COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Cameroon

Cameroon won this week's random selection. The African country is geographically slightly larger than the state of California in USA, and has a population of 18,060,382 people.

Lonely Planet writes: "Little is known about Cameroon before 1472 when the Portuguese arrived shouting 'Camarões, camarões!' in amazement at the many giant shrimp - hence the country's name. For the next 400 years, southern Cameroon's history, like that of the rest of West Africa's Atlantic seaboard, revolved around the slave trade. Northern Cameroon, by contrast, was a battleground for various empires, notably the Kanem-Bornu in Chad. When the Germans arrived in the late 19th century, 'feudal' northern Cameroon was under the control of the Fulani empire in Sokoto (Nigeria).....After WWI Cameroon received new overlords courtesy of the League of Nations, which gave the French a mandate over 80% of the territory, and the British control of two separate areas, one in the south-western highlands (Southern Cameroons) and the other in the north (Northern Cameroons, now part of Nigeria). As a result, a single nation was divided into three parts governed by two colonial powers - hardly a situation conducive to later unification."

Cameroon Highlanders comprise 31% of the population, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13%, and non-African are less than 1% of the population. 40% of the population is Christian, 40% adheres to indigenous spiritual beliefs, and 20% are Muslim. 24 major African language groups exist in Cameroon, but French and English are the official languages. 67.9% of the population can read and write, although there is a sizeable gender gap in this area (77% of males over age 15 are literature, but only 60% of females). The per capita GDP is US$2,500.

The former French Cameroon and part of British Cameroon merged in 1961 to form the present country of Cameroon. According to the CIA World Factbook, Cameroon has generally enjoyed stability, which has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, and railways, as well as a petroleum industry. Despite a slow movement toward democratic reform, political power remains firmly in the hands of an ethnic oligarchy (the Beti-Pahuin tribe) headed by President Paul Biya.

There appears to be some disagreement as to whether Cameroon is in West Africa or Central Africa. The CIA World Factbook and Lonely Planet lists Cameroon as being in West Africa. Wikipedia lists Cameroon as part of both West and Central Africa. However, Cameroon is a member of the Economic and Monetary Community of West Africa (for Francophone countries in central Africa) and the Economic Community of Central African States (and not ECOWAS, its West African counterpart). The United Nations considers Cameroon to be part of "Middle Africa".

There are several famous Americans of Cameroonian descent, based on DNA tests: comedian Chris Tucker (through his matrilineal ancestry; his patrilineal ancestry goes back to modern-day Angola); media mogul Oprah Winfrey (Bamileke tribe), and music producer Quincy Jones (Tikar tribe). While I am not famous, yours truly here at Booker Rising is also of Cameroonian descent (Mafa, Kotoko, and Masa tribes...they intermingled for centuries before slavery so their genetic sequence is identical. My matrilineal ancestor could have been from one of the tribes, or a mixture of two or all three tribes).