Cameroons

CAMEROONS, a region of West Africa, bounded west by the Atlantic, north-west by Nigeria, north by Lake Chad, south and east by French Equatorial Africa, and for a short distance south-west by Spanish Guinea; area about i 9o,000sq.m. The coast line begins at the great bend of Africa from east to south forming the Bight of Biafra and has a length of 220M. Its chief indentation is the large bay or estuary named by its Portuguese discoverers Rio das Camaroes (river of prawns) ; hence "the Cameroons" in English usage ; French, Cameroun, and German, Kamerun. From 1884 to 1919 it was a German protectorate. By the treaty of Versailles Germany relinquished sovereignty, a mandate to ad minister the country being given to France and Great Britain.

Physical Features.

The greater part of the south and centre of the country is a plateau with a general elevation of 2,000f t., higher towards the west, where it descends in steps to the narrow coast belt, and to the south-east falling in terraces to the Congo basin. North and north-west the plateau is bounded by rugged, broken mountains, which stretch across the country in the form of an arc ; north of them is the hilly region of Adamawa, traversed by the valley of the upper Benue (the great tributary of the Niger) ; and north again, beyond the Benue valley, are on the west the Mandara mountains (4,000f t.) and the alluvial plains (80o to i,000ft.) which lead to Lake Chad and once formed part of its bed.

At the western end of the like mountain ranges, but lated, rises Mt. Cameroon, an tive volcano. Its base covers 700 to 800sq.m. It has two defined peaks, Great Cameroon 7of t. ), in which are a ber of craters, and Little roon (5,82o ft.), from bottom to top covered with dense forest. Alone of the great mountains of Africa Cameroon lies by the sea; its south-western base is washed by the Atlantic. From any point of vantage, but especially from the sea, it presents a magnificent spectacle, while some 3om. ward Clarence peak, the highest point of Fernando Po island, rises from the ocean. Mt. Cameroon was in eruption in 1909 and again in 1922; its western side is one of the rainiest regions in the world, with 40o to 43oin. in the year. The Cameroons estuary, bay or river—all three terms are used—lies immediately south of the mountain. The estuary is 20m. wide; into it flow several rivers, the chief being the Mungo and Wuri. The largest of the rivers, the Sanaga (known in its upper course as the Lom) and the Nyong, which, rising in the central plateau, flow direct to the Atlantic, entering the ocean south of the estuary. These and other streams have their waters in the Jade massif, in the north-east of the plateau, where also rise the Logone and other rivers that flow north to the Shari (Lake Chad basin), as well as rivers which flow south-east to the Santa, an affluent of the Congo. Thus the Cameroons has four distinct river systems. It is noteworthy that there is a connection between the Niger and Chad systems. From a marshy lake in Adamawa called Tuburi there issues at its western end a tributary of the Benue and from its eastern end a tributary of the Logone.

Climate.

The Cameroons has a typically tropical climate and is unsuited for settlement by Europeans. Temperature every where is high, not being below 7o° over the greater part of the country in the cool months, while it rises in the hot season to over 90° in the Lake Chad basin. The daily variation is fairly marked, especially in the central plateau, in some parts of which it is as low as 66° in the warmest month (April) and no higher than 62° in the coolest (Aug.) . With the sun in the south there is in the early part of the year a dry, cool, dust-laden wind from the Sahara ; by July, when the sun is over the Sahara, the wind blows from the south, mainly south-westerly, rain-laden sea-winds. Rain falls usually in every month of the year (except in the far north), chiefly in the second half ; it is heaviest on the coast yearly at Duala; is less on the plateau (Yaunde, 62in.), and in parts of the Chad basin sinks to 18 to i3in. In the south there are two wet and two dry seasons in the year. The special conditions on Mt. Cameroon have already been noted. Large areas of the country are malaria ridden, but malaria ceases above a height of 4,000f t.

Flora and Fauna.

Very large areas both of plateau and mountain are covered by primeval forest with trees 200 and 2 5of t. high, their trunks covered with parasitic growths, such as orchids and arums. In the north there are wide stretches of open savannahs; all the creeks and swamps are lined with mangroves and behind is dense jungle. The swamps are often rendered beautiful by the enormous red-purple Lissochilus orchid, which rises io to I5ft. above the water. Part of the coast belt is grass covered. The forest trees include mahogany, ebony, teak and other valuable timber, the Funtumia elastic (rubber tree) and the Landolphia (rubber vine), the kola tree, the bamboo palm and oil palm, the last named being very abundant. The coffee shrub and cotton plant (in the far north) are found wild, and there are fibre yielding plants such as ceiba pentandra. In the north there are gum-producing acacias. Tree-ferns of great beauty are char acteristic of the middle belt (4,000 to 7,000ft.) of Mt. Cameroon. Bananas are cultivated, and rice, maize, plantains, yams and cassava are native food crops.

Among the animals the gorilla and chimpanzee are notable. The carnivora include the lion and leopard, and large rodents like the porcupine and cane rat are very common. There are several species of venomous snakes. Large herds of antelope are found in the plains and the elephant, though now little seen in the Cameroons estuary region, still inhabits many districts. Buffalo live in the forests; ostriches are found in the Lake Chad region; and cattle and horses are reared in the north and centre. South of the Sanaga river the tsetse fly is common; and mos quitoes are abundant in all the river valleys, among the species being glossing, the carrier of sleeping-sickness. Bees are found in most regions and the collection of honey is a regular industry.

Inhabitants.

The natives of the Cameroons are Bantu speak ing negroes in the south and centre; Sudan negroes (i.e., tribes speaking dissimilar languages) on the north. There are also in the north and centre numbers of immigrant Hausa (q.v.) and the ruling class in Dikwa and Adamawa are Fula (q.v.) . There are also in the Lake Chad region the Arabic speaking Shua. In general in the north Mohammedanism prevails, with correspond ing social organization, though some tribes maintain a sturdy paganism.

The Bantu speaking peoples—the bulk of the population have been divided into the Bakoko and Bakundu groups, and, in the south-east, the Fang (q.v.) group. For long only the coast tribes were known, of these the Duala (q.v.) and Wuri occupying part of the Cameroons estuary were the most important. Cannibalism persisted among the Ngi (in the Bameda district) as lately as 1922. Belief in witchcraft too remained among tribes, such as the Bakwiri (q.v.), long under the influence of Christian missions. Both the Duala and Bakwiri were noted for the use of "drum language." Polygamy is almost universal; few men have more than three wives, but at Bali, Cameroons province, in 1925 one man had 99 wives—the next most-married man having but 25-- while there were 46o bachelors.

In the forests are a number of pygmy people, who live by hunt ing and are in semi-dependence on their Bantu neighbours. Gen erally known as Babingas they have characteristics, apart from their small size, which distinguish them from the negro proper. A French estimate (1924) put the pygmies as numbering 20,000.

Trade Under German Rule.

The Cameroons estuary afforded safe and ample accommodation for ships, and European merchants were attracted thither, the chief centre of trade being the adjoining Bell and Akwa towns on the Wuri river. When Ger man authority was established in 1884 British, French and Ger man firms all had agents in the river. The Germans renamed Bell and Akwa towns Duala and developed it greatly, while head quarters for the administration were made at Buea, on the southern slopes of Mt. Cameroon.

Next to Duala the port of most value was Kribi, in the south, whence much forest produce was shipped. Trade was much hampered by defective means of transport, as well as by conflicts with the natives. Of all the German possessions in Africa the Cameroons remained to the end of their rule the least developed. Two railways were begun, one from Bonaberi on the north shores of the estuary and designed to be taken eventually to Adamawa, the other from Duala east ward. Apart from these enterprises German energy was expended chiefly on the development of plantations on the slopes of Mt. Cameroon, with Victoria on Ambas Bay (at the foot of the moun tain) as port. These plantations proved successful and 54,000ac. were under cultivation in 1912. Of this total 26,000ac. were de voted to cocoa and 17,00o to rubber. Rubber, palm kernels and palm oil, cocoa and ivory were the chief exports, which in 1913, the last full year of German control, were valued at about £1,200,000. Rubber shipments were about half the total value of the exports. In every year of German rule from 1902 onward imports exceeded in value the exports.

British Cameroons.

The area under British mandate covers 33 , 7 5osq.m., with a pop. (1925) of 183 Europeans and 687,000 natives. It includes in the far north the Dikwa emirate (pop. 177,000), the part of Bornu which was in German occupation, and has been re-attached to the ancient state of Bornu, now the Bornu province of Nigeria. In the centre the Adamawa districts are administered as part of the Yola province of Nigeria. These with other small adjacent regions had in 1925 some 120,000 in habitants. Of most importance is the southern area, which in cludes Mt. Cameroon, with all the ex-German plantations, Buea, and the port of Victoria. This area is named Cameroons province and is in charge of a senior resident. In 1925 the inhabitants numbered 390,000. By the British the system of indirect rule adopted in Nigeria was applied to the Cameroons. In the north Dikwa and Adamawa, where well-recognized native states already existed—this system presented comparatively few difficulties. In the Cameroons province there were a few organized native states, such as that of the Banso; but in many districts there was less to build upon.

European interests are centred in the plantations on the slopes of Mt. Cameroon. In the Victoria and Kumba divisions 4o3sq.m. out of a total of 5,222sq.m.-probably an excessive proportion— have been alienated for European private enterprise ; in 1927 only .18,000ac. were, however, under cultivation. From 1915 to 1924 the plantations were in the care of a government department. They were sold by auction in London in Nov. 1924, realizing £224,67o; the purchasers, who for the most part were Germans, entering into possession in March 1925. Cocoa is the chief crop, and its cultivation has been taken up by natives; there are also coffee, banana and rubber estates. The bulk of the trade passes through the port of Victoria, from which a railway to Buea (the adminis trative capital) serves the plantations. Elsewhere traffic is by motor on metalled roads, which include one road, 200m. long as designed, to connect with the Nigerian trunk road system in the Cross River district. The export trade depends a good deal on the cocoa crop; 1923 was a bad year and the value of exports fell from £140,000 in 1922 to £74,000, but by 1926 exports had risen to £220,000. Besides cocoa the chief exports are kola nuts, palm kernels and palm oil. The imports, largely textiles, pro visions, tobacco, motor spirit and machinery, were valued at L52,000 in 1922 and at £275,000 in 1926. Shipping is mainly in German and British hands. In the war years (1914-18) and those following revenue fell short of receipts, of which the chief items are customs and direct taxation. From 1916 to the end of 1925 the total deficit was £291,000. Deficits are made good by the Nigerian Treasury, and the Cameroons accounts are included in the Nigerian budget.

French Cameroons.

The area under French mandate is about 160,000sq.m. with a population estimated in 1924 at 2,700,000, including some 2,000 Europeans, half of whom lived in Duala (native pop. 30,000), the largest town, chief seaport and capital until 1921, when the seat of administration was removed to Yaunde, a fairly healthy station on the central plateau. French Cameroons is governed as a separate entity, with administrative and fiscal autonomy, by a commissioner, aided by a council, re sponsible to Paris. The resources of the country are agricultural, pastoral and sylvan; there are neither minerals nor manufactures. While there are European owned plantations—in which bananas, Cape tobacco, cocoa and oil palms are cultivated—production is mainly by natives. External trade is mainly in palm kernels and palm oil, timber and (since 1924) cocoa; the imports are mostly cotton goods (from England), clothing, salt and machinery. Trade developed, exports rising steadily from 31,000,000f r. in 1919 to 113,000,000f r. in 1925; in the same period imports rose from 17,000,000 to 126,000,00o francs. This increase was due in part to better transport conditions. The central railway, built by the Germans from Duala to Esaka (112m.), was in March 1927 completed to Yaunde (another 9om.), while, radiating chiefly from Yaunde, some 1,200m. of main roads were built. The northern railway from Bonaberi, 93m., built by the Germans, was improved, and from railhead a main road was continued north to the large native town of Fumbum. This northern line runs near the frontier of British Cameroons province and taps its trade. The general progress of French Cameroons was shown by the favourable financial situation ; the budget showed successive sur pluses, so that in 1925 there were 4,60o,000fr. in the Caisse de Reserve. The budget for 1926 was balanced at 61,854,00o francs. An unusual fiscal feature is a poll tax on married women without children.

The Cameroon estuary and the neighbouring coast were dis covered towards the end of the 15th century by the Portuguese navigator Fernando Po. Not until the 17th century were Euro pean trading stations, called factories, established. The Duala and other coast tribes, who would not allow strangers to go in land, took goods on trust from the white merchants and bar tered them with the forest tribes for ivory, rubber, and other produce—including slaves. This trust system worked well and continued until the German occupation of the country, when inland traders were allowed to come to the coast. Meanwhile the Duala, keen business men, had prospered and the "kings" of Akwa and Bell, the chief trading stations, were wealthy mer chant princes. By the end of the 18th century the coast region had come politically under British influence and in 1837 the King of Bimbia made over a large part of the country round the es tuary to Great Britain. No advantage appears to have been taken of this cession, but in 1845 British missionaries made a settlement in the estuary, at a time when there was still a flourishing trade in slaves between the Cameroons and America. In the year named, Alfred Saker (1814-8o), of the Baptist Missionary So ciety, obtained from the Akwa family the site of a mission sta tion. Saker, whose headquarters were then on the island of Fer nando Po, established another mission station at Bimbia in 1848. When in 1858 the Baptists were expelled from Fernando Po a colony of freed negroes who then left the island was founded in Ambas bay, Saker naming the settlement Victoria. It was two years later that Messrs. Woermann, of Hamburg, established the first German "factory" in the estuary. Saker reduced the Duala language to writing and before he left the Cameroons in 1876 witnessed, a year or two previously, the final suppression of the over-sea slave trade.

Although the British consul for the Oil Rivers during this period exercised a good deal of authority over the native chiefs, requests made by them—in particular by the Duala chiefs in 1882—for annexation by Great Britain were refused or neglected, with the result that when Germany started on her quest to pick up un appropriated parts of the African coast she was enabled to secure the Cameroons. A treaty with King Bell was negotiated by Dr. Gustav Nachtigal, the signature of the king and the other chiefs being obtained at midnight on July 15, 1884. Five days later E. H. Hewett, British consul, arrived with a mission to annex the country to Great Britain.' Though too late to secure King Bell's territory Mr. Hewett concluded treaties with all the neighbouring chiefs, but the British Government decided to recognize the Ger man claim not only to Bell town, but to the whole Cameroons region, which the Germans named Kamerun. Subsequent agree ments with Great Britain and France gave the newly acquired territory an extension inland to Lake Chad, including parts of the Fulani states of Adamawa and Bornu. The Baptist settlement at Victoria, at first excluded from the German protectorate, passed to Germany in March 1887.

The extension of German authority inland was gradual and was not effected without severe opposition and a number of revolts. The shores of Lake Chad were first reached by a German mili tary force on May 2, 1902. In the northern regions, with their strong Muslim and non-negro elements, the Germans allowed the native chiefs to retain a good deal of authority. Most attention was paid to the development of the coast district around Mt. Cam eroon, where many plantations were worked, and to the exploita tion of the riches of the forests. Following risings in various dis tricts in 1904 and 1905, the then governor, Herr von Puttkamer, was recalled in 1906. Administrative methods afterwards im proved, to the benefit of the natives and of the plantations.

By the river Sanga the Cameroons had a connection with the Congo, and efforts were made at development in that direction. When, in the negotiations with France in 1911, Germany agreed to withdraw opposition to the establishment of a French protec torate over Morocco she obtained compensation by the addition to the Cameroons of some 107,000sq.m. of French Equatorial Africa (q.v.) . This brought German territory at one point down to the Congo river itself. But in 1914-16 the Cameroons were conquered by French and British forces and in 1 q 19, by the Treaty of Versailles, Germany renounced her sovereignty over it. The regions annexed in 1911 were restored to French Equatorial Africa; a mandate to administer the original colony was given by the Supreme Council to France and Great Britain. The portions adjoining Nigeria were given to Great Britain. They included Mt. Cameroon and "German" Bornu and these regions were admin istered as integral parts of Nigeria. Some five-sixths of the Cam eroons came under French mandate and this part was admin istered as a separate entity. The terms of the mandate were approved by the Council of the League of Nations on July 20, 1922. The negotiations ended with the grant to citizens of the United States of equal economic rights with nationals of mem bers of the League.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-E. B. Underhill's Alfred Saker ... a Biography Bibliography.-E. B. Underhill's Alfred Saker ... a Biography (1884) deals with early missionary efforts; Mary Kingsley's Travels in West Africa (1897) includes the Cameroons; Cameroon, a useful hand book issued by H. M. Stationery Office, London, 1920, with bibliog raphy ; annual reports on the French and British spheres are presented to the League of Nations and officially published. See also F. W. H. Migeod, Through British Cameroons (1925), a travel diary by a com petent observer. (F. R. C.) 'On July 26 a French gunboat also entered the estuary on a belated annexation mission.