#2022 World Cup #2022 Qatar World Cup Finals Introduction to the participating countries – Cameroon
Cameroon, known as the Republic of Cameroon, is located in the middle of the African continent, covering an area of 475,000 square kilometers and administratively divided into 10 regions. In 2022, the population is 27.68 million, and there are about 240 tribes, and no ethnic population proportion is dominant. Catholicism and Protestantism are 60 per cent, Islam 20 per cent and traditional religions 19 per cent. French and English are both official languages. Cameroon, which means "lobster" in Portuguese, originates from the Sanaga River, which is rich in lobsters in Cameroon. Cameroon is twice the size of the mainland Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and has a population of about half that of mainland Guangxi.
(1) It was once a French and British trusteeship
Cameroon's earliest inhabitants were the Pygmies of the Baka tribe, and the Bantu-speaking ethnic group originated in Cameroon's highlands. In the 7th century BC, a number of tribal kingdoms and tribal confederations began to form within Cameroon. From the 15th to the 19th century, Portuguese, Dutch, British, French and German colonists invaded Cameroon. During World War I, French and British forces drove out German power, and five-sixths of eastern Cameroon was occupied by France and one-sixth of western Cameroon by Britain. In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly established Cameroon as a French and British trusteeship. In 1960, the French Mandate became the Republic of Cameroon. In 1961, the British Mandate was incorporated into Nigeria in the northern part and merged with the Republic of Cameroon in the south to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In 1972, the Federal Republic of Cameroon became the United Republic of Cameroon. In 1984, the United Republic of Cameroon changed its name to the Republic of Cameroon, which continues to this day.
(2) French and English are both official English
Cameroon consists of the former French Mandate and the British Mandate, with 70% French-speaking residents and 30% English-speaking, so French and English are both official languages. For a long time, there has been a contradiction between the English-speaking and French-speaking areas. The English-speaking region is small in size and small in number of people, and has long been discriminated against by the French-speaking community.
(3) Africa in miniature
Cameroon has a large ethnic group, with more than 250 traditional national languages, each with its own unique customs and traditions, and is recognized as the most linguistically diverse country in the world. Cameroon is rich not only in cultural diversity, but also in its geology. Cameroon covers the geography of almost all African countries, not only plateaus, plains, beaches, mountains, rainforests, but also savannahs and deserts. Because of its cultural and geological diversity, Cameroon is also known as "Africa in miniature".
(4) The current president who has been in power for the second longest time
Cameroon is one of the 56 members of the Commonwealth but is not a member of the Commonwealth Kingdom and does not have the King of the United Kingdom as its head of state. Cameroon is a presidential republic in which the President is the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, elected directly by voters for a seven-year renewable term. The current president, Paul Biya, was born in 1933 and is 89 years old. He has been president since 1982 and was re-elected in 1988, 1992, 1997, 2004, 2011 and 2018, making him the second longest-serving incumbent in the world after the President of Equatorial Guinea, Odoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
(5) Polygamy
Cameroon has two types of marriage regimes — monogamy and polygamy — corresponding to two marriage certificates. A couple decides at the time of their first marriage whether the family is monogamous or polygamous. If the parties decide to be monogamous, they receive a monogamous marriage certificate, and the husband may not marry another woman during their marriage, otherwise it is considered illegal. Conversely, if the parties decide to marry for the first time in a polygamous family, they can marry multiple wives with the consent of the original wife, and there is no limit to the number. In Cameroon, certain wealthy people marry a dozen wives and have so many children that they can't even name themselves.
(6) Adoption of step-marriage
Cameroon has a large number of ethnic groups and different customs, and some tribes have customs that provide for the inheritance of a father's or brother's wife and property, which in ancient times on the continent was called a succession marriage. The ancient Xiongnu had the custom of accepting and inheriting marriages, and after Wang Zhaojun came out of Cyprus, he married father and son three times and gave birth to three children, according to the Han generation, her son is the uncle of her two daughters. In Cameroon, notwithstanding this custom, the consent of the decedent's wife is required for implementation. Wives who have lost their husbands generally agree, and if they do not agree, they are discriminated against and stigmatized by their clansmen. But the chief is an exception, after the death of the old chief, the son chief naturally inherits the title and property of the father's chief, along with all his wives and children, without consulting the old chief's wives. The eleventh king of the kingdom of Bafort had nearly 100 wives, 72 of whom were inherited from his father. This custom was established to prevent wives who had lost their husbands from marrying off their property with them.
(7) AIDS originated from chimpanzees in Cameroon
AIDS was first discovered in the 80s of the 20th century and originated in chimpanzees in Cameroon. The mainstream theory about the transmission of HIV from chimpanzees to humans is that some tribes exchanged blood with chimpanzees because they believed that orangutan blood made people stronger. The world's recognized transmitter of AIDS is an Air Canada attendant named Gertan Duga. He is handsome in appearance, can speak well, and has "lovers" all over the world. After learning that he had AIDS, Duga developed a strong "revenge mentality", he firmly believed that others had infected him, so he wanted to infect more people, so there was a large number of patients in 1981, and he was deduced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the "culprit" of the introduction of AIDS from Africa to North America.
(8) Atlantic coastal countries with restricted access to the sea
Cameroon is a country bordering the Atlantic Ocean with a coastal baseline length of 360 km, but access to the sea passes through the exclusive economic zone of other countries, mainly because of the existence of the offshore area of Bioko Island. With an area of 2,017 square kilometers, Bioko Island is the largest island in the Gulf of Guinea and is only 50 kilometers away in a straight line from Cameroon. Although Bioko Island is the closest to Cameroon, the island belongs to Equatorial Guinea, and the exclusive economic zone is zoned to Cameroon's doorstep, leaving Cameroon like a cattle in the throat, but helpless.
(9) The place with the highest rainfall
With an average annual rainfall of more than 10,000 mm, Debenja is one of the ten wettest regions in the world. Debenja is located in the southwest of Cameroon's volcano, and the currents blowing from the Atlantic Ocean are blocked by the towering Cameroon Mountains, and water vapor is concentrated on this side to form rainfall. It is a tropical rainforest with dense forests and high oxygen content.
(10) African lion
The Cameroonian men's soccer team, known as the "Lion of Africa", was once Africa's powerhouse, but its level has declined slightly in recent years, ranking 43rd in the world in the latest FIFA rankings and reaching 11th in the world at its peak. Cameroon's men's team has won five African Cup of Nations and reached eight World Cup finals, making it the most World Cup participating African team, with its best result being the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Cameroon is in Group G with Brazil, Switzerland and Serbia in this World Cup, and the qualification situation is not optimistic.
Cameroon is rich in mineral, forest and water resources, and is a poor and backward agricultural and pastoral country. In 2021, the per capita GDP was $1,655, ranking more than 150 in the world. In the Human Development Report 2020 published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Cameroon ranked 153rd on the Human Development Index (85th in Chinese mainland). In the Global Competitiveness Report 2019 published by the World Economic Forum, Cameroon ranked 123 on the Global Competitiveness Index (28th in Chinese mainland). In the Global Happiness Report 2020, published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SNDN), Cameroon ranked 102nd on the happiness index (93rd in Chinese mainland).
Reference books: "Annals of Nations: Cameroon", "African States: Fifty Years of Independent History", "Modern and Contemporary African History and Culture", etc.
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【Extended Reading】
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