Cameroon Trivia
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67 free Cameroon trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Cameroon is called "Africa in miniature" because it packs the whole continent into one country: Atlantic beaches, rainforest, the Sahel, an active volcano and roughly 250 languages. It was named after shrimp by Portuguese sailors, colonised by Germany, split between France and Britain, and has been run by the same president since 1982. Its footballers were the first Africans to reach a World Cup quarter-final, and its musicians gave the world the most sampled African song in history. This quiz covers geography (Mount Cameroon, Lake Nyos, the Sanaga, Rhumsiki), history (Kamerun, the mandates, Ahidjo and Biya, Bakassi, the Anglophone crisis), symbols (the flag, the CFA franc, the anthem), culture (makossa and bikutsi, ndole, the Bamum script, Ngondo) and sport (Milla, Eto'o, Embiid, Siakam, Ngannou, the Race of Hope). Questions run from easy to expert. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and other reference pages before publishing.
30 of 67 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital city of Cameroon?
Yaoundé
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.
Q 02Which port city is regarded as Cameroon's economic capital?
Douala
Douala sits on the Wouri estuary, and its port handles most of Cameroon's exports of oil, cocoa, coffee and timber.
Q 03Cameroon's name comes from the Portuguese Rio dos Camarões, meaning river of what?
Shrimp
The Portuguese named the Wouri estuary for its swarms of ghost shrimp, Lepidophthalmus turneranus, which periodically fill the river in huge numbers.
Q 04Because it has coast, desert, mountains, rainforest and savanna, Cameroon is often nicknamed what?
Africa in miniature
The nickname Africa in miniature captures that variety; Cameroon straddles West and Central Africa and its people speak around 250 native languages.
Q 05Who became president of Cameroon in 1982?
Paul Biya
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.
Q 06Who was Cameroon's first president, serving from independence until his surprise resignation in 1982?
Ahmadou Ahidjo
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.
Q 07Where did most of Kamerun's German troops flee in 1916 to escape capture?
Spanish Guinea
Spanish Guinea was neutral, so the German commander led his troops into its mainland territory, Río Muni, early in 1916.
Q 08After World War I, which treaty stripped Germany of Kamerun and its other colonies?
The Treaty of Versailles
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.
Q 09Which British-run territory voted in 1961 to join Cameroon?
Southern Cameroons
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.
Q 10Cameroon's National Day, 20 May, marks a 1972 referendum that did what?
Abolished the federal system for a unitary state
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.
Q 11What emblem sits in the centre of Cameroon's tricolour flag?
Star
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.
Q 12Cameroon's flag was first adopted in 1957 as a vertical tricolour of which three colours?
Green, red and yellow
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.
Q 13Which currency does Cameroon use?
The CFA franc
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.
Q 21Which Cameroonian striker won the Champions League with Barcelona and Inter Milan?
Samuel Eto'o
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.
Q 22Cameroon won Olympic gold in men's football at which Games?
Sydney 2000
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.
Q 23Which triple jumper won Cameroon Olympic gold at both Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008?
Françoise Mbango Etone
Françoise Mbango Etone's 15.39 m in Beijing set an Olympic record that stood until 2021; she later switched to competing for France.
Q 14What are the two official languages of Cameroon?
French and English
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.
Q 15Under what name have Anglophone separatists sought independence in Cameroon's Northwest and Southwest since 2017?
Ambazonia
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.
Q 16Which body settled the Cameroon-Nigeria dispute over the Bakassi peninsula in 2002?
The International Court of Justice
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.
Q 17Cameroon's men's national football team is nicknamed what?
The Indomitable Lions
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.
Q 18In 1990 Cameroon became the first African team in a World Cup quarter-final, losing narrowly to whom?
England
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.
Q 19Which veteran striker came out of retirement to star for Cameroon at Italia '90?
Roger Milla
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.
Q 20A 42-year-old Cameroonian became the World Cup's oldest scorer in 1994 against which team, whose striker scored a record five?
Russia
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.
Q 24Cameroon-born Joel Embiid was named NBA Most Valuable Player in 2023 while playing centre for which team?
Philadelphia 76ers
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.
Q 25Which Cameroonian forward won an NBA title with the Toronto Raptors in 2019?
Pascal Siakam
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.
Q 26Which Cameroonian fighter held the UFC heavyweight title from 2021 to 2023?
Francis Ngannou
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.
Q 27Which 1972 Manu Dibango hit lent its chant to Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin''?
Soul Makossa
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.
Q 28Which fast 6/8 dance music comes from the Beti people who live around Cameroon's capital?
Bikutsi
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.
Q 29The Cameroonian pop style makossa takes its name from the language of which coastal people?
The Duala
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.
Q 30Sultan Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamum kingdom is remembered for inventing what in 1896?
A writing script for his language
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.