History

Pre-history

From archaeological evidence, it is known that humans have inhabited Cameroon for at least 50,000 years, and there is strong evidence of the existence of important kingdoms and states in more recent times. Of these, the most widely known is Sao. The Sao civilization flourished in Middle Africa from the sixth century BC to as late as the sixteenth century AD. The Sao lived by the Chari River Around Lake Chad in territory that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. They are the earliest people to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon.

Little is known about the Sao’s culture or political organization: But historians have shown that they may have originated from the Nile valley. Historians outline three major origins for the Sao based on oral tradition and archaeological evidence. One theory holds that they were the descendants of the Hyksos who conquered Ancient Egypt. They moved south from the Nile valley into middle Africa in several waves under pressure from invaders. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze, copper, and iron. Finds include bronze sculptures and terra cotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewelry, highly decorated pottery, and spears. The largest Sao archaeological finds have been made south of Lake Chad.

Ethnic groups in the Lake Chad basin, such as the Buduma, Gamergu, Kanembu, Kotoko, and Musgum claim descent from the Sao. Lebeuf supports this connection and has traced symbolism from Sao art in works by the Guti and Tukuri subgroups of the Logone-Birni people. Oral histories add further details about the people: The Sao were made up of several patrilineal clans who were united into a single polity with one language, race, and religion. In these narratives, the Sao are presented as giants and mighty warriors who fought and conquered their neighbors.

The Sao kingdom reached its height from the 9th to the 15th century, after which it was conquered and destroyed by the Kotoko state, which extended over large portions of northern Cameroon and Nigeria. Kotoko was incorporated into the Bornu empire during the reign of Rābiḥ al-Zubayr (Rabah) in the late 19th century, and its people became Muslims.

The Arrival of European

Some evidence indicates that Cameroon and eastern Nigeria were the places of origin of the Bantu peoples. After the 12th century ad, the organized Islamic states of the Sudanic belt, especially those of the Kanem and Fulani peoples, at times ruled the grasslands of northern Cameroon. Small chiefdoms dominated the western highlands and coastal areas. Portuguese travelers established contact with the area in the 15th century, but no permanent settlements were maintained. Slaves, however, were purchased from the local people.

In 1472 a Portuguese expedition led by Fernando Po are the first Europeans to reach the coast of Cameroon. They reach Douala and then sail up the Wouri River. They name it “Rio dos Camarões – the Prawn River -by that giving the name to the country. With the arrival of Europeans, the focus of the slave trade shifted to the Coastal areas. Local chiefs on the coast increase their power by making agreements with the Portuguese. Deals are also made with traders from England, Holland, France, and Germany.

The chiefs serve as middlemen between Europeans and up-country tribes with something to sell. Mostly slaves and ivory are exported from Cameroon. The Europeans bring cloth and metal products. By 1520 few Portuguese settlers start plantations and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Pastoral Nomads are still immigrating from Nigeria again pushing the indigenous people. The constant fight for territory produces refugees vulnerable to slave traders.

1700’s: British missionaries start protesting against the slave trade. The London Baptist Missionary Society creates a Christian colony in Victoria (Today: Limbe). The first inhabitants of Limbe freed slaves from Jamaica, Ghana, and Liberia. Also, Africans who converted to Christianity settled in Victoria.

Islam became a powerful force in the northern and central portions of the country through conquest, immigration, and the spread of commerce from the north and northwestern Africa. The most significant bearers of this faith, the Fulani, entered northern Cameroon in the 18th century. The first small groups of pastoralists were welcomed by the host populations. Eventually, the Fulani, frustrated under a non-Muslim rule and encouraged by the teachings of the mystic Usman dan Fodio, revolted. In the early 1800s, Modibbo Adama was appointed by Usman to lead a jihad over large areas centered in northern Nigeria, which were subsequently incorporated into Usman’s Sokoto empire.

Scramble for Africa

Although the Portuguese arrived on Cameroon’s doorstep in the 16th century, malaria prevented significant European settlement and conquest of the interior until the late 1870s, when large supplies of the malaria suppressant quinine became available. The early European presence in Cameroon was primarily devoted to coastal trade and the acquisition of slaves. The northern part of Cameroon was an important part of the Muslim slave trade network. The slave trade was largely suppressed by the mid-19th century. Christian missionaries established a presence in the late 19th century and continue to play a role in Cameroonian life.

In the early 19th century there is considerable activity in Cameroon by British and American missionaries, but a German connection begins only when the Woermann Company of Hamburg builds a warehouse in 1868 on the estuary of the Wouri river. Other German traders follow, in sufficient numbers to send requests home for the appointment of a consul. Their hopes are met in full by Bismarck’s dramatic decision in 1884 to establish a German empire in Africa. Gustav Nachtigal arrives in Cameroon in that year to make a treaty with one of the local kings and to annex the region for the German emperor. A consul is appointed before the year is out, followed by a governor in 1885.

This first year is not without local troubles. Chiefs not party to the treaty with the Germans attack their turncoat colleague’s village and tear down the German flag. Unfortunately for them the German warship Bismarck is in the vicinity. The result is savage reprisals, followed in turn by the murder of the Woermann Company’s local representative. But on the broader international scene, Germany makes very satisfactory progress. In negotiations, begun at the Berlin Conference of 1884-5, France and Britain cede their local interests on the coast. Some ten years later, in 1893-4, inland frontiers are agreed upon with British Nigeria to the west and French Equatorial Africa to the east.

Colonial Europe(German, U.K, France)

The Bamum tribe has a writing system, known as Bamum script or Shu Mom. The script was given to them by Sultan Ibrahim Njoya in 1896 and is taught in Cameroon by the Bamum Scripts and Archives Project. Germany began to establish roots in Cameroon in 1868 when the Woermann Company of Hamburg built a warehouse. It was built on the estuary of the Wouri River. Later Gustav Nachtigal made a treaty with one of the local kings to annex the region for the German emperor.

The German Empire claimed the territory as the colony of Kamerun in 1884 and began a steady push inland. The Germans ran into resistance from the native people who did not want the Germans to establish themselves on this land. Under the influence of Germany, commercial companies were left to regulate local administrations. These concessions used the forced labor of the Africans to make a profit. The labor was used on banana, rubber, palm oil, and cocoa plantations. They initiated projects to improve the colony’s infrastructure, relying on a harsh system of forced labor, which was much criticized by the other colonial powers.

With the defeat of Germany in World War I, Kamerun became a League of Nations mandate territory and was split into French Cameroons and British Cameroons in 1919. France integrated the economy of Cameroon with that of France and improved the infrastructure with capital investments and skilled workers, modifying the system of forced labor. The British administered their territory from neighboring Nigeria. Natives complained that this made them a neglected “colony of a colony”.

In 1922, Cameroon is officially shared between Britain and France. France now occupies the largest area and Britain keeps the area bordering their colony in Nigeria. British Cameroon and Nigeria are now being administered as one colony, but most British attention and efforts go to the development of Nigeria. British Cameroon is neglected and German settlers return to Victoria making private plantations. The French colony continues to grow with infrastructure, a bigger port in Douala, and more export. But the brutal French rule also becomes increasingly unpopular.

French and British rule

The British trust territory consisted of a strip of land bisected by the Benue River along the eastern border of Nigeria. British rule was a period of neglect, and this, coupled with the influx of numerous Nigerians, caused great resentment. The old German plantations were eventually united into a single parastatal (government-owned enterprise), the Cameroon Development Corporation, and were the mainstay of the economy. The development also occurred in agriculture, especially in the latter years of British rule. The production of cacao, coffee, and bananas grew rapidly.

The French territory had an administration based on that of the other territories of French Equatorial Africa. Greater agricultural development took place in French Cameroun. Limited industrial and infrastructural growth also occurred, largely after World War II. At independence, French Cameroun had a much higher gross national product per capita, higher education levels, better health care, and better infrastructure than British Cameroons.

The British administered their territory from neighbouring Nigeria. Natives complained that this made them a neglected “colony of a colony”. Nigerian migrant workers flocked to Southern Cameroons, ending forced labour altogether but angering the local natives, who felt swamped. The League of Nations mandates were converted into United Nations Trusteeships in 1946, and the question of independence became a pressing issue in French Cameroon.

Although there were differences in the French and British colonial experiences, there were also strong similarities. Most importantly, these rulers continued drawing Cameroon into the international economic system. French Cameroun enjoys more rapid economic and political development than the British Cameroons, and it feels sooner the effects of the independence movements sweeping through the continent after World War II.

In 1956 the French are confronted by a powerful uprising orchestrated by a nationalist party, the UPC (Union des Populations du Cameroun), demanding immediate independence. The British administered their territory from neighbouring Nigeria. Natives complained that this made them a neglected “colony of a colony”. Nigerian migrant workers flocked to Southern Cameroons, ending forced labour altogether but angering the local natives, who felt swamped.

Independent Cameroon

The League of Nations mandates were converted into United Nations Trusteeships in 1946, and the question of independence became a pressing issue in French Cameroun. In 1945, the British and French mandates to the colonies in Cameroon are renewed by the UN after WWII. British Cameroon continues to be ruled by Nigeria. By 1947, the confiscated German plantations are made into the Cameroon Development Corporation. CDC remains today one of the largest companies in Cameroon.

After World War II, developments in Cameroon and Europe brought about independence. In French Cameroun, the major question was the type and intensity of the relationship with France after independence. The first nationalist party, the Cameroon People’s Union (Union des Populations Camerounaises; UPC), led by Felix-Roland Moumie and Reuben Um Nyobe, demanded a thorough break with France and the establishment of a socialist economy. French officials suppressed the UPC, leading to a bitter civil war while encouraging alternative political leaders. 

France outlawed the pro-independence political party, the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (Union des Populations du Cameroun; UPC), on 13 July 1955. This prompted a long guerrilla war waged by the UPC and the assassination of several of the party’s leaders, including Ruben Um Nyobè, Félix-Roland Moumié and Ernest Ouandie. On 18 December 1956, the outlawed Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), based largely among the Bamileke and Bassa ethnic groups, began an armed struggle for independence in French Cameroon. This rebellion continued, with diminishing intensity, even after independence until 1961. Some tens of thousands died during this conflict.

On 12 June 1958, the Legislative Assembly of French Cameroon asked the French government to: ‘Accord independence to the State of Cameroon at the ends of their trusteeship. Transfer every competence related to the running of the internal affairs of Cameroon to Cameroonians`. On 19 October 1958, France recognized the right of her United Nations trust territory of the Cameroons to choose independence. On 12 November 1958 having accorded French Cameroon total internal autonomy and thinking that this transfer no longer permitted it to assume its responsibilities over the trust territory for an unspecified period, the government of France asked the United Nations to grant the wish of French Cameroonians. On 13 March 1959, the United Nations General Assembly resolved that the UN Trusteeship Agreement with France for French Cameroon would end when French Cameroon became independent. On January 1, 1960, independence was granted. In elections held soon after independence, Ahmadou Ahidjo was elected the first president of the Republic of Cameroon. Ahidjo and his party, the Cameroon Union (Union Camerounaise), pledged to build a capitalist economy and maintain close ties to France.

In British Cameroons, the major question was whether to remain with Nigeria or to unite with the newly independent Republic of Cameroon; the British ruled out the option of independence. In an UN-supervised plebiscite in February 1961, the south decided to unite with former French Cameroun, creating the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The north voted to join the Federation of Nigeria. On 1 October 1961, the formerly British Southern Cameroons gained independence from the United Kingdom by a vote of the UN General Assembly and joined with French Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon, a date which is now observed as Unification Day, a public holiday. 

By the time of independence, the trusts produced raw materials for European industries but were dependent on Europe, and especially France, for finished goods. This fragile economy would long continue to plague Cameroon.