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Little is known about Cameroun before 1472 when the Portuguese arrived, exclaiming “Camaroes” in amazament at the large number of giant shrimps - hence the countries name. It is believed by many, however, that Hanno the Carthaginian visited the region in the 6th century from his description of an active volcano - apparently Mt. Cameroun - as a “chariot of the gods”.
Until the mid-19th century southern Cameroun´s history, like the rest of coastal Africa,, revolved around the slave trade. Nothern Cameroun, by contrast, was a battleground for control by various great empires, first the Kanem-Bornu in Chad, later the Fulani. When the Germans arrived in the late 19th century the whole of “feudal” northern Cameroun was under the control of the Fulani empire in Sokot
o (Nigeria).
In 1884 Cameroun became a German colony. The Germans built schools, wharves along the coast, a railway from Douala towards Yaoundé, and 1000 sq km of plantations around Mt. Cameroun. But German rule was harsh. At one plantation the death rate of labourers in one year was 20%.
After WW 1 the Leage of Nations gave the French a mandate over 80% of the territory and the British a mandate over two non-contiguous areas, one in the south-western highlands an
d one in the north, thereby dividing what was considered one country into three under two tutor nations. This was hardly conducive to later unification. The British neglected the British Cameroons, focusing their attention instead on neighbouring Nigeria from where the territory was governed. Within five years they had sold the plantations back to their former German owners. The French, in contrast, completed the railway to Yaoundé (using forced labour, prohibited by the mandate), developed cocoa and palm-oil plantations and exported timber, causing a fivefold increase in the value of the territory´s trade between the wars.
During the 1950s, two political parties espousing independence arose in French Cameroun - the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) supported by southerners, particularly the Bamiléké and the Bassa; and the Union Camerounaise, led by a northerner and ardent Muslim, Ahmadou Ahidjo. Ahidjo´s party gained the upper hand in the new assembly, formed in the mid-50s, which was naturally resented by the southerners. In 1960, following independence, a Bamiléké uprising was suppressed with the help of five battalions of French troups and a squadron of fighter bombs. Thousands were ruthlessly killed. In the same year elections for the assembly were held and Ahidjo became president. In 1961 both parts of British Cameroons held a referendum to decide whether to join in what they thought would be a loose federation with the new country. Southern Cameroons voted in favour of federations while Northern Cameroons voted against, preferring to become part of Nigeria. In 1972 French Cameroun and Southern British Cameroun voted to merge as a single “republic” with one assembly.
Ahidjo was re-elected without opposition in 1975. He gave some southerners important positions in the government (among them Paul Biya), but power rested with a small clique of northern Muslim “barons” close to him. During Ahidjo´s reign some 10.000 to 30.000 people were thrown into jail as political prisoners. The state of emergency declared during the 1960 Bamiléké uprising remained in effect as did newspaper censorship.
In 1982 Ahidjo suddenly and unexpectedly announced his resignation. His hand-picked successor was Paul Biya. Biya started replacing the old “barons” with people of his own tribe, the Beti. In 1983, Ahidjo was accused of masterminding an unsuccessful coup attempt, was forced into exile and sentenced to death in absentia. In 1990, furious with Biya´s inept handling of the economy and sqandering of public funds, the Cameroun people (in particular the anglophones of western Cameroun) began to openly accuse the government of mismanagement and excessive corruption. They formed a new party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF). Using machine guns, government forces dissolved the initial meeting in Bamenda, leaving behind 12 dead and many injured. The founding of many other political parties and independent newspapers followed as well as mass demonstrations, frequently ending in shootings. When Biya refused to call a national conference to draft a new constitution, the political parties called on the population to strike and use all forms of civil disobedience. Off and on during 1991, following the Bafoussam villes mortes (ghost town) plan of action, most offices, shops and markets in the western provinces were closed on weekdays and most taxis didn´t run. Biya responded by installing military rule in seven of the country´s 10 provinces. But finally he had no choice but to call for immediate parliamentary elections, the first multiparty polls in over 30 years. The opposition parties won 52% of the seats, and in early 1992, the new prime minister, Simon Achidi Achu, annonced a new coalition government. Later that year Biya called for presidential elections and won over the scattered unprepared opposition, causing widespread rioting in western Cameroun. He is still president of Cameroun, although he is said to spend more time in Baden-Baden and Monaco than in his own country.