French Cameroon became independent in 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon. The following year the southern portion of neighboring British Cameroon voted to merge with the new country to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In 1972, a new constitution replaced the federation with a unitary state, the United Republic of Cameroon. CIA World FactbookWith an area of 475,440 sq km, it is slightly larger than the U.S. state of California.
Cameroon shares a border with Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Nigeria. It has a diverse terrain--coastal plain in the southwest, dissected plateau in the center, mountains in the west, and plains in the north.
People who live in Cameroon are called Cameroonians, which is also an adjective used to describe something from this country. As of July 2012, there are 20,129,878 people in Cameroon. The ethnic groups that reside in Cameroon are mostly Cameroon Highlanders (31%), along with Equatorial Bantu (19%), Kirdi (11%), Fulani (10%), Northwestern Bantu (8%), Eastern Nigritic (7%), and other African (13%) and non-African (1%) groups. 24 major African language groups are spoken there, but the two official languages are English and French. Indigenous beliefs make up approximately 40% of the population, while Christian (40%) and Muslim (20%) make up the rest.
The country's official name is Republic of Cameroon. The capital is Yaounde, and the country is made up of 10 regions. Though Cameroon gained independence from the French on January 1, 1960, a constitution was not drafted until May 20, 1972. The constitution can be found here (French only) through Constitution Finder. The current president is Paul Biya. Information about the leaders of Cameroon's government can be found here. The currency is the Cooperation Financiree en Afrique Centrale francs (abbreviated XAF), which stands at 471.87 XAF per USD as of 2011.
All of this information was gathered from the CIA World Factbook. For more information, check out these resources...
Presidency of the Republic, Republic of Cameroon Site
Cameroon, CIA World Factbook
Background Notes: Cameroon, U.S. Department of State
2011 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Cameroon, U.S. Department of State.
You can also check out the Country Studies tab on our Fed Docs libguide here for more resources on all of the countries.
Sonnet Ireland
Head of Federal Documents
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Subject Specialist: Legal Research
Planning and Urban Studies
Political Science
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