Missions and Religion in Cameroon

Cameroon has a blend of religions in its country. Religious freedom and secularism are guaranteed by the constitution and the law of 19 December 1990.¹ Christians in Cameroon take up about 53% of the population, followed by the Muslim faith which accounts for about 22% of the populace. The remainder is accounted as animist or agnostic religions. In reference to geography, Muslims are found mostly to the north and Christians in the South. This geographical distribution of religions is a result of the country’s history.¹ Today, About 60 agencies from 27 countries do missionary work in Cameroon.²

Cameroon missions church circa 1929.

Baptist Church, in Limbé

Christianity arrived in Cameroon in the 19^th century, first in the form of Protestantism and then Catholicism. Baptist missionaries established themselves in Douala starting from 1843 and American Presbyterian missionaries in the South in 1879. Catholic missionaries arrived at the end of the 19^th century and Christianity really began to grow in the early 1900’s.

Joseph Merrick attends an Isubu funeral

Joseph Merrick  along with Reverend Joseph Jackson Fuller were Jamaican Baptist missionaries who  began preaching in Africa in the 1830’s and established the first successful mission on the Cameroon Coast of Africa. Alfred Saker also joined  their Baptist missionary work in the 1840’s. Their Baptist work continued in Cameroon for more than thirty years. ³ To this day they are credited as the founders of African Christian civilization in Cameroon.

Alfred Saker Memorial verbiage

Alfred Saker Memorial, beach of Limbé

Progression of religious missionaries has had a significant impact in Cameroon. On the positive side, European Christian missionaries not only helped to establish faith and churches, but they helped to establish permanent schools for formal education.⁴ On the negative side, the rise of Boko Haram the Islamic terrorist group in Nigeria is spreading radical religious terrorism throughout Cameroon and beyond.

Boko Haram in Cameroon

References

1. “Cameroon: The Threat of Religious Radicalism.” International Crisis Group. Accesses June 24, 2016. http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/africa/central-africa/229-cameroon-the-threat-of-religious-radicalism.pdf

2. Melissa Chang. “Cameroon: Etiquette, Customs, Facts and Vital information.” Missions Launch. Accessed June 24, 2016. http://www.missionslaunch.com/category/facts-and-stats/

3. “Joseph Merrick (missionary).” Wikipedia. Accessed June 24, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Merrick_(missionary)

4. Tamanji, Asenju Callistus, "Three Instances of Western Colonial Governments and Christian Missions in Cameroon Education: 1884-1961" (2011). Dissertations. Paper 106. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/106

European Contact

The Portuguese were the leading shipbuilders and navigators thanks to the extraordinary mind and skill of Henry the Navigator. His vision of a naval academy in Cape St. Vincent in southern Portugal would allow the exploration and expansion of trade routes to India around the western coast of Africa and later on would search for Prester John the fabled Christian priest king of Ethiopia, Henry believed that together they would be able to outflank and eventually conquer Islam in East Africa.1

Henry the Navigator.

Portugal’s expanding overseas empire would need laborers for their sugar plantations. At first locals were used but resistance and disease would decimate the local populations. As settlements grew along the west coast of Africa they became known for the commodity that was most supplied from that area such as “the Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, Slave Coast and the Gold Coast”. The Portuguese would trade with the Akan people for their gold but they did not have proper means of exchange at first with the Akan. Eventually they discovered that slaves were needed for clearing the forest and agriculture needs for the expanding of their territories.2

Gold and Slave coast.

The search for slaves along the Slave Coast would lead Portuguese sailors such as Fernando Po to the coast of Cameroon in 1472. Here at the Wouri River in Douala they discovered so many shrimps that they decided to call it Rio dos Camaroes which translate to River of Shrimps in Portuguese. This influence was mostly limited to coastal areas as diseases such as malaria halted any expansion inland. 

The Wouri River

The Wouri River

Portuguese influence would diminish and would be replaced by the German Empire that was looking to expand its influence in Africa. By 1880 the country and some of the neighboring countries would become the German colony of Kamerun. Explorer Gustav Nachtigal arrived in 1884 to the coastal port city of Douala which to this day is the largest and wealthiest of the districts of Cameroon.3 With the defeat of Germany in WWI Cameroon the League of Nations would partition the country into British Cameroons and the French half known as French Cameroun. Eventually the southern part of the British area would join with the newly founded republic of Cameroon and the northern areas joining Nigeria.

The lasting negative effects of the slave trade not only across the Atlantic but as well as through the interior of Africa due to European growth and need for a labor force for their colonies devastated families and traditional way of life for Africans all over the continent. One hopeful outcome is the spread of Christianity in Cameroon where nearly fifty percent are Christian and half of those being Catholic due to Portugal’s intervention and the rest being Protestant.   Muslims account for about twenty percent of the population but this is mostly in the northern part of country.

Muslim and Arab Influence

Muslim Mosque.

Islam came to the northern and central halves of Cameroon via conquest, trade and immigration from north and northwest Africa.4 The most prominent group to enter the region was the Fulani peoples which followed the teachings of Usman dan Fodio, an Islamic mystic which encouraged jihad against the non Muslim natives of the land. Although the jihad did result in some significant gains for the Fulani, their reign was not long and Islam did not spread south it did maintain a stable base in the north. 

Reference

 1.  Reader, John. “Africa: A Biography of the Continent. (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., NY, 1998), 330.

 2.  Reader, John. “Africa: A Biography of the Continent. (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., NY, 1998), 342.

 3.  Cameroon. History, German Kamerun. Accessed June 16, 2016, http://www.britannica.com/place/Cameroon/German-Kamerun-1884-1916

 4.  Cameroon. People, Religion. Accessed June 16, 2016, http://www.britannica.com/place/Cameroon/Cultural-life

Cameroon Natural Resources

Cameroon is blessed with a vast amount of natural resources from petroleum and natural gas to various minerals such as kyanite, an aluminum silicate and bauxite which are found on the Adamawa Plateau in the northern-central Cameroon¹. Unfortunately,  the country’s weak infrastructure was not been able to extract these resources efficiently enough. 

Adamawa Plateau, Cameroon.

Resources used for agriculture purposes as well as for export account for a third of its total exports². These exports include sawn wood, cocoa, cotton and coffee. Cameroon is one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa beans which according to Statista.com the country was on pace to produce some 230 thousand tons in the years of 2015-2016.Other highly valued crops include cotton and bananas. For the subsistence farmers their crops include plantains, beans, yams, maize and oil palm in the south and groundnuts (peanuts), millet, and cassava in the north.

Abundant Plantains

Maize Farmer

Cameroon with its dense forests produces timber for exportation and is one of the world leaders along with Brazil and Indonesia ⁴. Approximately 60% of its raw timbers get shipped to China and 80% of the processed wood goes to Europe ⁵ . Livestock and its byproducts are exported to neighboring countries such as Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and The Republic of Congo.

Another commodity that we in modern times especially in the west take for granted is salt. Sometime between the 2nd and 5th century A.D. camels were introduced to North Africa which allowed the transportation of Saharan salt which by the 19th century the Bilma region alone exported 6000 tons of salt. Trade routes developed into the Sahelian regions of Niger, Chad and northern Nigeria which from that point would travel into Cameroon and south-eastern Nigeria where pure salt was scarce and on return for gold and other goods⁶.

Cameroon’s wealth in resources has not had an equal effect on the country. According to the World Bank poverty between 2001 and 2014 has seen a clear regional disparity with the north Cameroon becoming poorer and the southern Cameroon becoming wealthier⁷. While Cameroon is one of the most stable countries from Sub Saharan Africa it is far from being complete. As with any underdeveloped country stagnant GDP per capita, corruption and institutions that are not favorable to growth, add to that the presence of Boko Haram in the North and the situation looks to become very grim in northern Cameroon.     

References:

(1)   http://www.britannica.com/place/Cameroon/Resources-and-power

(2)   http://www.britannica.com/place/Cameroon/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing

(3)   http://www.statista.com/statistics/497826/production-of-cocoa-beans-in-cameroon/

(4)   http://www.our-africa.org/cameroon/economy-industry

(5)   http://www.our-africa.org/cameroon/economy-industry

(6)   Reader, John. 1998. ABiography of the Continent Africa. New York: Vintage Books.

Religion in Cameroon

The diversity of Cameroon comes true, this time via religion. As with most countries in Africa this diversity was caused by geographical and cultural circumstances such as natural borders or by interacting by trade or other means with either the Arab/Islamic world or Christian Europe. Northern Cameroon is mostly dominated by the Fulani, cattle herding peoples that over time have settled as farmers and merchants. The Fulani people were the first group in West Africa that converted to Islam through jihads and continue to grow till this day. French is widely spoken with Arabic as well. The Fulani oblige to the Sunni branch of Islam with different variations and beliefs based on location and leadership.

Fulani woman. 

   A majority of the peoples follow some form of Christianity. Most of these people reside in the southern part of the country where the family of Beti people resides. Included within these peoples are the Eton, Bulu and the Ewondo tribe which were early converts to Catholicism, they are also culturally and linguistically related to the Fang of Gabon and Cameroon which have created an oral tradition based on myths of creation and their heritage.(1)

Traditional or animists religions account for about a quarter of the population and can be found within all regions of Cameroon. These traditions include the worship of ancestors and the beliefs that people, animals and scared places such as groves of trees are spiritual beings that influence all aspects of life. 

Bamileke death ceremony.

The Bamileke in the west and the Maka in east practice some kind spell craft or public form of autopsy to conclude cause of death especially if witchcraft is suspected.

The oral myths of the Fangs of Gabon and Cameroon:

The Fang which linguistically are linked to other groups in Cameroon such as the Beti and the Bulu are part of the larger Bantu family. Within these oral traditions insight is given to how the Fang, the Bulu and the Beti all lived together further to the north of their present day location. They were forced to migrate south as they were attacked and pursued by red giants up to the river which blocked their escape as they had not gained the knowledge of ship building yet. A giant crocodile helped the Fang cross the river and as the giants approached and stepped onto the crocodile; it sank into the water and drowned them. As they proceeded they come across a forest with an enormous tree blocking the path. Debating on how to get around the tree, some Pygmies come along to show them a narrow path which would allow them to pass. However the people were fighting over the order and the right to lead which caused them to separate into different groups once they passed the great tree. 

Effects of Christianity and Islam on Cameroon:

Yaoundé cathedral

Cameroon as compared to most of Africa has had a stable government and freedom of religion is respected which has lead to little turmoil. Recently this has changed with the rise of Boko Haram the Islamic terrorist group in Nigeria. Traditional Sufi Islam is being challenged by a fundamental ideology of Islam know as Wahhabism. Catholic and Protestant churches are losing converts to the Revivalist Church all these changes have undermined the stability that Cameroon has maintained for years.(2)

References: 

(1)Cameroon. Retrieved from: http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Cameroon.html

(2)African Arguments. Cameroon’s rising religious tensions Retrieved from: http://africanarguments.org/2015/09/08/cameroons-rising-religious-tensions/