SLIDE 1
Cameroon History
- How did the word “Cameroon” come from?
In 1472, Portuguese explorers reach the atlantic coast, in the gulf of Guinea (see map above). They noted abundance of prawns in the Wouri river, a big river flowing from the land to the sea. They called it “Rio dos Camaroes”. Germans arrived in the coast in 1884 to colonize it and its back area; they chose to called it just “Kamerun” (in German). During the first World war, there was also a big war battle in Kamerun. After British and French defeated Germans, they divided the country in two parts calling them respectively “Western Cameroon” and “Cameroun oriental”, as they ruled them seperately till the independence period. Note: So Cameroon exists as a country since about 7 centuries ago!
Independence day: 1st January 1960.
The two Cameroon unified in 1972 into a “United Republic of Cameroon”. In 1984 the country started being called just “Republic of Cameroon”.
Politics: Democratic regime since 1992 Economy: Not too good and not too bad! We are a developing country
ranked just behind current emerging powers such as South Africa, Brazil, Spain, etc
Natural Resources: Oil, Wood, etc
Note: We have the second largest forest reserve in the world after the Amazonian forest in Brazil! So, the whole World counts on Cameroon for environment protection!
Ethnic groups and languages:
- More than 200 ethnic groups: the main are Beti, Sawa, Bamileke, Ahussa, Bamun,
the Pigmies (1st inhabitants of Cameroon, live in the forest). For e. g., I am myself Beti!
- These correspond to more than 200 different local languages
- So, early authorities adopted English and French as the two official languages