by
ALEXANDER L.

NATIONAL FLAG OF CAMEROON

LOCATION:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CAMEROON

            The European nation that colonized this country is Germany; however, later on the French and the British took control of Cameroon, making a French Cameroon and a British Cameroon. Because of that, the Germans no longer had control of Cameroon. The Germans treated the people of Cameroon poorly by establishing slave trade, but fortunately it got better when they signed a treaty that limited the German rule. It still allowed trade for rubber, tea and other important products.

            I think that colonization hurt the indigenous people of Cameroon. I think it hurt the people even with the trade there because of the slave trade and even after the treaty was signed the Germans still made their rule past the agreed rule of “near the river”.

             In January 1, 1960, the French part of Cameroon became independent. Then in October 1961 the British part of Cameroon united with the French part of Cameroon and became fully independent.

After Cameroon became independent it had thousands of political prisoners until 1982. However the problems weren’t over yet. In 1986, a volcanic lake erupted which suffocated 2000 people while they were sleeping. Also since the president refused to take any notice of them, the strikes throughout the country brought Cameroon to a standstill. Nowadays the problems Cameroon is facing is having border issues with bandits and armed criminals which makes it not the safest time to visit Cameroon at the moment.

I think if Cameroon hadn't been colonized there would be more people and maybe the people would still live in tribes, if not a different form of government. The reason why I think this is because the slave trade interfered with the lifestyle and economy and reduced the number of people, so if it wasn't ever colonized then it would have only the natives of Cameroon.

Works Cited

Lonely Planet Cameroon: History. www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/cameroon/history

Sheehan, Sean, Cultures Of The World Cameroon

Infoplease Countries of the World. www.infoplease.com/countries.html

Flag and map courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery.