Pre-Colonial Period
The earliest inhabitants of Cameroon were probably the Baka, also known as the Pygmies. The pygmies still inhabit the forests of the southern provinces and east of Cameroon.
Bantu speakers originating in the Cameroonian highlands were among the first groups to move out before other invaders. The Mandara kingdom in the Mandara Mountains was founded around 1500 and erected fortified structures, the purpose and exact history of which are still unresolved. The Aro Confederacy of Nigeria may have had presence in western (later called British) Cameroon due to migration in the 18th and 19th centuries.
During the late 1770s and the early 19th century, the Fulani, a pastoral Islamic people of the western Sahel, conquered most of what is now northern Cameroon, subjugating or displacing its largely non-Muslim inhabitants.
Although the Portuguese arrived on Cameroon's doorstep in the 16th century, malaria prevented significant European settlement and conquest of the interior until the late 1870s, when large supplies of the malaria suppressant, quinine, became available. The early European presence in Cameroon was primarily devoted to coastal trade and the acquisition of slaves. The northern part of Cameroon was an important part of the Muslim slave trade network. The slave trade was largely suppressed by the mid-19th century. Christian missions established a presence in the late 19th century and continue to play a role in Cameroonian life.
1st Millennium (BC)
The south-western area of current Cameroon and south eastern Nigeria was considered as the hub of the Bantus.
5th Century (BC)
According to some historians, the Mount Cameroon was named “Chariot of the gods’’ by a Carthaginian called Hannon. Other schools of historian reject this theory arguing that there is no proof of his passage to Cameroon and conditions of the time would not have allowed him an expedition to Cameroon which is extremely far from Carthage.
African Historical Background
The south-western area of current Cameroon and south eastern Nigeria is considered as the cradle of the Bantu people before our era.
The Tikars, the Bamouns and the Bamilékés settled on the high lands of Cameroon through migration. In the north the civilization of Saos, not so popular settled in the Lake Chad Basin. This region was formed in the 16th century under the control of the empire of Kanem-Bornou. Kanem-Bornou was known to be the first known state which developed around Lake Chad from the 19th century era. He became Muslim in the 11th century and reached its peak in the late 16th and 17th century. It imposed its sovereignty on the majority of Cameroonian territory. He crashed constantly people who resisted him and small Cameroonian kingdoms including Kotoko and Mandara Kingdoms.
At the end of the 16th century, the great wave of migration of the Fulani (Fulbe and Peul who are sub groups of Fulani) people of nomadic pastorals moved from west to east from the Macina, to settle at Lake Chad. In subsequent centuries, the Fulani established themselves at the present day Adamawa, contributing to the spread of Islam. They organized small theocratic Muslim states, led by a “Lamido’’, who was both their political and spiritual leader.
The Bamoun kingdom was founded in the late 16th century and soared during the reign of Mboumbouo Mandu at the end of the 18th century. It extended its territory by force of arms and then worked to consolidate his power. Early the 19th century, the Muslim state spread and consolidated their power.
In 1804, Usman Dan Fodio and the Fulani of Nigeria launched a holy war against the Hausa Toucouleur to extend the kingdom. Building on this example, the Fulani south rallied their cause and propagated Jihad in their region. Adama, chief of the Southern Fulani took the title of Sheikh, and the Islamic routes of the south took the name of “Adamawa”. Their capital Yola was on the Benue. Lamido Adama died in 1847 and the Bamoun kingdom had to battle against the Fulani expansion.
From the 15th to the 19th century - Origins
It was in 1472 that a Portuguese, Fernando Pô and his shipmen entered the estuary of the river Wouri, and they were amazed by discovering so much shrimps in the river while finding their way to India. They emphatically named it “Rio dos Camaroes’’ (shrimps river). This defines the origin of the name Cameroon.
The Dutchs and the Germans came after the Portuguese. Later in 1532, the Germans and Dutch collaborated with the Doualas’ to engage in slavery as a form of trade. However, these Europeans could not establish themselves like they did in Luanda (Angola) or Saint Louis (Senegal) because of the difficult access to the marshy coast which was heavily infested with the tropical ailment malaria.
In the 18th century, the Fulani preachers came from the west and reserved the Kirdis and Massas out of the plain of Diamaré between Logone and Benue. They converted the southern region into Islam. Their leader Ousman Dan Fodio sent his warrior Adam to Islamize south areas and renamed it Adamawa. He was unsuccessful at the point when they were stopped by the Bamun kingdom. The islamization of the Bamun kingdom was done under the leadership of King Njoya. King Njoya remained famous for the composition of alphabet from ideograms that he created and the map of the country he prepared.
Around the 1700’s, diverse populations from unknown origins settled in the west grass fields occupied by the Bamileke ethnic group.The1827’s was noted forBritain-Cameroonian exploration and Biafra. The year 1845 saw the early evangelism by the Baptist Missionary Coast Society of London. Then in 1847,Lamido Adama died. After his death the capital of Adamawa, (Yola) located on the Benue was founded.1868 records the era of German merchants and 1884marked, the Douala’s signing of an assistance treaty with Germany to acknowledge its proclaimed sovereignty over the “Kamerun”. Finally in 1890,the advent of the Societas Apostolus Catholici (evangelism) was recorded.