French Cameroun officially Republic of Cameroon
Country, West Africa.
Area: 183,591 sq mi (475,501 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 16,185,000. Capital: Yaoundé . The country has more than 200 different ethnic groups, including the Fang (one-fifth of the population), Bamileke (one-fifth), Duala, and Fulani . Pygmies (locally known as Baguielli and Babinga) live in the southern forests. Languages: French and English (official), Fula, Bamileke, Duala. Religions: traditional religions, Christianity, Islam (predominant in the north). Currency: CFA franc. Cameroon has four geographic regions. The southern area consists of coastal plains and a densely forested plateau. The central region rises progressively to the north and includes the Adamawa Plateau. In the north a savanna plain slopes downward toward the Lake Chad basin. To the west and north along the Nigerian border the relief is mountainous and includes Mount Cameroon . Of the main rivers, the Benue flows westward into the Niger River basin in Nigeria. Cameroon has a developing market economy based largely on agriculture. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state is the president and its head of government the prime minister. Long inhabited before European colonization, Cameroon was peopled by {{link=Bantu languages">Bantu-language speakers coming from equatorial Africa to settle in the south. They were followed by Muslim Fulani from the Niger River basin, who settled in the north. Portuguese explorers visited in the late 15th century and established a foothold, but they lost control to the Dutch in the 17th century. In 1884 the Germans took control and extended their protectorate over Cameroon. In World War I joint French-British action forced the Germans to retreat, and after the war the region was divided into French and British administrative zones. After World War II the two areas became UN trusteeships. In 1960 the French trust territory became an independent republic. In 1961 the southern part of the British trust territory voted for union with the new republic of Cameroon, and the northern part voted for union with Nigeria. In recent decades economic problems have produced unrest in the country.