Cameroon GCE Ordinary Level History flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Rio dos Camarões

Name given by Portuguese explorers around 1472 to the Wouri estuary, meaning 'river of prawns'; it became the origin of the country's name Cameroon.

Sao civilisation

Early civilisation around Lake Chad in northern Cameroon, known for bronze and terracotta artefacts and walled settlements; it flourished roughly between the 9th and 15th centuries.

Bamum kingdom

Kingdom centred at Foumban in the western highlands, ruled by kings (fon) such as Njoya, who developed the Bamum script and maintained a strong court and craft tradition.

Alfred Saker

British Baptist missionary who bought land from local chiefs and founded Victoria (now Limbe) in 1858, establishing a lasting British missionary and commercial foothold on the coast.

Gustav Nachtigal

German explorer and consul who signed treaties with Douala chiefs Bell and Akwa in 1884 and proclaimed German protection over Kamerun, beginning colonial rule.

German Kamerun

The German protectorate over Cameroon from 1884 to 1916, marked by plantations, railway construction, forced labour and harsh suppression of local revolts.

Jesko von Puttkamer

German governor of Kamerun from 1895 to 1907, associated with coercive labour policies, plantation expansion and brutal repression of African resistance.

Bassa uprising

Revolt in the Bassa region around 1904–1905 against German forced labour and taxation; it was crushed by German forces with heavy loss of life.

1916 partition

After Germany's defeat in Kamerun during World War I, Britain and France divided the territory, France taking the larger eastern part and Britain the smaller western strips.

Class B mandate

League of Nations mandate granted in 1922 to Britain and France over former German Kamerun, requiring them to administer the territory and report to the League.

UN Trust Territory

Status from 1946 when the League mandates over British and French Cameroons became United Nations trust territories, supervised through visiting missions and reports.

UPC

Union des Populations du Cameroun, founded in 1948, which demanded immediate independence and reunification; banned in 1955, it led an armed rebellion in French Cameroun.

Ruben Um Nyobè

Leader of the UPC and symbol of Cameroonian nationalism; he led resistance against French rule and was killed by French forces in 1958.

Ahidjo

Ahmadou Ahidjo, first president of independent Cameroon from 1960, who led French Cameroun to independence and later the federation with Southern Cameroons.

1 January 1960

Date French Cameroun gained independence from France, with Ahmadou Ahidjo as president and a new republican constitution coming into force.

1961 plebiscite

Vote held on 11 February 1961 in which British Southern Cameroons chose union with the Republic of Cameroun, while Northern Cameroons chose to join Nigeria.

Foumban Conference

Constitutional conference held in July 1961 at Foumban where representatives of Southern Cameroons and Cameroun agreed the terms of the federal constitution.

Federal Republic

Cameroon's system from 1 October 1961 to 1972, joining West Cameroon (British) and East Cameroon (French) under a federal president and vice-president.

John Ngu Foncha

Leader of Southern Cameroons who campaigned for reunification and became the first vice-president of the Federal Republic of Cameroon in 1961.

20 May 1972 referendum

National vote that approved abolishing the federation and creating the United Republic of Cameroon, concentrating power in a single unitary state.

Paul Biya

Became president of Cameroon on 6 November 1982 after Ahidjo's resignation; he survived a 1984 coup attempt and later introduced multi-party politics.

Douala chiefs

Coastal rulers such as Bell and Akwa who controlled trade at the Wouri estuary and signed treaties with European powers, including the 1884 German protection treaty.

Kanem-Bornu

Sahelian empire around Lake Chad whose influence reached northern Cameroon, spreading Islam and long-distance trade links across the region.

Transatlantic slave trade

Forced export of Africans across the Atlantic from the 17th to 19th centuries; Douala and Bimbia were key coastal trading points, and the trade destabilised hinterland societies.

Plantation economy

Colonial system in which large estates (cocoa, coffee, rubber, bananas) were worked by forced or cheap African labour, notably under German and later French rule.

Indirect rule

British colonial policy of governing through existing local chiefs and institutions, applied in Southern Cameroons under the mandate and trust territory systems.

Assimilation policy

French colonial doctrine aiming to turn selected Africans into French citizens culturally and politically, applied in French Cameroun alongside direct administration.

Maquis rebellion

Armed nationalist insurgency in French Cameroun in the 1950s and early 1960s, led largely by the UPC and suppressed by French and later Cameroonian forces.

Source reliability

Judgement of how trustworthy a historical source is, based on its origin, purpose, audience, date and possible bias, rather than on whether it is primary or secondary.

Cause and consequence

Historical skill of explaining why an event happened and what followed from it, for example how the 1884 treaties led to German colonial rule and later partition.

Chronology skill

Ability to place events in correct order and date them, such as 1884 protectorate, 1916 partition, 1922 mandate, 1960 independence and 1961 federation.

Nationalism

Movement seeking self-rule and unity for a people; in Cameroon it produced the UPC, the independence struggle and the reunification campaign of the 1950s and 1960s.