Kamerun

Cameroon, 1884–1919. Draft, not yet reviewed

Kamerun was a Central African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916, in the region of what is now the Republic of Cameroon. The official beginning of the German Protectorate of Cameroon was on 17 August 1884. At the outbreak of World War I, French, Belgian and British troops invaded the German colony in 1914 and fully occupied it during the Kamerun campaign. Following Germany's defeat, the Treaty of Versailles divided the territory into two League of Nations mandates under the administration of the United Kingdom and France.

Seat of power: Buea

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• Puttkammer and fellow governor Hans Dominik were responsible for large-scale massacres. At Nachtigal Falls the local adult population was massacred for refusing German protection.
• People taken from conquered territories were made to do harsh forced labor, with extremely high rates of death. Punishments such as flogging were so excessive the German colonies were referred to as the "Flogging Colonies".
• The colony built two rail lines from the port city of Duala to bring agricultural products to market.
• In German Cameroon the indigenous slave trade was banned in 1902, and all slaves born after 1902 were declared born free.

Picture

Buea was the colonial capital of German Kamerun from 1901 to 1919.

Image: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Sources

• Kamerun (Wikipedia)
• Kamerun (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.