Editing Cameroon (section)

===French and British rule===
{{main|French Cameroon|British Cameroon}}
[[File:UPC-LEADERS.jpg|thumb|right|Leaders of the pro-independence [[Union of the Peoples of Cameroon|UPC]]]]
With the defeat of Germany in [[World War I]], Kamerun became a [[League of Nations mandate]] territory and was split into [[French Cameroon]] ({{langx|fr|Cameroun}}) and [[British Cameroon]] in 1919. France integrated the economy of Cameroon with that of France<ref name="DeLancey 5">[[#DeLancey|DeLancey and DeLancey]] 5.</ref> and improved the infrastructure with capital investments and skilled workers, modifying the colonial system of forced labour.<ref name="DeLancey 125"/>

The British administered their territory from neighbouring [[Nigeria]]. Natives complained that this made them a neglected "colony of a colony". Nigerian migrant workers flocked to Southern Cameroons, ending forced labour altogether but angering the local natives, who felt swamped.<ref>[[#DeLancey|DeLancey and DeLancey]] 4.</ref> The League of Nations mandates were converted into [[United Nations Trusteeship Council|United Nations Trusteeships]] in 1946, and the question of independence became a pressing issue in French Cameroon.<ref name="DeLancey 5"/>

France outlawed the pro-independence political party, the [[Union of the Peoples of Cameroon]] ({{langx|fr|Union des Populations du Cameroun}}, UPC), on 13 July 1955.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Terretta |first1=M. |title=Cameroonian Nationalists Go Global: From Forest Maquis to a Pan-African Accra |doi=10.1017/S0021853710000253 |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=189–212 |year=2010 |s2cid=154604590 }}</ref> This prompted a [[Bamileke War|long guerrilla war]] waged by the UPC and the assassination of several of the party's leaders, including [[Ruben Um Nyobè]], [[Félix-Roland Moumié]] and [[Ernest Ouandie]]. In the British Cameroons, the question was whether to reunify with French Cameroon or join Nigeria; the British ruled out the option of independence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Takougang |first1=J. |title=Nationalism, democratisation and political opportunism in Cameroon |doi=10.1080/0258900032000142455 |journal=Journal of Contemporary African Studies |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=427–445 |year=2003 |s2cid=153564848 }}</ref>