameroons, ending forced labour but angering the natives.[4]
The League of Nations mandates were converted into United Nations Trusteeships in 1946, and the question of independence became a pressing issue in French Cameroun.[3] France outlawed the most radical political party, the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (Union des Populations du Cameroun) (UPC), on 13 July, 1955. This prompted a long terrorist war and the assassination of the party's leader, Ruben Um Nyobé.[5] In the British Cameroons, the question was whether to reunify with French Cameroun or join their territory to Nigeria.
Independence
On 1 January 1960, French Cameroun was granted independence from France under President Ahmadou Ahidjo, and on 1 October, 1961, the formerly-British Southern Cameroons united with its neighbour to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. Ahidjo used the ongoing war with the UPC and fears of ethnic conflict to concentrate power in his presidency, continuing with this even after the suppression of the UPC in 1971. His political party, the Cameroon National Union (CNU), became the sole legal political party on 1 September, 1966 and in 1972, the federal system of government was abolished in favour of a United Republic of Cameroon, headed from Yaoundé.[6]
Ahidjo pursued an economic policy of planned liberalism, prioritising cash crops and petroleum exploitation. The government used oil money to create a national cash reserve, pay farmers, and finance major development projects; however, many initiatives failed when Ahidjo appointed unqualified allies and friends to direct them.[7]
Ahidjo stepped down on November 4, 1982 and left power to his constitutional successor, Paul Biya. However, Ahidjo remained in control of the CNU and tried to run the country from behind the scenes until Biya and his allies pressured him into resigning. Biya began his administration by moving toward a more democratic government, but a failed coup d'état nudged him toward the leadership style of his predecessor.[8] An economic crisis took effect in the mid-1980s to late 1990s as a result of international economic conditions, drought, falling petroleum prices, and years of corruption, mismanagement, and cronyism.
Cameroon turned to overseas foreign aid, cut government spending, and privatised industries. With the reintroduction of multi-party politics in December 1990, Anglophone pressure groups called for greater autonomy, with some advocating complete secession as the Republic of Ambazonia.[9] In February 2008, Cameroon experienced its worse violence in 15 years when a transport union strike in Douala escalated into violent protests in 31 municipal areas.[10][11]
Further reading
- DeLancey, Mark W.; DeLancey, Mark Dike (2000). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810837751.
