Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (in French, République du Cameroun; in English, Republic of Cameroon),^{[citation needed]} is a unitary state organized as a republic in central Africa. with Equatorial Guinea (189 km of border), then with Gabon (298 km), and with the Republic of the Congo (523 km). To the east it borders the Central African Republic (797 km), to the northwest with Chad (1,094 km), and to the west with Nigeria (1,690 km).» Its coastline is located in the Gulf of Biafra, which is part of the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean). Its capital is Yaoundé and its most populous city is Douala. The country has been called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity: it has beaches, deserts, mountains, jungles and savannahs. Its highest point is Mount Cameroon, in the southwest, and its main cities are Duala, Yaoundé and Garua. The country is inhabited by more than two hundred ethnic and linguistic groups, but their official languages are French and English.

The oldest permanent inhabitants of Cameroon are groups like the Baka. The Sao civilization around Lake Chad flourished during the first millennium AD. and gave way to its successor state, the Kanem-Bornu empire. Portuguese explorers arrived on the coast in 1472 and named the area the "shrimp river". The Fulani established the Adamawa emirate in the north in the XIX, and ethnic groups from the west and northwest established chiefdoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884 known as Kameroon. After World War I, it was divided between France and the United Kingdom as a League of Nations mandate. The Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) party advocated independence, but was outlawed by France in the 1950s, which led to a war between French forces and the UPC that lasted until 1971.

In 1960, French Cameroon proclaimed its independence as the Republic of Cameroon under the presidency of Ahmadou Ahidjo. British Cameroon federated in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon, but the federation was abandoned in 1972 and the country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon, and since 1984, the Republic of Cameroon. Paul Biya, the acting president, it has run the country since 1982. Cameroon is governed as a unitary presidential republic. Since its independence, the country has gone through conflicts in the English-speaking territories, which have advocated for greater autonomy. In 2017, tensions over the creation of Ambazonia, a secessionist entity in the English-speaking territories, led to a war.

Cameroon is known for its indigenous musical styles, especially makossa and bikutsi, as well as the successes of its national soccer team, considered one of the best soccer teams after participating in eight World Cups. Its population is predominantly Christian, with a significant minority practicing Islam and traditional African religions. It is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Toponymy

The Portuguese gave it the name Rio dos Camarões (Shrimp River), after noting the abundance of prawns and crayfish in the area; through English (Cameroon) the current name of the country is derived.

History

Pre-Colonial Period

There are archaeological remains that show that humanity has inhabited the territory of Cameroon since Neolithic times. The inhabitants who have been in the area the longest are the pygmy groups, such as the Baka. The "sao" it appeared around Lake Chad around the year 500 and gave way to the Kanem-Bornu Empire. Other kingdoms and communities also appeared in the west, such as the Bamileke, the Bamun, and the Tikar.

Portuguese navigators reached the Cameroonian coast in 1472. In the centuries that followed, Europeans traded with coastal peoples while missionaries settled inland.

Joseph Merrick, a Jamaican Baptist missionary at an isubu funeral in 1845.

In the early 19th century, Modibo Adama led Fulani soldiers in a jihad in the north against Kirdi (non-Muslim) peoples and Muslims who still retained pagan elements. The Adama founded the Adamawa emirate, a vassal of Usman dan Fodio's Sokoto Caliphate. Groups fleeing Fulani warriors displaced others, resulting in significant population redistribution.

In 1884, the German Empire began to build factories in the region and implanted the colonial regime, but after the defeat suffered by Germany in the First World War, the territory was divided into two mandates, one corresponding to France (that of greater extension) and another to the United Kingdom. French Cameroon agreed to internal autonomy in 1959 and the following year proclaimed its full independence as a Republic. In 1961 the southern part of British Cameroon decided to join the Republic of Cameroon, while the North preferred to join Nigeria.

German Colonization

German trading houses had been active in Gabon since 1862, including the house of Hamburg Woermann, whose agent Emil Schulz also acted as imperial consul with official powers as far as the Cameroon estuary. In 1868 Woermann established the first German factories in Duala. On March 19, 1884, the Imperial Chancellor Bismarck appointed the African explorer and former German Consul General in Tunis, Gustav Nachtigal, as the Imperial Commissioner for the West Coast of Africa, with the task of putting areas of interest to German trade under German protectorate. This included the coastal strip between the Niger Delta and Gabon, especially the part facing the Spanish island of Fernando Poo, in Biafra Bay.

On July 10, 1884, Reichskommissar Nachtigal, from Togo, arrived in Duala on the SMS Möwe. After the signing of protection treaties between the German delegation and the most important leaders of the Duálá, Ndumb'a Lobe (King Campana) and Ngand'a Kwa (Akwa), on July 11 and 12, 1884, the German flag was raised and the "Protection Mandate" in Douala on July 14. The British consul Hewett, who arrived five days later and wanted to take possession of Cameroon for England, had to content himself with a formal protest. He was nicknamed "the too late consul";

Clashes between rival Duálá clans were put down in December 1884 by the crews of the corvettes SMS Bismarck and SMS Olga under the command of Rear Admiral Eduard von Knorr. Although the fighting was not primarily directed against German rule, the suppression by the Kaiserliche Marine marked the beginning of the colony's military subjugation. Postmaster Peglow wrote in 1939:

"The black man was inclined to submit to the strongest, so he had to be shown the power of the German Empire."

-Peglow

German border post during the colonial period.

The provisional boundaries of the colony were set a year later at the Congo Conference (Congo Act) held in Berlin. The final boundaries were based on the treaties of May 3, 1885 (with Great Britain), December 24, 1885 (with France), July 27, 1886 (with Great Britain), August 2, 1886 (with Great Britain).), April 14, 1893 (with Great Britain), November 15, 1893 (with Great Britain), March 15, 1894 (with France), 1901 and 1902 (with France), and 1908 (with France).

The colony was further expanded considerably in 1911 in the Morocco-Congo Agreement at the expense of the French colonies in Central Africa (New Cameroon). Instead, a smaller area in north-eastern Cameroon, called Duck's Bill, was incorporated into French Equatorial Africa. The former area of German colony was later named Old Cameroun. A German-British border agreement added the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in 1913.

After the German Empire claimed the territory as its own in 1884, it became the colony of Kamerun. The Germans pushed into the interior of the country, breaking the monopoly on trade held by coastal peoples such as the Duala and intensified their control over the region. They also started plantations along the coast. They made large investments in the infrastructure of the colony: construction of railways, roads and hospitals. However, the indigenous peoples were reluctant to work on these projects, so the government instigated a harsh system of forced labor.

At its maximum extension, the German colony was about 790,000 square kilometers.(1912)

Franco-British Colonization

Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, Cameroon came under the mandate of the League of Nations and was divided into French Cameroun and British Cameroons in 1919.

Cameroon ' s territorial development between 1901-1972:Kamerun GermanBritish Cameroon (Septland and Southern)French CameroonRepublic of Cameroon

The territories acquired by Germany in 1911, collectively called Neukamerun (in Spanish "New Cameroon"), became part of French Equatorial Africa.

France improved its territory's infrastructure through large investments, trained workers, and continued forced labor. French Cameroons surpassed British Cameroons in gross national product, education, and health facilities. However, these improvements reached only Douala, Foumban, Yaoundé, Kribi and the territory between them. The economy was closely linked to the French; the raw materials sent to Europe were sold back to the colony once manufactured. Today, more than 50 years after Cameroon's independence, the Cameroonian economy is still closely linked to the former French metropolis, although new players have entered such as China, Spain, Italy and the United States. "Relations with France remain intense in all areas (more than 160 companies operate in the country). In recent years, with the crisis in Cameroon's neighboring countries (CAR and Nigeria), France has strengthened its political-military collaboration".

Britain administered its territory from neighboring Nigeria. The natives complained that this made them a "colony of a colony." There was a movement of workers of Nigerian origin to southern Cameroon, eliminating the need for forced labor but causing unrest among indigenous peoples. The British paid little attention to the northern Cameroons.

The mandate of the League of Nations was transformed into the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations in 1946. The question of independence became a hot topic in French Cameroons, where different political parties had different ideas about the goals and timetable for self-government. The Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), the most radical party, advocated immediate independence and the establishment of a socialist economy. France outlawed the party on July 13, 1955, and undertook an authentic silenced massacre that has been called the 'Bamileké Genocide' or the 'Genocide of Cameroon' and the assassination of its leaders, Ruben Um Nyobé, Félix-Roland Moumié among others. France finally guaranteed the autonomy of the territory by consolidating its candidate Ahmadou Ahidjo. In British Cameroun the question was different, since they were debating between reunifying with French Cameroons or joining Nigeria, the only options imposed by the UN, against the independence as its own and independent country.

After independence

Ahmadou Ahidjo arrives in Washington D.C. in July 1982

On January 1, 1960, French Cameroon gained independence. Its first president was Ahmadou Ahidjo. On October 1, 1961 British southern Cameroons was reunited with French Cameroons to form the Republic of Cameroons. British North Cameroons opted instead to join Nigeria. Over time, the cultural and political claims of the English-speaking minority descended from the population of Southern (British) Cameroon, in a country with a French-speaking majority, would end up giving rise to the so-called Cameroonian Anglophone problem. The war with the UPC allowed Ahidjo to concentrate power in the presidency. The resistance was finally suppressed in 1971, but a state of emergency continued. Ahidjo insisted on nationalism while avoiding tribalism. The Cameroon National Union (CNU) became the nation's sole party on September 1, 1966. In 1972 the federal system of government was abolished in favor of centralist rule from Yaoundé.

Financially, Ahidjo pursued a policy of liberalism. Agriculture was the initial priority, but the discovery of oil fields in 1970 changed the situation. Oil money was used to build a financial reserve, pay growers, and finance development projects. Mainly the sectors of communications, education, transportation and hydroelectric infrastructure expanded. However, Ahidjo gave the positions of responsibility in the new industries to his allies as a reward. Many failed due to incompetence.

Ahidjo resigned on November 4, 1982, leaving power in the hands of his constitutional successor, Paul Biya. However, Ahidjo continued to exercise control of the CNU, leading to a power struggle between the two presidents. When Ahidjo tried to establish the party's right to elect President Biya and his allies pressured him to resign. Biya held elections for party officers and for the Cameroonian National Assembly. However, after a failed coup on April 6, 1984, he chose to follow his predecessor's style of government.Cameroon gained international attention on August 21, 1986 when Lake Nyos spewed toxic gases, killing between 1,700 and 2000 people

Biya's first major challenge was the economic crisis that plagued the country from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, a result of the international economic situation, drought, falling oil prices, political corruption, and bad management. Cameroon appealed for foreign aid, reduced funding for education, government, and public health, and privatized industries. This angered the Anglophone part of the country.

The Anglophone Problem

The leaders of the former British zone have been calling for greater autonomy or secession in what would become the Republic of Ambazonia in recent years. The so-called "Anglophone problem" It has been increasing alarmingly since 2016 as the Government of Yaoundé has used indiscriminate violence to repress protests by lawyers, teachers and the general public who demand a return to the federal republic or aspire to independence.

Government and politics

President of Cameroon, Paul Biya.

Paul Biya of the Popular Democratic Alliance (APDC) has ruled since 1982. The APDC also reportedly won a majority in Parliament in 1992, 1997, 2011 and 2018.

The main opposition group, the Social Democratic Front, has questioned the outcome of those elections. In 1997, their candidate, John Fru Ndi, rejected Biya's victory. All of Cameroon's multi-party elections have been branded as fraudulent and illegitimate, as Biya's party controls all state resources and voting bodies are composed and run by like-minded people, from ELECAM to the Constitutional Council. Suppressing social protest to the blood, he reformed the Constitution in 2008 to annul the term limit. The last elections have seen the appearance of new leaders such as Joshua Osih of the SDF, Maurice Kamto of the MRC and Cabral Libii of the Univers party and the results have been of again questioned by the practical exclusion of the population of the two English-speaking regions (they have been at war since 2016) and by the numerous cases of fraud documented by citizens inside and outside the country and available on social networks and the Internet.

Human Rights

In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Cameroon has signed or ratified:

Status of major international human rights instruments

Cameroon	International treaties
	CESCR		CCPR			CERD	CED	CEDAW		CAT		CRC			MWC	CRPD
	CESCR	CESCR-OP	CCPR	CCPR-OP1	CCPR-OP2-DP			CEDAW	CEDAW-OP	CAT	CAT-OP	CRC	CRC-OP-AC	CRC-OP-SC		CRPD	CRPD-OP
Pertenence
Signed and ratified, signed, but not ratified, neither signed nor ratified, without information, it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies.

United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, while 160,000 have been internally displaced by violence, many reportedly hiding in forests. by traditional rulers in the north, they hold political opponents at the behest of the government. However, since the first decade of the 21st century , an increasing number of police and gendarmes have been prosecuted for improper conduct. On July 25, 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, expressed deep concern at reports of rape and abuse in the Anglophone regions of northwestern and southwestern Cameroon.

Sexual acts between people of the same sex are prohibited by article 347-1 of the penal code, with a penalty of between six months and five years in prison.

Since December 2020, Human Rights Watch said the Islamist armed group Boko Haram has intensified attacks, killing at least 80 civilians in cities and towns in Cameroon's Far North region.

Foreign Relations

Presidential Palace known as Palais de l'Unité

Cameroon is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the Francophonie.

Its foreign policy closely follows that of its main ally, France (one of its former colonial rulers). Cameroon relies heavily on France for its defense, although military spending is high compared to other sectors of the government..

President Biya has for decades clashed with the Nigerian government over possession of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. Cameroon and Nigeria share a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) border and have disputed sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula. In 1994 Cameroon applied to the International Court of Justice to settle the dispute. The two countries tried to establish a ceasefire in 1996, but fighting continued for years. In 2002, the ICJ ruled that the 1913 UK-German Agreement granted sovereignty to Cameroon. The ruling demanded the withdrawal of both countries and denied Cameroon's request for compensation for the long Nigerian occupation. In 2004, Nigeria had missed the deadline to hand over the peninsula. A UN-brokered summit in June 2006 facilitated an agreement for Nigeria to withdraw from the region, and both leaders signed the Greentree Agreement. The withdrawal and handover of control was completed in August 2006.

In July 2019, UN ambassadors from 37 countries, including Cameroon, signed a joint letter to the HRC defending China's treatment of Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.

Territorial organization

Political divisions.

Geography

Satellite map of Cameroon.

There are several regions in the country. One of them is the coastal region, which goes from the border coast with Nigeria to the border with Equatorial Guinea. The most important city on the Cameroonian coast is Buea.

Subsequently, the height of the country gradually rises: thus, Douala is almost at sea level, in the Wouri River estuary, and Yaoundé is already at about 700 m a.s.l. no. m. (meters above sea level). Past Yaoundé there is a mountain range that separates this part of the country from the north. The most important city in this mountainous area is Tibesti.

To the north the territory is flatter. The most important cities in northern Cameroon are Garua and Marua. In the far north of the country lies a portion of Lake Chad. In the south and southeast the territory turns into jungle, which becomes thicker as we approach the border with the Congo. On the western plateau, on the border with Nigeria, is the English-speaking part of the country, whose largest city is Bamenda.

Ecology

The dominant biomes in Cameroon are the savannah, in the north and center of the country, and the shady forest, in the south, west, and montaneous areas. WWF classifies Cameroon's savannahs into six ecoregions, from north to south:

• Taste flooded from Lake Chad on the shores of Lake Chad.
• Satin of Sahel acacias in the north end.
• Mosaic of the Mandara massif in the Mandara massif in the northwest.
• Eastern Sudanese savanna in the center-north.
• Mosaic of jungle and savannah of Guinea, in the center-west.
• Mosaic of jungle and savannah of the north of the Congo, in the center of the country.

The jungles, for their part, are classified into:

• Cross-Sanaga and Bioko Coastal Forest in the lowlands of the northern coast of the country.
• Mountain range of Bioko and Mount Cameroon in Mount Cameroon.
• Jungle of the Cameroonian mountain range, in the Cameroonian mountain range, above 900m. n. m..
• Atlantic equatorial coastal jungle in the southwest.
• Lowerlands of the Northwest Congo in the southeast.

In addition, there are several Central African mangrove enclaves on the coast; The border area with Nigeria and the region around Duala stand out.

• 

  Satellite image of Lake Chad, in Extremo-Norte Province, taken by Apollo 7 in October 1968. It has now disappeared almost entirely.

• 

  Mandara massif, on the border between Cameroon and Nigeria.

• 

  Monte Cameroon, with 4095m. n. m..

• 

  Volcanic neck in Rhumsiki, north of the country.

Climate

The climate is tropical, with high temperatures that moderate in the heights. Precipitation predominates in the rainy seasons, but with large regional differences. In total, five regional climatic zones can be distinguished.

The beach of Kribi, Cameroon

In the north of the country, the humidity alternates with a dry season from October to April and an average rainfall of about 700 mm per year. The period of low rainfall is from July to September. The average temperature is 32.2 °C. Due to high temperatures and relatively low rainfall, there is a medium probability of drought in this area (every two to five years). In the far north, near Lake Chad, the climate is dry. Here lies the part of Cameroon in the Chad basin, with the Logone floodplains to the east of the Waza plain. Starting in November, the El Beid River, which forms the border with Nigeria in the west, receives water for its main flood season.

In the interior highlands bordering to the south (between 1,000 and 1,500 m above sea level), the temperature reaches an average of 22 °C per year and rainfall ranges between 1,500 and 1,600 mm per year. Here the transition from the savannahs of the north to the tropical forest of the south occurs. The next mountainous region of western Cameroon has a constant rainfall of between 2,000 and 11,000 mm. The area of the southern foothills of Mount Cameroon has an average rainfall of 11,000 mm, making it one of the rainiest areas in the world. These two regions experience a "dry season" between December and February, although even this period is not completely devoid of rainfall.

The southern coastal plain has an equatorial climate, with a rainfall of between 1,500 and 2,000 mm and an average temperature of 25 °C. Here is a dense tropical jungle. The driest months are December and January.

Economy

Commercial area of Yaoundé.

Cameroon's purchasing power parity per capita is US$3,955 (2019), one of the ten highest in sub-Saharan Africa. The most significant export markets are France, Italy, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom. Cameroon is part of the Bank of Central African States (of which it is the dominant economy) and the Union of Central African States (UDEAC). Its colonial monetary unit was the Cameroonian franc, which was later replaced by its current official currency, the CFA franc.

Excessive rules and regulations, high taxes, and endemic corruption have impeded the growth of the private sector.^{[citation needed]} Unemployment was estimated at 30% in 2001, and about 48% of the population was living on the poverty line in 2000. Since the late 1980s, Cameroon has been following World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs to reduce poverty, privatize industries and increase economic growth.

Cameroonian ticket of 1000 CFA francs.

About 70% of the population is engaged in the agricultural sector, which comprised an estimated 45.2% of (GDP) in 2006. The majority of this sector is engaged in subsistence farming by local farmers, who They use simple tools. Urban centers depend particularly on peasant agriculture for their food.

Crocodime cultivation in Cameroon.

The land and climate on the coast encourage extensive commercial cultivation of bananas, cocoa, cocoñame, palm oil, rubber, and tea. In the interior of the country, on the Plateau of South Cameroon, crops include coffee, sugar and tobacco. Coffee is the most lucrative product in the western highland area. In the north, natural conditions favor products such as cotton, peanuts, and rice. The dependence on the export of agricultural products makes Cameroon a country vulnerable to changes in their prices.

Cattle farming is practiced throughout the country. Fishing employs 5,000 people and provides 20,000 t annually. Beef, basic to the diet of rural Cameroonians, is a privilege in urban centers. Their trade has surpassed deforestation as the main threat to wildlife in Cameroon.

The southern jungle has vast reserves of wood, which cover 37% of the territory. However, large areas are difficult to access. The logging industry, run by foreign companies, provides the government with US$60 million a year. Although the law stipulates that its exploitation must be safe and sustainable, it is in practice one of the least regulated industries in the country.

The factory labor industry provided an estimated 16.1% of GDP in 2006. More than 75% of the country's industrial strength is concentrated in Douala and Bonabéri.

Cameroon has large reserves of mineral resources, but they are not widely extracted. Oil exploitation has fallen since 1985, but it remains a substantial sector that has had a strong impact on the country's economy.

Beach in Kribi.

Rapids and waterfalls clog rivers in the south, but these sites offer opportunities for hydroelectric power, which accounts for the majority of Cameroon's power. The Sanaga River feeds the largest hydroelectric dam in the country, located in Edéa.

Tourism is a booming sector, particularly in the coastal area, around Mount Cameroon and in the northern area.

Demographics

Current picture of the capital Yaoundé, the Place du 20 mai.

2009 UN estimates put Cameroon's population at 19,522,000. The population is young: about 40.9% are under the age of 15, 70% are under the age of 30, and 96.7% are under 65. The birth rate is estimated at 34.1 births per 1,000 people, while the mortality rate is 12.2. Life expectancy is 53.69 years (52.89 years for men and 54.52 years for women).

The Cameroonian population is divided almost evenly into rural and urban populations. Population density is highest in large urban areas, the western highlands, and the northeastern plain. Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua are the largest cities. The first two both exceed two million inhabitants, bringing together a quarter of the country's population. In contrast, on the Adamawa plateau, the Bénoué depression in the southeast and much of the southern Cameroon plateau are sparsely populated.

The official languages are French and English, and many local languages are also spoken. French is widespread in the cities, especially in Yaoundé and Douala, where practically the entire population is fluent in that language. However, the most widely spoken language throughout the country is Camfranglais, a creole language that mixes elements of French, English, and local languages. MoUs have been signed with Germany for the study of German.

People from the overcrowded western highlands and underdeveloped north are migrating to coastal plantations and urban centers in search of employment. Smaller migrations are occurring as workers seek employment on sawmills and plantations in the south and the east. Although the masculinity index is relatively equal, the majority of migrants are mainly men, leading to unbalanced rates in some regions.

Education

University of Buea.

Since independence there have been two educational systems, one in English and the other in French. The East Cameroons system was based on the French model, the West Cameroons used the British model. The two systems were combined in 1976.

Christian and missionary schools have been an important part of the educational system. Although the country has a very extensive network of educational centers for all educational stages.

In the southern areas of the country almost all children of primary school age attend school. However, in the north, which has always been an isolated part of Cameroon, truancy is high.

Cameroon has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, close to 80%.

The country has 8 public universities: University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé II (with campus outside the city), the Catholic University for Central Africa (UCAC), the University of Douala, Ngaounderé, Dschang, the University of Bamenda and the University of Buea (the latter two, English-speaking).

Similarly, it also has numerous national and international private institutions, making it a great pole of attraction for students from Central and West Africa.

Health

The quality of healthcare in Cameroon is generally poor. Due to funding cuts, the healthcare system has very few professionals. Doctors and nurses, trained in Cameroon, emigrate due to poor pay and overwork. As a result of this lack of resources, there are also unemployed health personnel. In rural areas, factories generally do not have basic hygienic measures. Life expectancy is approximately 54.71 years, being one of the lowest in the world. Within the country's endemic diseases, dengue fever, filariasis, leishmaniasis, malaria, bacterial meningitis, schistosomiasis and sleeping sickness. The seroprevalence of HIV is around 5.4% of the population in the age group between 15 and 49 years, although these figures may be underestimated due to the strong stigma that the disease still has within the population, for which many cases they are not notified.

Religion

Cameroon has a high degree of religious freedom. Islam make up a fifth of the population.^{[citation needed]}

Cameroon has a high level of religious freedom and diversity. The predominant faith is Christianity practiced by about two-thirds of the population, while Islam is a significant minority faith, adhered to by about one-fifth. Also, traditional religions are practiced by many. Muslims are more concentrated in the north, while Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern and western regions, but practitioners of both religions can be found throughout the country. Large cities have significant populations of both groups. Muslims in Cameroon are divided into Sufis (and Salafists), Shias, and non-denominational Muslims.

View of the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles in Mvolye (Basilique Marie -Reine des apôtres)

People from the North West and South West provinces, which used to be part of British Cameroon, have the highest proportion of Protestants. The French-speaking regions of the southern and western regions are largely Catholic. Southern ethnic groups predominantly follow traditional Christian or African animist beliefs, or a syncretic combination of the two. The people widely believe in witchcraft, and the government prohibits such practices. Suspected witches are often the target of mob violence. The Islamist jihadist group Ansar al-Islam was reported to be operating in northern Cameroon.

In the northern regions, the predominantly local Fulani ethnic group is mostly Muslim, but the general population is fairly divided between Muslims, Christians, and followers of indigenous religious beliefs (called Kirdi ("pagans") by the Fulani). The Bamum ethnic group of the Western Region is largely Muslim. Native traditional religions are practiced in rural areas across the country, but are rarely practiced publicly in cities, in part because many indigenous religious groups are inherently local in character.

Church of San Antonio de Padua in BamendjouÉglise Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue)

The Norwegian Missionary Society first established a mission in Cameroon in the early 1920s. Many of the churches still stand. At that time there were few Christians but now there are many. In cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon EELC and the American ELCA, the NMS built several hospitals, including the Ngaoundéré Protestant Hospital, secondary schools, and several other institutions. Ngaoundéré once had one of the largest Norwegian contingencies anywhere in the world, with over 100 Norwegians living there in the 1980s. Some of the families have been there for several generations, including Kaldhol, Bjaanes, Stavenjord and Dankel. The neighborhood was even nicknamed "Norvège" ("Norway" in French).

Culture

Each of Cameroon's ethnic groups has its own unique cultural forms. Typical celebrations include births, deaths, plantings, harvests, and religious rituals.

Music and dance

The music and dance of Cameroon are an integral part of the country's traditional ceremonies, festivals, social events and legends. Traditional dances are intricately choreographed and separate men and women in such a way that it is prohibited for both genders dance together. The dances have different purposes, ranging from pure entertainment to religious reasons. Traditionally, musical knowledge is passed down through oral tradition. In a typical performance, a choir accompanies a principal soloist. Musical accompaniment ranges from simple hand claps and steps, to traditional instruments including bells used by the dancers, drums, percussion, flutes, horns, maracas, scrapers, instruments strings, whistles and xylophones. The exact combinations vary between each ethnic group and region. Some performers sing entire pieces on their own, accompanied by a harp-like instrument.

Gastronomy

Cuisine varies by region, but a large one-course dinner is common across the country. A typical dish is based on cocoyams, corn, cassava (manioc), millet, plantains, potatoes, rice, or yams, often pounded into a dough, like fufu. It is served with a sauce, soup, or stew of vegetables, peanuts, palm oil, or other ingredients. Meat and fish are popular but expensive side dishes, and chicken is often reserved for special occasions. Dishes are often quite spicy; seasonings include salt, red pepper sauce, and maggi.

Cutlery is common, but food is traditionally handled with the right hand. Breakfast consists of leftover bread and fruit with coffee or tea. Usually breakfast is made from wheat flour into several different foods such as puff-puff (doughnuts), plantain accra made with plantains and flour, bean cakes, and many more. Snacks are very popular, especially in big cities, where they can be bought from street vendors.

Water, palm wine and millet beer are the traditional beverages at mealtimes, although beer, soft drinks and wine have gained popularity. The export beer is the official drink of the national soccer team and one of the most popular brands, joining Castel, Amstel Brewery and Guinness.

Holidays

Sports

National policy strongly defends sport in all its forms. Traditional sports include canoe racing and wrestling, and several hundred runners participate each year in the 40 km Mount Cameroon Race of Hope. Cameroon is one of the few tropical countries to have competed in the Games. Winter Olympics. Sport in Cameroon is dominated by soccer. Amateur soccer clubs abound, organized along ethnic lines or under corporate sponsorship.

Friendly party contested by the selection of Cameroon against Germany at the Leipzig Zentralstadion Stadium on 27 April 2003.

In each of the last three Olympic Games Cameroon has won three gold medals. His soccer team won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.

It is the African soccer team with the most participation in the World Cups, it did so 7 times. Also in 2003 it reached the final of the Confederations Cup, being the only African team to get there. Another notable achievement of their soccer team is having been the first African team to reach the quarterfinals, in the 1990 Soccer World Cup in Italy. At the continental level, they have won the African Cup of Nations 5 times. Within Cameroon there is the First Division of the country, where the most winning club is CotonSport, from the city of Garua.

Samuel Eto'o was an outstanding player for the Cameroon national team. Currently retired, he is the only player in history to win two consecutive trebles (Barcelona and Inter Milan).

Cameroon was the host country for the Africa Cup of Nations in November–December 2016, the 2020 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. The women's soccer team is known as the &# 34;Leonas Indomables", and like her male counterparts, she is also successful on the international scene, although she has not won any major trophies.

In basketball there are three Cameroonian players in the NBA: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam.

French tennis player Yannick Noah has his roots in the country. Cricket has also been introduced to Cameroon as an emerging sport, with the Cameroon Cricket Federation taking part in international matches. Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou hails from Cameroon.