Cameroon Research Paper

Cameroon, or ‘Africa in miniature’, contains all of Africa’s different types of geographic landforms, weather, and cultures in a small area making it an extremely diverse country. There are many reasons why Cameroon is such a diverse country; however, Cameroon’s five geographic and climatic zones are the main and underlying reason why Cameroon has so many diverse ethnic cultures, such as the Kirdi in the warm desert climate, the Fulani in the warm semi-arid climate, the western highlanders in the tropical savannah climate, the pygmies and Fang-Beti in the monsoon climate, and the Bantu in the equatorial climate (Mbaku). These cultures contrast in the way that they live their lives according to what the land and climate look like around them.
Cameroon is surrounded by Nigeria, Chad, Congo, Gabon, and Guinea (Pondi). The reasoning behind this is because of the mixture of desert plains in the north, mountains in its central region, and tropical rainforests in its southern regions. Cameroon consists of mountains especially on its western side along with some volcanic activity. Cameroon is known to have over two-hundred-fifty ethnic groups and over two-hundred-seventy languages. Cameroon makes a majority of their money in the oil industry (National Geographic). Cameroon still has ancient traditions of colorful festivals, arts, and crafts. What is ironic about Cameroon is that it is overall a peaceful country and has had the same ruler for a long time even though Cameroon is so diverse and is made up of a bunch of different ethnic groups with contrasting opinions. The answer to how this could happen is due to the fact that they have allowed for the different cultures to be separate; they do not force them to follow the same laws or ideas
The region is also made up of coastal tropical forests and includes Bantu people. They make up twelve percent of Cameroon. Two of the ethnic groups inside Bantu are the Bassa and Douala. These people make a living by farming and fishing. Alike the Fang-Beti people and the pygmies, the Bantu people thrived from Christian missionaries and were well educated. These people migrated very south over time to avoid converting to Islam completely. The Bantu people also were highly resourceful and adapted to southern Cameroon well. They were one of the firsts to encounter European culture. These people can be found on both banks of the Wouri River