67 Fun Facts About Cameroon

What is the capital city of Cameroon?

Yaoundé began as a German trading post for rubber and ivory, was occupied by Belgian troops from the Congo during World War I and became the colonial capital in 1922.

Which port city is regarded as Cameroon's economic capital?

Douala sits on the Wouri estuary, and its port handles most of Cameroon's exports of oil, cocoa, coffee and timber.

Cameroon's name comes from the Portuguese Rio dos Camarões, meaning river of what?

The Portuguese named the Wouri estuary for its swarms of ghost shrimp, Lepidophthalmus turneranus, which periodically fill the river in huge numbers.

Because it has coast, desert, mountains, rainforest and savanna, Cameroon is often nicknamed what?

The nickname Africa in miniature captures that variety; Cameroon straddles West and Central Africa and its people speak around 250 native languages.

Who became president of Cameroon in 1982?

Paul Biya, prime minister since 1975, took over when his predecessor resigned in 1982; the two men soon fell out, and Biya tightened his grip after surviving a coup attempt in 1984.

Who was Cameroon's first president, serving from independence until his surprise resignation in 1982?

Ahmadou Ahidjo led Cameroon from independence, resigned in November 1982, was later sentenced to death in absentia over a coup plot, and died in exile in Dakar in 1989.

Where did most of Kamerun's German troops flee in 1916 to escape capture?

Spanish Guinea was neutral, so the German commander led his troops into its mainland territory, Río Muni, early in 1916.

After World War I, which treaty stripped Germany of Kamerun and its other colonies?

The Treaty of Versailles turned Kamerun into two League of Nations mandates: France took about four-fifths, while Britain attached its two border strips to Nigeria.

Which British-run territory voted in 1961 to join Cameroon?

The Southern Cameroons chose Cameroon by about 70 percent, while the Muslim-majority Northern Cameroons voted to join Nigeria; French Cameroun had been independent since 1 January 1960.

Cameroon's National Day, 20 May, marks a 1972 referendum that did what?

The 20 May 1972 vote abolished the federal system for a unitary state, the United Republic of Cameroon; East and West Cameroon had each kept a legislature and prime minister.

What emblem sits in the centre of Cameroon's tricolour flag?

A star sits on the centre stripe. The flag carried two stars on its first stripe from 1961 to 1975, and none at all before that.

Cameroon's flag was first adopted in 1957 as a vertical tricolour of which three colours?

Green, red and yellow were adopted in 1957 as pan-African colours, with green for the southern forests, red for unity and yellow for the northern savanna and sun.

Which currency does Cameroon use?

The CFA franc used in Cameroon is shared with five other Central African states, so the same notes are spent in all six; their joint central bank is based in the capital.

What are the two official languages of Cameroon?

French and English are both official, but English speakers are a minority concentrated in two western regions, where protests over being sidelined broke out in 2016.

Under what name have Anglophone separatists sought independence in Cameroon's Northwest and Southwest since 2017?

Ambazonia was declared independent on 1 October 2017, the anniversary of the 1961 reunification; the fighting that followed has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

Which body settled the Cameroon-Nigeria dispute over the Bakassi peninsula in 2002?

The International Court of Justice ruled for Cameroon on 10 October 2002, relying on a 1913 Anglo-German agreement; Nigeria completed the handover in August 2008.

Cameroon's men's national football team is nicknamed what?

The Indomitable Lions took the name officially by presidential decree in October 1972, months after losing an Africa Cup semi-final at home; they have since won the trophy five times.

In 1990 Cameroon became the first African team in a World Cup quarter-final, losing narrowly to whom?

England won 3–2 after extra time, with two Gary Lineker penalties; Cameroon had stunned holders Argentina 1–0 in the tournament's opening match.

Which veteran striker came out of retirement to star for Cameroon at Italia '90?

Roger Milla celebrated each goal with a hip-swinging dance at the corner flag and in 2004 was named in Pelé's FIFA 100 list of living greats.

A 42-year-old Cameroonian became the World Cup's oldest scorer in 1994 against which team, whose striker scored a record five?

Russia won 6–1, and Oleg Salenko's five goals set a World Cup record for one match; the lone reply still broke the scorer's own age record from 1990.

Which Cameroonian striker won the Champions League with Barcelona and Inter Milan?

Samuel Eto'o won the treble with Barcelona in 2009, was swapped to Inter Milan that summer and won it again in 2010; he was also African Player of the Year four times.

Cameroon won Olympic gold in men's football at which Games?

Cameroon won the Sydney 2000 gold after trailing Spain 2–0 at half-time: they drew level at 2–2 and then took the penalty shoot-out.

Which triple jumper won Cameroon Olympic gold at both Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008?

Françoise Mbango Etone's 15.39 m in Beijing set an Olympic record that stood until 2021; she later switched to competing for France.

Cameroon-born Joel Embiid was named NBA Most Valuable Player in 2023 while playing centre for which team?

Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers centre, took up basketball only at 15 after planning a professional volleyball career; spotted at a camp by a fellow Cameroonian in the NBA, he moved to the US at 16.

Which Cameroonian forward won an NBA title with the Toronto Raptors in 2019?

Pascal Siakam, nicknamed 'Spicy P', was sent to a seminary at 11 and first went to a basketball camp in 2011; eight years later he won the NBA title and the Most Improved Player award in one season.

Which Cameroonian fighter held the UFC heavyweight title from 2021 to 2023?

Francis Ngannou worked in a sand quarry from the age of 10 and slept rough in Paris before finding a gym at 26; he took the title in 2021 by beating Stipe Miocic.

Which 1972 Manu Dibango hit lent its chant to Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin''?

Soul Makossa's refrain was used without permission, and the matter was settled out of court; in 2009 Manu Dibango went to court again after Rihanna sampled Jackson's version.

Which fast 6/8 dance music comes from the Beti people who live around Cameroon's capital?

Bikutsi is played at Beti gatherings such as weddings and funerals, and the band Les Têtes Brûlées took it abroad from the late 1980s, touring Europe, the United States and Japan.

The Cameroonian pop style makossa takes its name from the language of which coastal people?

The Duala gave makossa its name, glossed in some accounts as 'I dance'; the style grew up in their port city and swept across Africa in the 1980s.

Sultan Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamum kingdom is remembered for inventing what in 1896?

Njoya devised a writing script for his language, Bamum, around 1896; it evolved from pictographs to a syllabary of about 80 signs by 1910, and he also created an artificial language, Shümom.

Which city with a royal palace museum is the historic seat of the Bamum sultans?

Foumban's palace was rebuilt by Sultan Njoya and finished in 1917; the French sent him into exile in the colonial capital in 1931, and he died there two years later.

Which amphibian, the world's largest frog, lives only in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea?

The goliath frog can top 3 kg, and adults dig and clear nest pools beside rivers for their tadpoles, heavy work that may help explain their size.

Which stew of bitter leaves, ground peanuts and crayfish is regarded as Cameroon's national dish?

Ndolé's bitter leaves are boiled two or three times to tame their bite, then stewed with peanut paste and served with plantains or sticks of steamed fermented cassava.

Which southeastern Cameroon site became its first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987?

Dja Faunal Reserve, bounded on three sides by a loop of the Dja River, was inscribed in 1987 for its largely undisturbed rainforest and its 107 mammal species, five of them threatened.

Waza National Park, home to lions, elephants and giraffes, lies in which region of Cameroon?

Waza lies in the Far North Region, where it began as a hunting reserve in 1934; a dam built nearby in 1979 for rice farming cut the yearly floods that fed its plains.

On which gulf's coast does Mount Cameroon, the country's highest peak, stand?

Mount Cameroon rises almost straight from the Gulf of Guinea, with the port of Limbe at its foot; its rich volcanic soils feed plantations of bananas, rubber, oil palm and tea.

Debundscha, below Mount Cameroon, ranks among the world's what?

Wettest places: Debundscha gets more than 10,000 mm of rain a year, because the 4,000 m volcano behind it blocks the clouds blowing in off the Atlantic.

A 1909 eruption of Mount Cameroon forced the German colonial government temporarily out of which capital town?

Buea sits on the volcano's eastern slopes and was the German capital from 1901; in 2017 Anglophone separatists claimed it as the capital of their self-declared state.

A 1986 limnic eruption at which crater lake in Cameroon killed more than 1,700 people?

Lake Nyos released a suffocating gas cloud on 21 August 1986; a degassing pipe installed in 2001, joined by two more in 2011, vents gas-rich water from the lake bottom.

The 1986 crater-lake disaster in Cameroon released a huge cloud of what?

The carbon dioxide that had built up in the lake's deep water burst out in August 1986 and, being denser than air, flowed down the valleys, killing people and cattle up to 25 km away.

FIFA made Cameroon change the kit that won the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations because the shirts lacked what?

Sleeves: Puma's vest-style tops were worn all through the 2002 Africa Cup, but FIFA ruled they were not shirts, so black sleeves were added for that summer's World Cup.

A 2008 amendment to Cameroon's constitution scrapped which presidential rule?

The two-term limit was scrapped in April 2008, weeks after protests over prices and the plan left dozens dead; the change let the incumbent run again in 2011.

What did Cameroon's government cut off in its English-speaking regions for about three months in early 2017?

Internet access was cut after protests in the two regions, so start-ups from the 'Silicon Mountain' tech hub moved staff to cities that were still online.

Which country lies on Cameroon's southern border between Equatorial Guinea and Congo?

Gabon's border with Cameroon has moved: in 1911 France handed a strip of northern Gabon to German Kamerun, then took it back during World War I.

Which beach resort is home to Cameroon's first deep-water port?

Kribi's deep-water port was built to take pressure off the country's congested main port, whose shallow river channel keeps the largest ships out.

Which French tennis player grew up in Cameroon, where Arthur Ashe spotted him at age 11?

Yannick Noah is the son of Cameroonian footballer Zacharie Noah; Arthur Ashe saw him at a clinic in the capital and tipped off the French federation.

Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango was famed for playing which instrument?

Saxophone: Manu Dibango was sent to France at 15 carrying three kilos of coffee, then scarce and costly, to pay for his first months of board; it gave his memoir its title.

Which anti-colonial leader of the outlawed UPC was killed by the French army in 1958?

Ruben Um Nyobé, the UPC's secretary-general, was shot dead by French troops near his home village on 13 September 1958; the rebellion outlived him, and another of its leaders was executed in 1971.

Which Cameroonian novelist wrote the 1956 anti-colonial classic Une vie de boy, translated as Houseboy?

Ferdinand Oyono published Une vie de boy in 1956 while studying in Paris; the satirist of colonial rule later chaired UNICEF's board and served as Cameroon's foreign minister.

Cameroonian-American Imbolo Mbue won the PEN/Faulkner Award for which 2016 debut novel?

Behold the Dreamers follows Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian chauffeur to a Lehman Brothers executive in New York, until the bank's 2008 collapse threatens both families; Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club.

Isaac Menyoli, Cameroon's Winter Olympian at Salt Lake City 2002, competed in which sport?

Cross-country skiing was Isaac Menyoli's event: he finished last in his distance race, having entered not for medals but to win airtime to warn people at home about AIDS.

Which brewer sponsored and lent its name to the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope for many years?

Guinness Cameroun sponsored the race from its 1973 start, lending it the name Guinness Race; the 38 km course up the volcano and back begins at Molyko Stadium.

Rhumsiki, famed for its volcanic plugs, lies in which mountains in Cameroon's north?

Rhumsiki sits in the Mandara range on the Nigerian border; visitors come for its towering lava plugs and for the crab sorcerer, who reads the future in how a crab shifts bits of wood.

Camfranglais, the slang of Cameroon's cities, mixes the two official languages with which other tongue?

Pidgin joins the two official languages in Camfranglais, which secondary-school pupils use so that outsiders can't follow them.

At the Ngondo festival on Cameroon's coast, a diver visits the underwater realm of the miengu, spirits said to resemble what?

Mermaids: the miengu are pictured with long hair and gapped teeth, and the diver is said to stay under for hours, then surface in dry clothes with their message for the year.

Cameroon's national anthem hails the country as the cradle of whom?

Our forefathers: students at the Foulassi teacher-training school wrote 'Ô Cameroun, berceau de nos ancêtres' in 1928, and in 1970 its words about past barbarism and savagery were removed.

Which ancient Lake Chad culture was absorbed by the Kanem-Bornu empire by the 1500s?

The Sao built walled towns south of Lake Chad and left fine terracotta figures; after Bornu absorbed them in the 16th century, peoples such as the Kotoko claimed them as ancestors.

The Musgum people of northern Cameroon are known for tall, shell-shaped houses built from which material?

Mud mixed with grass forms the walls, and the raised ridges that pattern each dome double as footholds, letting builders climb up to work on it.

Which 1976 highlife hit by Cameroonian-Nigerian singer Prince Nico Mbarga sold millions across Africa?

Sweet Mother was turned away by EMI before a small label in Onitsha released it in 1976; it went on to become one of Africa's best-selling records.

Which river, the longest in Cameroon, drives the hydroelectric stations at Edéa and Song Loulou?

The Sanaga rises on the Adamawa Plateau and cuts across the country to the Atlantic, while the Benue runs the other way, west into Nigeria to join the Niger.

In 2022 Cameroon became the first African team to beat which side at a World Cup?

Brazil lost 1–0 to Vincent Aboubakar's stoppage-time header; he pulled off his shirt to celebrate, was sent off for a second yellow card, and Cameroon still went out in the group stage.

What did Britain do in 1924 with many plantations seized in the Cameroons?

Britain sold them back to their former German owners at a London auction in 1924, after a first sale in 1922 found few buyers; Germans ran plantations there until the Second World War.

Which French World Cup-winning striker has a father from Cameroon and a mother of Algerian descent?

Kylian Mbappé's father Wilfrid, who comes from Cameroon's coast, was a youth coach at AS Bondy, the club outside Paris where his son first played at six.

Which 2006 deal set out Nigeria's withdrawal from the Bakassi peninsula in Cameroon's favour?

The Greentree Agreement was carried out despite local anger: most of Bakassi's people were Nigerian, and the final handover on 14 August 2008 was moved to Calabar for security.

Cameroon's main railway, the Transcamerounais, ends at which northern town?

Ngaoundéré has been the line's northern terminus since the 1970s; goods bound farther north, for Garoua and Chad, switch to the main road there.

Which critically endangered gorilla subspecies, a few hundred strong, straddles the Cameroon–Nigeria border?

The Cross River gorilla is the rarest gorilla, with fewer than 300 left; in 2008 Cameroon created Takamanda National Park on the Nigerian border to protect about 115 of them.

Which couturier, a guest on Paris's haute couture calendar from 2020, is Cameroonian?

Imane Ayissi danced with Cameroon's national ballet and modelled for Dior, Givenchy and Lanvin before turning designer; in January 2020 he showed as a guest member on the Paris couture schedule.