Cameroon (kăm'ərūn') , Fr. Cameroun, officially Republic of Cameroon, republic (2005 est. pop. 16,380,000), 183,568 sq mi (475,442 sq km), W central Africa. It is bordered on the southwest by the Gulf of Guinea, on the northwest by Nigeria, on the northeast by Chad, on the southeast by the Central African Republic, and on the south by Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. Yaoundé is the capital, and Douala is the largest city and main port.

Land and People

Cameroon is triangular in shape. A coastal strip 10 to 50 mi (16–80 km) wide in the southwest is covered with swamps and dense tropical rain forests; it has one of the wettest climates in the world, with an average annual rainfall of 152 in. (386 cm) on the coast. Near the coast are volcanic peaks, dominated by Mt. Cameroon (13,354 ft/4,070 m), the highest point in the country. Beyond the coastal marshes and plains, the land rises to a densely forested plateau c.1,000 ft (300 m) above sea level. The interior of the country is a plateau c.2,500 to 4,000 ft (760–1,220 m) high, where forests give way to savanna. This plateau forms a barrier between the agricultural south and the pastoral north. The extreme northern regions, near Lake Chad, are dry thornbush lands. Among the many rivers that drain Cameroon are the Bénoué, the Wuori, the Sanaga, and the Nyong.
The country consists of the former French Cameroons and the southern portion of the former British Cameroons. The French, or eastern, section constitutes four fifths of the country and supports the bulk of the population. With more than 200 ethnic groups, Cameroon has one of the most diverse populations in Africa. Bantu-speaking peoples, such as the Douala, predominate along the southern coast and in the forested areas. In the highlands are the Bamiléké. Important northern groups include the Fulani and the Kirdi. English and French are the official languages, but there are also 24 major African language groups in the country. About half of the people follow traditional beliefs, while one third are Christian and the rest are Muslim; Islam is the dominant religion of the northern regions.

Economy

Offshore oil deposits exploited since the early 1970s have made Cameroon one of the most prosperous nations in tropical Africa. Oil refining and the production of crude oil products lead the nation's industries. Before the advent of the petroleum business, agriculture was the country's economic mainstay, and it still contributes nearly a third of the country's gross domestic product. The north, where cattle raising is the chief occupation, is the least economically developed part of Cameroon, whose regional disparities pose a major problem for the government.
Cameroon remains one of the world's leading cocoa producers; coffee, bananas, palm products, tobacco, peanuts, and rubber, all grown mainly on plantations, are also commercially important. Cotton production is centered in the Bénoué River valley. In spite of this diverse agricultural production, only a small percentage of the country's land is cultivated. The principal subsistence crops are bananas, cassava, yams, plantains, peanuts, millet, and sorghum. Food production in Cameroon meets domestic demand despite the occurrence of periodic droughts.
Fishing and forestry follow oil and agriculture as leading occupations. Cameroon's mineral resources include bauxite and iron ore. The Edéa Dam on the Sanaga River provides the bulk of the country's electricity and powers a large aluminum smelter; all the finished aluminum is exported. Food processing, sawmilling, and the manufacture of light consumer goods and textiles are important industries. In the 1980s the nation's roads and railways were improved, allowing further industrialization.Cameroon's exports consist mainly of petroleum, agricultural, and forest products. France is the major trading partner, followed by other members of the European Union, African countries, and the United States. The country is a member of the Commonwealth and the Franc Zone.

Government

The President of Cameroon is the Head of State and Head of the Armed Forces. The President is given a broad range of powers, and is able to carry them out without consulting the National Assembly. He appoints the Prime Minister, who is Head of Government, and appoints to all civil and military posts of the state. He may also dissolve the National Assembly and, where circumstances so warrant, declare by decree a state of emergency which shall confer upon him special powers.
Legislative power is exercised by the parliament, which presently is made up of only one house, the National Assembly. (The second house of parliament, the Senate, as of 2006, has not yet been formed.) The National Assembly consists of 180 delegates and meets three times a year. The main responsibility of the Assembly is to pass laws, but rarely has it changed any laws or blocked the passage of legislation.
Judicial power is exercised by the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal and Tribunals. Although the Constitutution prescribes that Judicial Power be independent of the executive and legislative powers, in practice, the judiciary is subordinate to the executive branch's Ministry of Justice. The Supreme Court may review the constitutionality of a law only at the president's request.

History

Early History to Independence
Throughout history the region witnessed numerous invasions and migrations by various ethnic groups, especially by the Fulani, Hausa, Fang, and Kanuri. Contact with Europeans began in 1472, when the Portuguese reached the Wuori River estuary, and a large-scale slave trade ensued, carried on by the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and English. In the 19th cent., palm oil and ivory became the main items of commerce. The British established commercial hegemony over the coast in the early 19th cent., and British trading and missionary outposts appeared in the 1850s; but the English were supplanted by the Germans, who in 1884 signed a treaty with the Douala people along the Wuori estuary and proclaimed the area a protectorate.
The Germans began constructing the port of Douala and then advanced into the interior, where they developed plantations and built roads and bridges. An additional area was acquired from France in 1911 as compensation for the surrender of German rights in Morocco. Two years later, German control over the Muslim north was consolidated. French and British troops occupied the region during World War I.
After the war the area ceded in 1911 was rejoined to French Equatorial Africa, and in 1919 the remainder of Cameroon was divided into French and British zones, which became League of Nations mandates. Little social or political progress was made in either area, and French labor practices were severely criticized. Both mandates, however, remained loyal to the Allies in World War II. In 1946 they became UN trust territories. In the 1950s, guerrilla warfare raged in the French Cameroons, instigated by the nationalist Union of the Peoples of the Cameroons, which demanded immediate independence and union with the British Cameroons. France granted self-government to the French Cameroons in 1957 and internal autonomy in 1959.