Cameroon

Overview

The Republic of Cameroon is a vibrant country with a beautiful array of people. The varied people of Cameroon are largely part of its checkered history, multiple colonization, and vast group of settlers. Known as “Africa in miniature”, Cameroon earned its much-deserved nickname because of this cultural diversity, as well as its geological diversity. Cameroon’s name is derived from Rio dos Camarões, or the River of Prawns, given that name by Portuguese explorers in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. Eventually, this name was made “the Cameroons” by the English, using the name to describe its mountains.[1] The borders of Cameroon have changed often throughout history depending on its colonization, but today, one can find Cameroon situated between Nigeria to its west, Chad in 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 Atlantic Ocean.[2] The country is so varied that Cameroon offers beaches, mountains, deserts, rainforests, and savannas.  To add to its variety Cameroon boasts a population of 23,739,218 that is comparative in size to California![3] Within this country, the CIA recognizes 8 ethnic groups today: Cameroon Highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13%, non-African less than 1%. However, there have been many crosses between ethnic groups in Cameroon and this has resulted in more than 200 mixed ethnic groups.[4] There are twenty-four major African languages but English and French are the official languages recognized by the government.

Fulani girls

The linguistic composition is an important aspect of the Cameroonian people. With its multiplicity of ethnic groups, its people divide the country into three main linguistic groups: the Bantu-speaking peoples of the south, the Sudanic-speaking peoples of the north, and those who speak the Semi-Bantu languages, situated mainly in the west. The first Bantu groups included the Maka, Ndjem, and Duala.[5] this is later followed by the 19^th century people of the Fang. 

Bamileke dancers

The Sudanic-speaking people in the Sao, Fulani, and Kanuri. The Fulani came from the Niger basin in two waves, in the 11th and 19th centuries; they were Muslims who converted and subjugated the peoples of the Logone valley and the Kébi and Faro river valleys.[6] The Semi-Bantu people consist of a few smaller ethnic groups such as the Tikar and the Bamileke tribe stands on its own living between the slopes of the Adamawa Plateau and Mount Cameroon. Finally, there must be recognition to the oldest inhabitants known to the Cameroon areas, the Pygmies, locally known as the Baguielli, who live in small hunting and gathering groups in the southern forests of Cameroon.  

Pigmy hunters

Modest resources such as oil and ideal agricultural conditions place Cameroon in a more favorable economic position than its neighbors. According to the CIA, oil remains Cameroon’s main export commodity, and despite falling global oil prices, still accounts for nearly 40% of export earnings.[7] However, Cameroon’s economy suffers greatly from Western countries because it is considered an underdeveloped country. Contributing factors to this determination include low per capita income, inequitable distribution of power and income, corruption, unfavorable climate geographically, socially, and politically for business enterprise, and a top-heavy civil service sector.[8] The majority if its population does not live off oil, as most of its people live in poverty. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing are the main sources of survival. Cameroon is one the world’s largest producers of cocoa beans.[9] Cameroon’s major trading partners are the French and Spain, with its major exports being crude oil, timber, and cocoa.

Independent Cocoa Farmer

History of Colonization

Archeological evidence demonstrates that humans have inhabited the lands of Cameroon for at least the last 50,000 years, believe to be the Sao from the 5^th century CE.[10] In between then and now, Cameroon has a checkered colonial history. Unlike most African states that experienced a single colonial administration, Cameroon came under three colonial administrators: the Germans, the French and the British.[11] Most of Cameroons history is oral but there is written record of colonization from the 1800’s and on. From 1884-1916, “Kamerun” as it was known then, was the property of Germany. Germany’s main interest at the time was agriculture in the form of large plantations for tropical produce, with forced labor. Not unfamiliar to Africa in general, many Cameroonians lost their lives in slavery during this time. Slavery in German Kamerun was a matter of debate in the Reichstag from 1891 to 1902, in which year the sale and exchange of slaves within the Kamerun protectorate was finally forbidden, although the status of existing slaves was not altered.[12]

Fast forward to World War I, British, French, and Belgian troops drove the Germans out of Cameroon and as a result the nation is split in two: French Cameroun and British Cameroons.[13] This treaty, known as the partition treaty, gave Britain one-fifth of German Cameroon and France the rest of the territory.[14] This reign of the split between British and French was short lived. It was in the post-Second World War era that the reunification ideology took shape, gathered momentum, and shook the Anglo-French colonial status quo of a partitioned Cameroon to its very foundation.[15] In 1961, Cameroon rid itself of its colonization by foreign countries, but the road has not been an easy one for them. Even today, it is noted that Cameroon has undergone many changes from colonization and its efforts to rebuild a nation as one is courageous, but its history has made Cameroon even more different now, making it difficult to establish one Cameroonian identity.

Pre and post colonization of Africa

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. Christians in Cameroon take up about 53% of the population, followed by the Muslim faith which accounts for about 22% of the populace.[16] 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. Today, About 60 agencies from 27 countries do missionary work in Cameroon.[17]

Alfred Saker

Christianity arrived in Cameroon in the 19th 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 19th century and Christianity really began to grow in the early 1900’s. 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. The work of the two missionary pioneers Alfred Saker and Joseph Merrick turned out to have a lasting influence, and today Eglise Evangélique Camerounaise (EEC) is the largest Protestant church in Cameroon, with an estimated one million members.[18] The church received independence in 1957.To this day they are credited as the founders of African Christian civilization in Cameroon. Progression of religious missionaries has had a significant impact in Cameroon. European Christian missionaries not only helped to establish faith and churches, but they helped to establish permanent schools for formal education.[19]

Joseph Merrick Memorial, Cameroon

Islam came to the northern and central halves of Cameroon via conquest, trade and immigration from north and northwest Africa. 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. However, Islam has also had a serious impact on Cameroon in more recent years. It has brought out radicalized sects from its once peaceful origins. It is present as a social, political, and spiritual force to which many of the new churches have to relate [20]

Boko Haram

One extremist group to rise from Islam since about 2007 is the Boko Haram. ‘Boko’ means ‘book’ or ‘book learning’ ‘Haram’ means forbidden, or sacrilege rather than sinful. The name is therefore frequently glossed as ‘Western Education is forbidden’, but it has a wider resonance of Western values or civilization or those who take Western money and do not act charitably towards the normal people.[21]The rise of Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist group in Nigeria is spreading radical religious terrorism throughout northern Cameroon and beyond. These cross-border attacks from Nigeria into Cameroon have become more frequent and Cameroonians have fled their homes by the thousands leaving many displaced and a huge growth in refugee camps to the south.[22] The possibilities of extremist cults and fundamentalist Islamic groups exploiting Cameroonians’ poverty and disaffection remains a clear and imminent danger that can no longer be ignored as the government tries to regain control.[23]

Culture of Cameroon

Bali Elephant Headdress

Culture, art, and music will vary greatly in Cameroon because each ethnic group of the country has developed its own culture, customs, and forms of celebration. For example, the vigorous rhythms played on the drums by the people of the southern forest region contrast with the flute music of northern Cameroonians.[24] 

Tikar Brass pipe 

Tribes such as the Fulani produce elaborately worked leather goods and ornate headwear and the Kirdi and the Matakam of the western mountains produce distinctive types of pottery. The people of Bali make masks with massive elephants’ heads, are used in ceremonies for the dead, and the statuettes of the Bamileke are carved in human and animal figures. The Tikar people are most known for beautifully decorated brass pipes, and many other cultures throughout Cameroon demonstrate their unique art and culture through dress, jewelry, and even homes build.

Cone shaped roofs 

Music is very important to the people of Cameroon, just like any other area of Africa. it is a form of pleasure and satisfaction for the aesthetic needs of people. Music serves this purpose and also creates new forms of knowledge, meanings, thinking and documentation.[25] For example, the Liaimbwe use music to hare its peoples history. The songs handle chieftaincy and leadership, welfare of the elderly, ingratitude and insincerity, marriage and polygamy, issues of development and family irresponsibility and negligence. Music in Cameroon shows that one can fully appreciate a lot of the rich history of not only Laimbwe, but all its distinctive ethnic groups choose music to illustrate history in Cameroon. [26]

"Paix – Travail – Patrie"
"Peace – Work – Fatherland"

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[1] Cameroon 2016. Britannica Academic. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[2] Cameroon 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[3] Cameroon 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[4] Cameroon 2016. Britannica Academic. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[5] Cameroon, Ethnic and linguistic composition 2016. Britannica Academic. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[6] Cameroon, Ethnic and linguistic composition 2016. Britannica Academic. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[7] Cameroon: Economy 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[8] Cameroon: Economy 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[9] Cameroon: Economy 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[10] Cameroon: Early History 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[11] A. Ngwa, Canute. "Cameroon: Colonial Period: British and French Rule". In Encyclopedia of African History, edited by Kevin Shillington. London: Routledge, 2004.

[12] Argenti, Nicolas. The Intestines of the State : Youth, Violence, and Belated Histories in the Cameroon Grassfields. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed July 4, 2016).

[13] Cameroon: Early History 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[14] Nicodemus, Fru Awasom. "The Reunification Question in Cameroon History: Was the Bride an Enthusiastic Or a Reluctant One?" Africa Today 47, no. 2 (Spring, 2000): 90-119.

[15] Nicodemus, Fru Awasom. "The Reunification Question in Cameroon History: Was the Bride an Enthusiastic Or a Reluctant One?" Africa Today 47, no. 2 (Spring, 2000): 90-119.

[16] Cameroon: Religion 2016. The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[17] Melissa Chang. “Cameroon: Etiquette, Customs, Facts and Vital information.” Missions Launch. Accessed June 24, 2016.

[18] Drønen, Tomas Sundnes. 2013. Studies of Religion in Africa : Pentecostalism, Globalisation, and Islam in Northern Cameroon : Megachurches in the Making? (1). Leiden, NL: Brill. Accessed July 4, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.

[19] 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

[20] Drønen, Tomas Sundnes. 2013. Studies of Religion in Africa : Pentecostalism, Globalisation, and Islam in Northern Cameroon : Megachurches in the Making? (1). Leiden, NL: Brill. Accessed July 4, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.

[21] Elden, Stuart. The geopolitics of Boko Haram and Nigeria's ‘war on terror’. The Geographical Journal, 180: 414–425, 2014

[22] Cameroon: Boko Haram Raids. Africa Research Bulletin: Economic, Financial and Technical Series, 52: 20698B–20699A, 2015.

[23] Fombad, Charles Manga. "State, religion, and law in Cameroon: regulatory control, tension, and accommodation." Journal Of Church And State 57, no. 1 (2015 2015): 18-43. ATLASerials, Religion Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed July 4, 2016).

[24] [24] Cameroon, Cultural Life 2016. Britannica Academic. Retrieved 04 July, 2016

[25] Kah, Henry Kam. "MUSIC, GENDER AND HISTORY AMONG THE LAIMBWE URCHIN GROUP OF BU, CAMEROON."

[26] Kah, Henry Kam. "MUSIC, GENDER AND HISTORY AMONG THE LAIMBWE URCHIN GROUP OF BU, CAMEROON."