History History

Traces of human occupation in Cameroon date back to the Paleolithic era, before the progressive migration of populations from north to south began.

It was in the Grass Fields area (also known as Grassland, a vast savannah region of volcanic highlands stretching across the North-West and West regions) that the first Bantu settlements appeared, one of the country's main ethnic groups. At the same time as the Bantu were settling throughout the south of the country, migratory peoples from Sudan were arriving in the northern territories, already making Cameroon a zone of contact between different civilizations.

The notion of history is intimately linked to writing, and the first text to mention the "Chariot of the Gods", the name given to Mount Cameroon by explorers from North Africa, dates back to the^5th century BC. It was Hannon, a Carthaginian explorer and navigator who set out along the African coast across the Strait of Gibraltar, who wrote an account in Phoenician, found in a Carthaginian temple. The history of Cameroon is above all linked to the arrival of different waves of settlers, and can be traced through vestiges, engravings and monuments bearing witness to these passages.

Sudanese civilizations developed successively throughout northern Cameroon, around Lake Chad. It was in this part of the country that the Islamic religion gradually spread, led by the Kanem-Bornou empire from the ^8th century onwards. It was also in the middle of the ^8th century that the first Fulani groups (also known as foulbés), also of Islamic faith and originally from Nigeria, took root. The influence of this horse-riding people extended from the Mandara Mountains to the southern Adamaoua region, with its thick tropical forests impassable by horse.

Europeans began to sail along the African coast, starting with the Portuguese. It was the first explorers, before the first settlers, who linked the history of Cameroon to that of Europe.

The navigator Fernando Poo managed to sail up the Wouri estuary (near Douala). It was while crossing the Wouri that he was struck by the abundance of shrimp in the waters of the river, which he named " Rio dos Camarões ", which simply means "river of shrimp" in Portuguese. Over time, with the arrival of other peoples and the influence of other languages, Rio dos Camarões became Cameroon.

Despite a few Portuguese trading posts (where salt, cloth, alcohol and weapons were exchanged for gold, ivory and palm oil) and the development of inglorious slave-trading activities (notably with the chiefs of the coastal tribes), the country held relatively little interest for Europeans.

The Treaty of Tordesillas made Africa the exclusive preserve of the Portuguese.

In 1641, the Portuguese were driven out by the Dutch.

The Dutch in turn gave way to the English in 1732, who were fighting the slave trade in the Gulf of Guinea. The Westerners strengthened the ties gradually forged with the Bamilékés ethnic group, which was made up of a multitude of chiefdoms in the west of the country. But it was above all the Doualas, settled around the mouth of the Wouri (they gave their name to the country's largest city, now Cameroon's economic capital), who gradually opened the door to European colonial conquest, initially by the Germans.

Numerous conflicts broke out in the north, and attacks from north to south continued to increase.

In the west, the Bamouns and Bamilékés resisted the Foulbés attacks, gradually dividing into groups led by numerous lamibé (plural of lamido, Muslim chiefs), who ended up fighting each other.

A major slave trade took place along the African coast, from West Africa to Southern Africa (triangular trade), and the first treaty prohibiting this shameful trade was signed in 1840 by the Akwa and Bell kings of Douala and the English government.

For all these reasons, Cameroon experienced major population movements.

German colonization begins, starting on the coast where the first German traders, accepted by the Doualas, set up their first trading post.

The German Empire decides to develop its colonies. The climate of understanding that prevailed between the Germans and the Douala people (themselves disappointed by the English refusal two years earlier to establish a protectorate over Cameroon) was conducive to the establishment of the German-Douala treaty, signed between two German trading firms and two Douala chiefs.

From an initial base in the Wouri region, the Germans gradually extended their control over the whole of Cameroon.

At first, they established their capital in Buéa (Governor Von Putkamer's palace still stands today as testimony to this), fleeing the heavy climate of the coast for the milder (but no less humid) climate of the slopes of Mount Cameroon.

However, following several earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, they resigned themselves to abandoning Buéa and founded a new capital at Yaoundé. This was followed by negotiations with the British to consolidate the German protectorate of Cameroon, and further exchanges of territory with the French in return for German non-intervention in Morocco.

In the context of the First World War, Cameroon became a de facto colony administered by France.

After the end of the First World War, the German colonial empire was definitively dismantled and divided by the Treaty of Versailles between the victorious countries, notably France and the United Kingdom. Cameroon was split in two (the British and French parts). The European powers received a mandate from the League of Nations (League) to lead these territories to autonomy as soon as possible. The non-application of the SDN mandate, particularly by France, is a key element in Cameroon's contemporary history. Cameroon has never legally been a French colony, and all Cameroonians, from Ruben Um Nyobé at the UN to the present day, will remind you of this.

The two occupying powers, the French in particular, continued the economic development initiated by the Germans, with the construction of infrastructure (railroads, roads, health missions) and the establishment of large plantations (cocoa and coffee in particular). Supported by major education and health improvement programs, these efforts led to the gradual homogenization of the various territories: Cameroon took shape.

The Treaty of Versailles had divided the territories, but the Germans had not ceded the land willingly. On the spot, a veritable campaign to win the population's loyalty to the French presence was undertaken, through major works: the country's main railroad line was built, linking Yaoundé and Douala, the country's two largest cities. In the social and educational spheres, French-language education was introduced in 1923, and the government made public health a priority. Little by little, "Germanized" and, in some cases, "Germanophile" structures and businesses were gradually "Frenchized".

At the dawn of the Second World War, Douala was taken and militarily occupied by the Allies. At the end of the war in 1945, when everything seemed to be going in the direction of French colonization, the first independence movements were born.

Colonized countries set out to establish a new order. Taking advantage of the fact that the colonial powers had been weakened by the war and had sent their dead soldiers to Europe, the colonies demanded independence. In 1946, the decolonization movement was launched. Cameroon's status changed from a mandate to a trusteeship regime.

In Douala, the country's colonial structure was debated in the form of an Estates General. After all these years of upheaval in the world order, the proclamation of a "return to order", meaning a return to accepted colonialism, was not to the taste of the country's intellectual elites, nor indeed of the Cameroonian people. Indeed, the latter saw the dawn of a possible freedom, legitimized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. It was thus in the form of social and trade union struggles (against a backdrop of strikes) that the first protest movements emerged in the country. It was also in 1948 that Ruben Um Nyobè founded the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), the main nationalist party.

Ruben Um Nyobé, then a political figure of Bassa ethnicity, became a spokesman for the armed struggle for Cameroonian independence. Armed struggle meant unrest and increasingly violent confrontations: strikes, demonstrations and then riots: Cameroon was plunged into an inexorable cycle. It was against this tense backdrop that the French did their best to continue the work they had begun, from which they intended to reap the benefits.

Following more serious clashes during the week of May 22-25 1955 (riots in Douala and Yaoundé), the UPC was dissolved by the French government, and the Upecist militants, including Um Nyobé, went underground.

Initially, this was more a case of being sidelined than actually outlawed, as the leader's headquarters were in fact well known to the French authorities, whose interest was not in making him a martyr. Um Nyobé thus left the limelight, and was forced to flee again as the insurrectionary movements intensified, becoming harsher and harsher, but also more and more precise. He will continue to lead his movement underground.

Born around 1913 not far from Boumnyébel, in southwest Cameroon, Ruben Um Nyobè was one of the precursors of African independence. His story and his pacifist struggle in the 1950s are known only to a handful of committed intellectuals and writers. Nicknamed Mpodol, "he who carries the word of his people" in the Bassa language, he is best known as the Secretary General of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), the country's leading political party. During his term of office, he often visited the United States to plead the cause of independence and reunification that he has always defended for his country.

He is indisputably the leading figure of Independent Cameroon, to which he has devoted his life.

It was in his native region, in his Boumnyébel maquis, that he was assassinated in 1958 by French repression, officially benefiting at the time from information from Cameroonian sources within the French colonial administration.

It was only in June 1991 that Ruben Um Nyobé was recognized as a national hero, and although every effort has been made to ensure that he is forgotten, he is an integral part of the history of Cameroon and African independence. Today, his bravery, determination and memory are appropriately saluted.

André-Marie Mbida, then appointed to the French National Assembly's Commission for Overseas Territories, was named Prime Minister and de facto Head of State of autonomous French-speaking Cameroon. This form of partial decolonization was not to the liking of the local population, who saw Mbida as the armed wing of the French state in the fight against the UPC and its representatives. Nine months later, Mbida was deposed in favor of Ahmadou Ahidjo, his Deputy Prime Minister.

Um Nyobè's assassination by the French army was a traumatic event in Cameroonian history, and despite the precautions taken by the colonists (anonymous grave, ban on mentioning the leader, etc.), the Boumnyébel native became a symbol and a martyr.

Despite Um Nyobé's death, things have changed too much for there to be any turning back. The Cameroonians kept the process of democratization in mind, and the colonialists were far from unaware of it. But for the colonial administration, it was unthinkable that independent Cameroon would be led by Um Nyobé, who was eliminated in this respect.

Independence was proclaimed on January¹, 1960 (and was ratified in 1961 with the incorporation of British Cameroon, with the exception of the north of the country, which was still part of Nigeria at the time), and on May 5 of the same year, Ahmadou Ahidjo became, at the age of 33, the first President of the Republic of Cameroon.

Ahmadou Ahidjo was born in 1924 not far from Garoua, in northern Cameroon. First a telegrapher, then a radio operator in the colonial administration since 1947, he was later elected councillor to the Assembly of the French Union. According to historian Adel Eyinga, Ahidjo was also one of the French administration's sources in helping to locate Ruben Um Nyobé. He held the country in check by severely repressing the opposition, and went so far as to create a single party: the Cameroon National Union, until 1982, when he handed over to Paul Biya. In April 1984, while traveling abroad, Biya's government accused him of a coup d'état and sentenced him to death. Exiled to Senegal, he died in 1989, leaving the image of a good president in young minds.

Unification of English- and French-speaking Cameroon into the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

Under the leadership of Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon becomes a united republic.

Paul Biya is appointed Prime Minister to Ahmadou Ahidjo.

Paul Biya was born on February 13, 1933. In 1982, at the age of 49, he came to power following the resignation of Ahmadou Ahidjo. Then Prime Minister, Paul Biya was honored with the title of President of the Republic of Cameroon. In 1994, he married Chantal Vigouroux, born in 1970 in Dimako, who became Cameroon's First Lady and one of the country's leading figures.

Paul Biya becomes President of the Republic.

Following accusations of plotting against President Biya, Ahmadou Ahidjo was sentenced to death in absentia and exiled to Senegal.

President Biya's party becomes the RDPC, the Rassemblement démocratique du peuple camerounais. The ideology of the RDPC is to consolidate the unity, integration and independence of Cameroon. Safeguarding the fundamental freedoms of citizens and the country's economic development are also part of the program announced by the single party. The creation of the CPDM marked the beginning of the government's fierce fight against multipartyism in Cameroon.

In the face of popular pressure, Paul Biya recognized a multi-party system and freedom of association. However, two years of increased government surveillance of opponents followed, with more arrests and imprisonments under various pretexts, to which the people responded with strikes and demonstrations to demand a real democratic process.

The CNPOA (national coordination of opposition parties and associations) was dissolved. Weakened, the opposition nonetheless attended the conference organized to prepare for the 1992 legislative elections, which was also attended by the government in power and representatives of civil society.

Sadou Hayatou is appointed Prime Minister. The CPDM allied itself with the MDR (Movement for the Defense of the Republic) and elections were held in the wake of this: Paul Biya won the elections with 40% of the vote, against 36% for John Fru Ndi, his main opponent. These results provoked some unrest within the country, as they were questioned by the opposition, but also internationally, and in response the government tightened its grip, placing Fru Ndi under house arrest.

After unsuccessful attempts to get the state to set up a commission to monitor the presidential election, the vast majority of opposition parties boycotted the election, except for one, which obtained 2.5% of the vote.

Paul Biya was elected again, this time for 7 years, with 92.5% of the vote.

Paul Biya remains, unsurprisingly, the incumbent candidate in the 2004, 2011 and 2018 elections.

The far north of the country is under attack from Boko Haram, a jihadist terrorist group originally from Nigeria. Secretly using northern Cameroon as a rear base since 2003, the bloody attacks on border villages signal a declaration of war on President Biya. In August 2014, Boko Haram took possession of the Nigerian town of Gambarou, separated from the Cameroonian town of Fotokol by the bridge over the El Beïd. This strategic position is thought to open the way for Boko Haram on the road leading to Kousséri, on the Chadian border, where the group supplies itself with various traffics. For the inhabitants of Fotokol, danger is only a stone's throw away.

The Chadian army crossed the bridge and drove Boko Haram out of Gambarou. But the sect succeeded in crossing the bridge the very next day, massacring over a hundred people in what was to be one of the bloodiest attacks of the conflict. Once again, it was alongside Chadian soldiers that Cameroonian forces succeeded in retaking Fotokol.

In the west of the country, in Bamenda, Buea and Limbe, English-speaking lawyers and teachers began a strike that quickly turned into a popular uprising. The Anglophone crisis, as it has come to be known, was sparked by the violent repression of initially peaceful demonstrations against the marginalization of the Anglophone minority, which was deemed to be poorly represented at national level. Violence intensified in the North-West and South-West regions, leading to a hardening of mobilization, and its gradual transition to armed insurrection.

The separatist movements grouped together under the banner of Ambazonia, the name they gave to the former "Southern Cameroon", which had been federated with the Republic of Cameroon in 1961, an unrecognized state unilaterally proclaimed by the English-speaking rebels. This symbolic act by English-speaking separatist groups at the height of the conflict helped to entrench the conflict, which would later be described as a civil war and which, despite a noticeable easing of tensions from 2022 onwards, is still the focus of various tensions to this day.

In the north, the Cameroonian army, through its elite corps, the BIR (Bataillon d'Intervention Rapide), repelled terrorist attacks along almost 400 km of border, eventually regaining control of the situation and pushing the jihadists back into Nigeria, and above all into Niger, where they now operate in the Lake Chad area.

However, this guerrilla warfare, which has claimed many lives and lasted for almost ten years, has opened the way for various criminal organizations to operate in Boko Haram's shadow, blurring the lines between organized crime and jihadism. With burnt-out buildings and closed businesses, the north of the country still bears the scars of these violent clashes, which have had a major impact on the region's economy, as well as on the families of the victims of these attacks.

Initially scheduled for 2021 and postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the CAN 2022 is being held in Cameroon, which last hosted the soccer competition in 1972 (during which Ahmadou Ahidjo referred to the Cameroon team as the "Indomitable Lions", an expression that continues to this day). Despite delays and setbacks in the many construction projects undertaken in preparation for the event, Cameroon welcomed soccer fans from all over Africa especially for the occasion.

Against the backdrop of the separatist conflict still raging in the English-speaking region, the event will take place amidst controversy, with threats from separatist groups and boycotts by English-speaking populations who are not in the mood for celebrations. Apart from the stampede outside the stadium (which left up to 8 people dead and dozens injured), no attacks have been recorded.

The health of 91-year-old President Paul Biya is at the center of attention, and the population is hanging on the news that the head of state may die. Although the majority of Cameroonians would like to see a peaceful and democratic transition to the post-Biya era, the succession is stirring up personal ambitions and portends the risk of a major political crisis. The next presidential elections will be held in 2025.