Cameroon

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Cameroon fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇳🇬 Bornu Empire1570 to 1603

   Bornu, master of Lake Chad, fights the Sao towns on its southern shores. Under Mai Idris Alooma in the late sixteenth century it subdues them, and the Kotoko city states that follow become its tributaries.

2. 🇳🇬 Sokoto Caliphate (Adamawa)1809 to 1901

   Fulani armies of Modibo Adama conquer the northern plateaus from 1809 and raid south for slaves, pressing the grassfield kingdoms. Their power ends when British and German forces take Yola, Garoua and Ngaoundéré in 1901.

3. 🇩🇪 German Empire1884 to 1916

   German forces spend years conquering the interior against strong resistance. In August 1914 they hang Rudolf Duala Manga Bell, king of the Duala, who had protested the seizure of his people's land. Allied armies drive the Germans out in 1916.

4. 🇫🇷 France1955 to 1971

   France, ruling most of Cameroon under a United Nations trusteeship, bans the UPC in 1955 and fights its rebellion. After 1960, French officers help the new state crush the remaining guerrillas, a war that kills tens of thousands.

5. 🇳🇬 Nigeria1981 to 2008

   The two countries clash over the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula in 1981 and 1994. In 2002 the International Court of Justice awards Bakassi to Cameroon, and after the 2006 Greentree Agreement Nigeria completes its withdrawal in 2008.

6. Boko Haram and Islamic State West AfricaSince 2014Still open

   Jihadists from north eastern Nigeria raid Cameroon's Far North from 2014, kidnapping and killing civilians and attacking soldiers around Lake Chad. Cameroon fights them within a regional force with Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

7. Anglophone separatists (Ambazonia)Since 2017Still open

   Protests in 2016 by lawyers and teachers in the English speaking regions turn into an armed separatist conflict in 2017. Fighters declaring a state called Ambazonia battle the army, and thousands have been killed.

Today

Cameroon now

Powerful chiefdoms ruled much of the area of present-day Cameroon before it became a German colony known as Kamerun in 1884. After World War I, the territory was divided between France and the UK as League of Nations mandates. French Cameroon became independent in 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon. The following year, the southern portion of neighboring British Cameroon voted to merge with the new country to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

Capital

Yaoundé

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

Joseph Ngute

Head of state

Paul Biya

Languages

French, English

Area

475,442 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population28.4 million2023 · 4.3 million in 1950
• Life expectancy63.7 years2023 · 33.1 years in 1950
• GDP per person$2,8122022 · $1,070 in 1950
• Living in cities56%2025 · 11% in 1950
• Literacy73%2018 · 8% in 1950
• Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending1.1% of GDP2025
• War deaths1.2 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.