Cameroon over time      German Kamerun      British Cameroons      French Cameroun      Republic of Cameroon

This article is about the historical French colony. For the modern nation, see Cameroon.

Cameroun was a French mandate territory in central Africa, now constituting the majority of the territory of the Republic of Cameroon. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (508x680, 17 KB) Summary Boundary changes in w:Cameroon. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (508x680, 17 KB) Summary Boundary changes in w:Cameroon. ... The Republic of Cameroon is a unitary republic of central Africa. ... Mandates in the Middle east and Africa. ...

The area of present-day Cameroon was integrated to French Equatorial Africa (AEF) during the "Scramble for Africa" at the end of the 19th century. However, in 1911 France ceded parts of the territory to German Cameroon, known as Neukamerun (Middle Congo) as a result of the Agadir Crisis, and it became a German protectorate. During World War I, it was occupied by British and French troops, and later mandated to each country by the League of Nations in 1922. The British mandate was known as Cameroons and the French as Cameroun. Following World War II each of the mandate territories was made a United Nations Trust Territory. An insurrection headed by Ruben Um Nyobé and the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) erupted in 1955, strongly repressed by the French Fourth Republic. Cameroun became independent as the Republic of Cameroun in January, 1960 and in October, 1961 the southern part of British Cameroons joined to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The Muslim northern part of Cameroons had opted for union with Nigeria in May the same year. The conflict with the UPC lasted until the 1970s. Location of French Equatorial Africa. ... Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ... Neukamerun (German for New Cameroon) was the name of Central African territories ceded by France to Germany in 1911. ... The Republic of the Congo, also known as Middle Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, and Congo (but not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, which was also at one time known as the Republic of the Congo), is a former French colony of west-central Africa. ... SMS Panther, a famous gunboat diplomat. ... This article is about states protected and/or dominated by a foreign power. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... In international law, a mandate is a binding obligation issued from an inter-governmental organization like the United Nations to a country which is bound to follow the instructions of the organization. ... 1939–1941 semi-official emblem Anachronous world map in 1920–1945, showing the League of Nations and the world Capital Not applicable¹ Language(s) English, French and Spanish Political structure International organization Secretary-general  - 1920–1933 Sir James Eric Drummond  - 1933–1940 Joseph Avenol  - 1940–1946 Seán Lester Historical... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... United Nations Trust Territories were the successors of the League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. ... Ruben Um Nyobé (1913-September 13, 1958) was an anti-imperialist Cameroonian leader, slain by the French army on September 13, 1958, near his natal village of Boumnyebel, in the department of Nyong-et-Kellé in the maquis Bassa. ... The Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (French: Union des Populations du Cameroun) is a political party in Cameroon. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Motto Paix - Travail - Patrie(French) Peace - Work - Fatherland Anthem (French) O Cameroon, Cradle of our Forefathers 1 Capital Yaoundé Largest city Douala Official languages French, English Government Republic  -  President Paul Biya  -  Prime Minister Ephraïm Inoni Independence from France and the UK   -  Date 1 January 1960, 1 October 1961  Area...

Interwar period

After World War I, Cameroun was not integrated to French Equatorial Africa (AEF) but made a "Comissariat de la République autonome" under French mandate. France enacted an assimilationist policy with the aim of having German presence forgotten, by teaching French on all of the territory and imposing French law, while pursuing the "indigenous politics", which consisted of keeping control of the judiciary system and of the police, while tolerating traditional law issues. The colonial administration also followed public health policies (Eugène Jamot did some research on sleeping sickness) as well as encouraging Francophony. Charles Atangana, designed paramount chief by the Germans, and others local chiefs were invited to France, and Paul Soppo Priso named president of the JEUCAFRA (Cameroun French Youth). Charles Atangana would visit the 1931 Paris Colonial Exhibition and attend the 1935 French Colonial Conference. France took care to make disappear all remains of German presence, and aimed at eradicating any trace of Germanophilia...... Location of French Equatorial Africa. ... Public health is the study and practice of addressing threats to the health of a community. ... Sleeping sickness or African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease in people and animals, caused by protozoa of genus Trypanosoma and transmitted by the tsetse fly. ... Are you interested in French-speaking culture? Francophony means French-speaking in the english language. ... Charles Atangana Charles Atangana (c. ... A paramount chief is the highest-level traditional (usually tribal) chief or political leader in a region or country typically administered politically with a chief-based system. ... Counter exhibition to the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Paris (during which human beings were displayed in cages), organized by the PCF. Titled Truth on the Colonies, the first section was dedicated to abuses committed during the colonial conquests, and quoted Albert Londres and André Gides criticisms of forced labour... The French Colonial Conference was an event held in Paris, France, in 1935. ...

After World War II : colonial tensions and beginning of the war

After World War II, Cameroun was made a United Nations Trust Territory and unified into the French Union. From the beginning of the 1940s, colonial authorities encouraged a policy of agricultural diversification into monocultural crops: coffee in the west and cotton in the south. Construction of roads allowed for greater exploitation of wood. Of a total of three million inhabitants, the Cameroun territory counted 10% settlers, many who had been resident for decades, and approximatively 15,000 people linked to the colonial administration (civil servants, private agents, missionaries, etc.) ^[1] United Nations Trust Territories were the successors of the League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. ... Established by the French constitution of October 27, 1946, the French Union (French: Union Française) was a political entity created to replace the old French colonial system, the French Empire (Empire français). ... For other uses, see Coffee (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Cotton (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Wood (disambiguation). ...

In 1946, a Representative Assembly of Cameroun (ARCAM) was constituted. Paul Ajoulat and Alexandre Douala Manga Bell were elected deputies of the French National Assembly. Some private and public schools were opened, while the best students were sent to Dakar (Senegal) or France to study in college. The colonial administration also built electricity and water infrastructures in large cities. In 1952, the Representative Assembly became the Territorial Assembly of Cameroun (ATCAM). The Palais Bourbon, front The French National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale) is one of the two houses of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. ... (City of Dakar, divided into 19 communes darrondissement) City proper (commune) Région Dakar Département Dakar Mayor Pape Diop (PDS) (since 2002) Area 82. ...

The Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), an anti-colonialist party created in 1948 and which struggled for unification of both Cameroons and for independence was outlawed in 1955. A colonial war then started and lasted for at least seven years, with the French Fourth Republic leading a harsh repression of the anti-colonialist movement. The conflict found its roots in the opposition between the settlers and the Cameroonese trade-unionists in the cities. After the Brazzaville Conference of January 1944, during which the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) issued several promises concerning progressive self-rule, the settlers organized themselves in 1945 in "General estates of colonisation" (Etats généraux de la colonisation"). The Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (French: Union des Populations du Cameroun) is a political party in Cameroon. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Wars of national liberation. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... After the Fall of France during World War II, and the alignment of many West African French colonies with the Free French, Charles de Gaulle recognized the need to revise the relationship between France and its colonies in Africa. ... The Provisional Government of the French Republic was an interim government which governed France from 1944 to 1946. ... Self rule is used to described a people or group being able to exercise all of the necessary functions of power without intervention from any authority which they cannot themselves alter. ...

A Cercle d'études marxistes (Marxist Study Circle) was created by Cameroonese in 1945, soon followed by the creation of the USCC (Union des syndicats confédérés du Cameroun, Union of Confederate Trade-Unions of Cameroon) at the initiative of the CGT trade-union. Conflicts erupted in September 1945, with the settlers violently debating with the French governor. Members of the USCC were arrested. In 1948, Ruben Um Nyobé became the head of the resistance movement, with a nationalist and revolutionary program. Nyobé's UPC was at first only the local section of the African Democratic Rally created in 1946. However, it refused to split, as did the African Democratic Rally, with the French Communist Party (PCF) in 1950. After some revolts and increasing tensions with the colonial administration, the UPC was outlawed on July 13, 1955 by the governor Roland Pré, forcing Nyobé into hiding, from where he led a guerrilla war against the French administration. Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... The Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT or General Confederation of Work) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ... Ruben Um Nyobé (1913-September 13, 1958) was an anti-imperialist Cameroonian leader, slain by the French army on September 13, 1958, near his natal village of Boumnyebel, in the department of Nyong-et-Kellé in the maquis Bassa. ... The African Democratic Rally (French: Rassemblement Démocratique Africain) was a political party in French West Africa, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Guerilla may refer to Guerrilla warfare. ...

Self rule in 1956 and continuation of the war

In 1956-58, Pierre Messmer, a Gaullist and head of the haut-commissaire of Cameroun (executive branch of the French government) started a decolonisation process which went further than the 1956 loi-Defferre (Defferre Act). At the same time, the Fourth Republic was stranded in the Algerian War (1954-62). It managed to obtain support of Britain in Cameroon. On May 29, 1974 Jacques Chirac (left) replaced Pierre Messmer (right) as prime minister on the steps of the Hôtel Matignon. ... Gaullism is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Charles de Gaulle. ... Combatants FLN (1954-62) MNA (1954-62) France (1954-62) FAF (1960-61) OAS (1961-62) Commanders Mostefa Benboulaïd Ferhat Abbas Hocine Aït Ahmed Ahmed Ben Bella Krim Belkacem Larbi Ben MHidi Rabah Bitat Mohamed Boudiaf Messali Hadj Paul Cherrière (1954-55) Henri Lorillot (1955-56...

France granted internal autonomy in 1956, and the ATCAM became the Legislative Assembly of Cameroun (ALCM). André Marie Bbida became Prime minister in 1957, and Ahmadou Ahidjo vice-Premier. Despite the requests by Rubem Um Nyobe, head of the UPC, the new government refused to legalize the UPC. André Bdida renounced in 1958, replaced by Ahidjo, while Um Nyobé was killed by a French commando in the "maquis" on September 13, 1958. Following his death, the UPC divided itself, while competing leaders, verbally in favor of Marxism revolution, radicalized the movement. Starting in 1959, the colonial war juxtaposed itself with a civil war, Ahmadou Ahidjo taking the place of France in the repression of the UPC. The successor of Nyobé, Félix-Roland Moumié, was assassinated in 1960 in Geneva by the SDECE, French secret services ^[2]. Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo (24 August 1924 - 30 November 1989) was the president of Cameroon from 1960 until 1982. ... Ruben Um Nyobé (1913 - September 13, 1958) was an anti-imperialist Cameroonian leader, slain by the French army on September 13, 1958, near his natal village of Boumnyebel, in the department of Nyong-et-Kellé in the maquis Bassa. ... Félix-Roland Moumié was a Cameroonian Marxist leader, assassinated in Geneva in 1960 by the SDECE (French secret services) with thalium [1]. Félix-Roland Moumié succeeded to Ruben Um Nyobe, killed in September 1958, as leader of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC - or also Union du... The Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service, SDECE) was Frances external intelligence agency from November 6, 1944 to April 2, 1982 when it was replaced by the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure. ...

The insurrection continued after independence was granted, even though the UPC had been officially dismantled. The rebellion was really crushed only in the 1970s, after the death in the "maquis" of Ossendé Afana in March 1966 and the public execution of Ernest Ouandié, a historic leader of the UPC, in January 1971. The term maquis may refer to: The Cameroonian maquis, guerrillas from the outlawed Union des Populations Camerounaises political party; The Corsican maquis democracy of the 18th century; The maquis shrublands found in France, Corsica, and elsewhere around the Mediterranean Sea; The French maquis, who resisted the Nazis during World War...

Estimates about the number of victims of the war ranged around several tens of thousands of deaths, mainly after independence ^[1], although some have given numbers much higher (300 000 to 400 000, which excedes the total number of inhabitants of Bamileke, which was the main theater of operation ^[1].) Despite the efforts of writer Mongo Beti, the war and the harsh repression by the French government has been overshadowed by the Algerian War, mostly because of the use of professional soldiers, the low number of Cameroonese immigrants in France requesting recognition of the crimes committed during the war, and, more recently, the fall of Communism ^[1]. Bamileke dancers in Batié, West Province The Bamileke (French Bamiléké) are a collection of Semi-Bantu (or Grassfields Bantu) ethnic groups most highly concentrated in the western highlands of Cameroons West Province, west of the Noun River and southeast of the Bamboutos Mountains and in the Mungo region... Alexandre Biyidi Awala (June 30, 1932 - October 8, 2001), known as Mongo Beti, was a Cameroonian writer. ...

Cameroun became independent on January 1, 1960, becoming the Republic of Cameroun. The civil war with the UPC lasted for years afterward.

References

LHistoire is a monthly mainstream French magazine dedicated to historical studies, recognized by peers as the most important historical popular magazine (as opposed to specifics university journals or less scientific popular historical magazines). ... Jacques Foccart (1914–1997) was French President Charles de Gaulles and then Georges Pompidous spindoctor for African policy, who founded in 1959 the Gaullist organization Service dAction Civique (SAC) with Charles Pasqua, which specialized in shady operations. ... For other uses, see Charles de Gaulle (disambiguation). ... Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou (5 July 1911 – 2 April 1974) was President of the French Republic from 1969 until his death in 1974. ... “Chirac” redirects here. ... Jeune Afrique is a newsweekly published in Paris, founded by Béchir Ben Yahmed in Tunis on the October 17th 1960. ... Jeune Afrique is a newsweekly published in Paris, founded by Béchir Ben Yahmed in Tunis on the October 17th 1960. ... The National Interest is a prominent quarterly international affairs journal, founded in 1985 by Irving Kristol and currently published by the Nixon Center. ...

See also

• Cameroons
• French Colonial Empire
• History of colonialism
• Algerian War