Editing History of Cameroon (section)

==Colonial period==
{{Further|German Kamerun|French Cameroun|British Cameroon}}
===Scramble for Africa and German Kamerun (1884–1918)===
[[Image:Cameroon boundary changes.PNG|thumb|right|'''Cameroon over time'''
{{legend|#FF8241|German [[Kamerun]]}}
{{legend|#FE0000|British [[Cameroons]]}}
{{legend|blue|French [[Cameroun]]}}
{{legend|#008200|Republic of [[Cameroon]]}}
]]
The [[Scramble for Africa]] beginning in the late 1870s, saw European powers, primarily seeking to establish formal control over the parts of Africa not yet colonized. The Cameroon coast was of interest to both the British, already established in what is now Nigeria and with missionaries outposts in several towns, and the Germans who had extensive trading relationships and plantations established in the [[Douala]] region. On July 5, 1884, German explorer and administrator [[Gustav Nachtigal]] began signing agreements with [[Duala people|Duala]] leaders establishing a German protectorate in the region. A brief conflict ensued with rival Duala chiefs which Germany and its allies won, leaving the British with little choice but to acknowledge Germany's claim to the region. The borders of modern Cameroon were established through a series of negotiations with the British and French. Germany established an administration for the colony with a capital first at [[Buea]] and later at [[Yaoundé]] and continued to explore the interior and co-opt or subjugate local rulers. The largest conflicts were the [[Bafut Wars]] and the [[Adamawa Wars]] which ended by 1907 with German victories.[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 163-051, Kamerun, Weihnachten am Mungo.jpg|thumb|German Settlers celebrating [[Christmas]] in Kamerun|left]]

Germany was particularly interested in Cameroon's [[Agriculture|agricultural]] potential and entrusted large firms with the task of exploiting and exporting it. German Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] defined the order of priorities as follows: "first the merchant, then the soldier". It was under the influence of a businessman [[Adolph Woermann]], whose company set up a trading house in [[Douala]], that Bismarck, initially skeptical about the interest of the colonial project, was convinced. Large German trading companies ([[Woermann-Linie|Woermann]], [[Jantzen & Thormählen]]) and concession companies ([[:de: Südkamerun Gesellschaft|Südkamerun Gesellschaft]], [[:de: Nord-West Kamerun Gesellschaft|Nord-West Kamerun Gesellschaft]]) established themselves massively in the colony. Letting the big companies impose their order, the administration simply supported them, protected them, and tried to eliminate indigenous rebellions.<ref name=modo />[[File:SMS OLGA bei der Beschießung von Hickorytown (Duala), Kamerun, Dezember 1884.jpg|thumb|The German [[corvette]] SMS OLGA bombarding Hickorytown (now [[Douala]] in December 1884]]The Imperial German government made substantial investments in the [[infrastructure]] of Cameroon, including the extensive [[railway]]s, such as the 160-metre [[Japoma Bridge|single-span railway bridge]] on the southern branch of [[Sanaga River]]. However, the indigenous peoples proved reluctant to work on these projects, so the Germans instigated a harsh and unpopular system of [[unfree labour|forced labour]].<ref>DeLancey and DeLancey 125.</ref> In fact, [[Jesko von Puttkamer]] was relieved of duty as governor of the colony due to his untoward actions toward the native Cameroonians.<ref>DeLancey and DeLancey 226.</ref> In 1911 at the [[Treaty of Fez]] after the [[Agadir Crisis]], France ceded a nearly 300,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> portion of the territory of [[French Equatorial Africa]] to Kamerun which became [[Neukamerun]] (New Cameroon), while Germany ceded a smaller area in the north in present-day [[Chad]] to France.

Shortly after the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914, the British invaded Cameroon from [[Nigeria]] and the French from [[French Equatorial Africa]] in the [[Kamerun campaign]]. The last German fort in the country [[Siege of Mora|surrendered]] in February 1916. After the Allied victory, the territory was partitioned between the United Kingdom and France, which was formalized on June 28, 1919, with [[League of Nations mandate#Class B mandates|League of Nations mandates (Class B)]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=British Mandate for the Cameroons |journal=The American Journal of International Law |year=1923 |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=138–141 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2212948 |publisher=JSTOR|doi=10.2307/2212948 |jstor=2212948 |s2cid=246004050 }}</ref> France gained the larger geographical share, transferred Neukamerun back to neighboring French colonies, and ruled the rest from Yaoundé as [[French Cameroun|Cameroun]] (French Cameroons).<ref name=":0" /> Britain's territory, a strip bordering [[Nigeria]] from the sea to [[Lake Chad]], with a roughly equal population was ruled from [[Lagos]] as part of Nigeria, known as [[Cameroons]] (British Cameroons).<ref name=":0" />

===French Cameroon (1918–1960)===
====League of Nations Mandate, Free France, and UN Trust Territory====
[[File:Missionnaire Cameroun.jpg|thumb|right|French Missionary with the Sultan of [[Ngaoundéré]] in 1920]]
The French administration declined to return much of the property in Cameroon to its prior German owners, reassigning much of it to French companies. This was particularly the case for the [[SOCFIN Group|Société financière des Caoutchoucs]], which obtained plantations put into operation during the German period and became the largest company in French Cameroon. Roads and other infrastructure projects were undertaken with native labor, often in extremely harsh conditions. The Douala-Yaoundé railway line, begun under the German regime, was completed. Thousands of workers were forcibly deported to this site to work fifty-four hours a week. Workers also suffered from lack of food and the massive presence of mosquitoes and related illnesses. In 1925, the mortality rate on the site was 61.7%. However, the other sites were not as deadly, although working conditions were generally very harsh.<ref name=modo />

French Cameroon joined the [[Free France]] in August 1940. The system established by Free France was essentially a military dictatorship. [[Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque]] established a state of siege throughout the country and abolished almost all public freedom. The objective was to neutralize any potential feelings of independence or sympathy for the former German colonizer. Indigenous people known for their Germanophilia were executed in public places. In 1945, the country was placed under the supervision of the United Nations, as successor to the League of Nations, which left Cameroon under French control as a [[UN Trust Territory]].

====Independence Movement====
[[File:UPC-LEADERS.jpg|thumb|right|The leaders of the UPC]]
In 1948, the [[Union des populations du Cameroun]] (UPC), a nationalist movement, was founded and [[Ruben Um Nyobe]] took over as its leader. In May 1955, the arrests of independence activists were followed by riots in several cities across the country. The repression caused several dozen or hundreds of deaths - the French administration officially lists twenty-two, although secret reports acknowledge many more. The UPC was banned and nearly 800 of its activists were arrested, many of whom would be beaten in prison. Because they were wanted by the police, UPC activists took refuge in the forests, where they formed guerilla bands; they also took refuge in neighboring British Cameroon. The French authorities repressed these events and made arbitrary arrests. The party received the support of personalities such as Gamal Abdel Nasser and Kwame Nkrumah and France's action was denounced at the UN by representatives of countries such as India, Syria, and the Soviet Union.<ref name=modo>Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, Jacob Tatsita, Kamerun !, La Découverte, 2019</ref>

An insurrection broke out among the [[Bassa people (Cameroon)|Bassa people]] on 18 to 19 December 1956. Several dozen anti-UPC figures were murdered or kidnapped, bridges, telephone lines, and other infrastructure were sabotaged. The French military and native security forces violently repressed these uprisings, which led to many native Cameroonians joining the cause of independence and long-running guerilla war. Several UPC militias were formed though their access to weapons was very limited. Though the UPC was a multi-ethnic movement, the pro-independence movement was seen as particularly strong among the [[Bamileke]] and [[Bassa people (Cameroon)|Bassa]] peoples, and both were targeted by the French for severe repression, including razing of villages, forced relocations, and indiscriminate killings in what was sometimes called the [[Bamileke War]] or the Cameroon Independence War. Though the uprising was suppressed, guerilla violence and reprisals continued even after independence.

[[Cameroonian parliamentary election, 1956|Legislative elections]] were held on 23 December 1956 and the resulting Assembly passed a decree on 16 April 1957 which made French Cameroon a state. It took back its former status of associated territory as a member of the [[French Union]]. Its inhabitants became Cameroonian citizens, and Cameroonian institutions were created under a parliamentary democracy. On 12 June 1958, the Legislative Assembly of French Cameroon asked the French government to: "Accord independence to the State of Cameroon at the ends of their trusteeship. Transfer every competence related to the running of internal affairs of Cameroon to Cameroonians". On 19 October 1958, France recognized the right of its [[United Nations trust territories|United Nations trust territory]] to choose independence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/10/20/archives/cameroons-gets-freedom-pledge-paris-backs-independence-for-african.html?sq=Cameroon%2520independence&scp=1&st=p|title=CAMEROONS GETS FREEDOM PLEDGE; Paris Backs Independence for African Trust Territory After Interim Self-Rule|first=Thomas F.|last=Brady|date=20 October 1958|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref> On 24 October 1958, the Legislative Assembly of French Cameroon solemnly proclaimed the desire of Cameroonians to see their country accede full independence on 1 January 1960. It enjoined the government of French Cameroon to ask France to inform the General Assembly of the United Nations, to abrogate the trusteeship accord concomitant with the independence of French Cameroon.

On 12 November 1958, France asked the United Nations to grant French Cameroon independence and end the Trusteeship. On 5 December 1958, the United Nations’ General Assembly took note of the French government's declaration according to which French Cameroon would gain independence on 1 January 1960.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cameroon50.cm/en/history-and-presentation/167-tutelle-a-independance.html |title=From trusteeship to independence (1946–1960) |access-date=2011-12-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027131756/http://www.cameroon50.cm/en/history-and-presentation/167-tutelle-a-independance.html |archive-date=27 October 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Question of the future of the Trust Territories of the Cameroons under French administration and the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration|id=A/RES/1282(XIII) |url=https://undocs.org/A/RES/1282(XIII)|website=undocs.org|publisher=United Nations|access-date=17 March 2017|language=en}}</ref> On 13 March 1959, the United Nations’ General Assembly resolved that the UN Trusteeship Agreement with France for French Cameroon would end when French Cameroon became independent on 1 January 1960.<ref>{{cite web|title=The future of the Trust Territories of the Cameroons under French administration|id=A/RES/1349(XIII) |url=https://undocs.org/A/RES/1349(XIII)|website=undocs.org|publisher=United Nations|access-date=17 March 2017|language=en}}</ref>

===British Cameroons (1918–1961)===

====Nigerian administration====
[[File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-20-9.jpg|thumb|The first Premier of Southern Cameroons, [[E. M. L. Endeley|Dr. Endeley]] (first row, third from right) in [[Bamenda]]]]
The British territory was administered as two areas, [[Northern Cameroons]] and [[Southern Cameroons]]. Northern Cameroons consisted of two non-contiguous sections, divided by a point where the Nigerian and Cameroon borders met and were governed as part of the [[Northern Region, Nigeria|Northern Region of Nigeria]]. Southern Cameroons was administered as a province of [[Eastern Nigeria]]. In British Cameroons, many German administrators were allowed to run the plantations of the southern coastal area after World War I. A British parliamentary publication, ''Report on the British Sphere of the Cameroons'' (May 1922, p.&nbsp;62-8), reported that the German plantations there were "as a whole . . . wonderful examples of industry, based on solid scientific knowledge. The natives have been taught discipline and have come to realize what can be achieved by industry. Large numbers who return to their villages take up cocoa or other cultivation on their own account, thus increasing the general prosperity of the country." In the 1930s, most of the white population still consisted of [[Germans]], most of whom were interned in British camps starting in June 1940. The native population showed little interest in volunteering for the British forces during World War II; only 3,500 men did so.<ref>I.C.B Dear, ed, ''The Oxford Companion to World War II'' (1995) p 163</ref>

When the [[League of Nations]] ceased to exist in 1946, British Cameroons was reclassified as a [[UN trust territory]], administered through the [[UN Trusteeship Council]], but remained under British control. The United Nations approved the Trusteeship Agreements for British Cameroons to be governed by Britain on June 12, 1946.

====Plebiscite and independence====
French Cameroun became independent, as Cameroun or Cameroon, in January 1960, and Nigeria was scheduled for independence later that same year, which raised the question of what to do with the British territory. After some discussion (which had been going on since 1959), a [[British Cameroons referendum, 1961|plebiscite]] was agreed to and held on 11 February 1961. The Muslim-majority Northern area opted for union with Nigeria, and the Southern area voted to join Cameroon.<ref>Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p177 {{ISBN|0-19-829645-2}}</ref>