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Cameroon at glance
03 2007
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Cameroon is a Central African country situated at the base of the Gulf of Guinea, between Latitudes 2° and 13° North and Longitudes 9° and 16° East, with a surface area of 475 650 sq km. It has 420 km of maritime boundary in the South, along the Atlantic Ocean.
It is bounded to the West by Nigeria, to the South by the
Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, to the East
by the Central African Republic, to the North-West by Chad
and to the North by Lake Chad.
The two official languages are English and French.
Owing to the dynamism of its population estimated at 16
million inhabitants, and to its level of development, Cameroon
is considered as the bread basket of Central Africa. This
gives it great importance on the continent.
Africa in miniature
Cameroon’s natural environment is highly diversified.
This diversity is due in part to the uniqueness of its relief
Cameroon has four major relief types:
 the
plains and mountains of the North
the
highlands of the Centre and West
the
plateau of South Cameroon, and
the
coastal plains.
The plains cover two zones, one situated at the Far North
of the country, on the banks of Lake Chad, and the other
at the extreme South-West, on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
Composed of mountains (notably Mount Cameroon, which is
also called the “chariot of the gods”) and plateaux,
the highlands of the West form an arc immediately following
the coastal plains and stretch towards the North-East, with
its lowlands overhanging the vast plateau of South of Cameroon,
which hosts the water tower.
Exceptional climate
The gradation of the various climates in Cameroon goes from
an equatorial climate with two rainy seasons (April to July
and September to December) in the south, through a temperate
climate with one wet season (June to October) on the Adamaoua
Plateau, to a tropical warm and dry climate in the far-north
of the country.
Yaounde, the country’s political capital and seat
of the institutions, has an exceptional climate that is
referred to as the “Yaounde climate”. Its cosmopolitan
population is estimated at 4 (four million inhabitants.
The economic capital, Douala, hosts the autonomous port,
one the most prominent merchant ports in the sub-region.
This makes it the entry and exit point of the country and
even of Central Africa. It is the backbone of Cameroon’s
economy.
As a coastal town, Douala is lulled by the waters of River
Wouri, one of the country’s main water courses. It
has a warm climate interspersed with rainfall throughout
the year. Douala’s cosmopolitan population is estimated
today at 6 (six) million inhabitants.
The period of the rainy season varies from 4 (four) months
in the far-north to 11 (eleven) months in the south. Rainfall
gets up to 610 mm per year around Lake Chad and about 5
000 mm in the South-West.
Rich and diversified lands under cultivation
Thanks to its warm and wet climate and to an abundant rainfall,
the dense equatorial forest is watered by an impressive
hydrographical network of South Cameroon, which makes it
conducive to crops like cocoa, oil palm, and banana.
The volcanic soils of the West are ideal for market gardening
and coffee growing. The savannahs and steppes of the northern
part of the country offer the best conditions for cattle-rearing
and for growing cotton, millet, onion, yam, Irish potato,
groundnut, etc.
This nationwide diversity of land under cultivation guarantees
the country’s food sufficiency and enables it to supply
food crops to the entire Central Africa sub-region.
Art and culture, two development opportunities
Just as its cultural diversity, Cameroon’s artistic
potential is replete with differences and specificities.
The co-habitation of arts in Cameroon is as successful as
the ethnic and cultural integration of the country.
Cameroon understood that the development of art, and the
promotion and protection of cultural works are necessary
for the harmonious blossoming of the artist and the culture
of Cameroon.
Many reforms in the culture sector helped to streamline
it and take into account all its trades.
As such, 4 (four) authors’ and neighbouring rights
companies were founded in 2000. They take into account music
(CMC), audiovisual and photographic works (SOCIDRAP), literature
and theatre arts (SOCILADRA) and plastic arts and handicraft
(SACADRA).
Since 1995, a grand sub-regional rendezvous, the “ECRANS
NOIRS” African film festival, is organized yearly
in Cameroon.
One cannot claim to have discovered Cameroon without discovering
her traditional chiefdoms in the West with their skulls
and masks reserves, and the Pygmy camps in the South and
East. One also needs to have a taste of her succulent and
diversified cuisine which varies from one region to the
other, some of the most prominent of which include the “Ndole
Crevettes” (bitter leaf prepared with shrimps) eaten
with “Miondo” (retted cassava rolled and boiled
in leaves), a delicacy that is the pride of the “Sawa”
(coastal) people.
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