The Political Evolution of Cameroon, 1884-1961

Abstract

The research problem is an analysis of the political evolution of Cameroon from a colony in 1884 to an independent state in 1961. It involves not only the transition of the country from a colony to an independent state per se, but also the various factors which kindled the rise of nationalism in the country. The problem is rendered more interesting and complex by the fact that the country had, at different times in its colonial history, been a German colony, as well as British and French colonies – although technically Britain and France administered their respective portions of the country first as mandates of the League of Nations and then as trusteeship territories of the United Nations Organization. In order to study the problem, an analysis of the political and economic policies of the colonizing powers in the country is imperative, since they were the determining factors which conditioned the country’s political destiny until 1961.