Map of Cameroon
President Paul Biya
Cameroon, also known as Cameroun or Kamerun, is a country in West Africa. Its capital is Yaounde. Cameroon gained independence in 1961, a year after declaring freedom from the United Kingdom, although its main language is French.
History[]
Cameroon was first explored in 1472 by Portugal, who named the new land "Rio de los Camaroes" ("Shrimp River"), and it became known as "Cameroon". Cameroon's major civilization was the Adamawa Emirate, founded in 1809 and lasting until 1903. German Empire colonists took over Cameoron and created a new colony that sold coffee as a trade resource, but in 1914 it was conquered by the Gold Coast colony of the United Kingdom and armies of France during World War I. It was divided between the two countries and French Cameroon gained independence in 1960; in 1961, it annexed British Cameroon to the south and Cameroon became an independent country.
President Paul Biya was elected to office in 1982, but he installed himself as the authoritarian president who held power for decades. Under his rule, the Cameroonian Expeditionary Corps (CEC) was sent to assist the army of Sudan during the Egyptian Liberation of Dongola and they fought Egypt in northern Sudan and southern Egypt from 2001 to 2002. Cameroon was the largest supporter of Somalia in the conflict, but Somalia and Yemen failed to send adequate support to Sudan and the Cameroonian-Sudanese troops were defeated in battle. Cameroon is a victim of the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, as Joseph Kony and his organization have attacked much of central Africa.
Cameroon has a population of 22,534,532 people, with 31% of them being Cameroonian Highlanders, 19% Equatorial Bantu, 11% Kirdi, 10% Fulani, 8% Northwestern Bantu, 7% Eastern Nigritic, 13% other African, and less than 1% non-African, probably British, French, or German settlers. 40% of the population are Catholic, 30% are Protestant, 18% are Muslim, 6% are Atheist, 3% had folk religion, and 3% are other. Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group, operates in northern Cameroon because of the Muslim population.
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