|RConstitution:|N Republic. Presidential regime with one party. A series of political reforms have been launched.
|RNational holiday:|N National Day, May 20.
|RNature and climate:|N Stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad. By the Atlantic coast is the Cameroon Mountain reaching 4070 m.a.s.l. Most of Cameroon is a highland plateau with several mountainchains. The Bamboutes and Adamaoua chains divide the country in a southern and a northern part.
North of these mountains steppe is the most common vegetation. On the Atlantic coast mangrove forests and in the interior south of the mountains tree savannah.
Average temperature between 24 and 27°C throughout the country and the year.
Percipitation varies between 3000 and 4000 mm by the Atlantic coast and 1000 mm in the northern parts.
|RPeople:|N There are more than 200 different ethnic groups. In the south mainly different Bantu-tribes and in the north Fulani and Sudan tribes. Biggest groups: 31% Cameroon highlanders, 19% Equatorial Bantus, 11% Kirdi and 10% Fulani.
|REconomy:|N 74% of the labour force is occupied in agriculture and 11% in industry and commerce.
Cameroon have a good climate for agriculture and this industry is well developed. Agriculture has been the base for the economy many years and the most important crops are coffee, coca, timber, cotton and rubber. The country is self-sufficient in food, and much of the crops can be exported.
Forestry is traditionally controlled by foreigners but since 1980 several sawmills, production of fibres and a paperpulp factory has been opened.
Cameroon have oil, natural gas, iron ore, bauxite and hydroelectric power. Oil was discovered in 1976 and the money from the export has been invested in industrial development in many fields as well as in the infra structure.
The falling oilprices in the 1980:ies led to economic turmoil, but the healthy agricultural sector helped the country.
|RHistory:|N 1000 years ago the Sao people settled in the area. Later other people like the Bamileke, Bassa, Douala and Fulani settled here too.
Portuguese opened trading stations in Cameroon in the 15th century and from 1500 to the early 19th century the slave trade heavily reduced the population.
In 1884 Germany made Cameroon a protectorate, which was expanded with surrounding areas in 1901 and 1911. British and French troops occupied the area during World War I and after the war Cameroon was divided in one British and one French mandate from the League of Nations. These mandates were prolonged by the UN after World War II.
The French mandate received full independence in 1960 and the southern part of the British joined this independent country, while the northern part of the British mandate joined Nigeria.
The cultural differences between the many peoples in Cameroon led to a civil war.
During the first independent period Cameroon had a multiparty political system and there was one party for each tribe. In 1966 all the parties were amalgamated in the Cameroon National Union, which has since then. Recently reforms have been launched to allow more than one candidate to stand for office in each constituency.
