Cameroon republic in western Africa, bounded on the north by Lake Chad; on the east by Chad and the Central African Republic; on the south by the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea; and on the west by the Bight of Biafra (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean) and Nigeria. The country is shaped like an elongated triangle, and forms a bridge between West Africa and Central Africa. The country has a total area of 475,442 sq km (183,569 sq mi). Yaoundé is the capital, and Douala is the largest city. Cameroon has a tropical climate, humid in the south but increasingly dry to the north. On the coast the average annual rainfall is about 4,060 mm (about 160 in). On the exposed slopes of Cameroon Mountain and the other peaks of the west, rainfall is almost constant and in places can reach 10,000 mm (400 in) a year. In the semiarid northwest annual rainfall averages about 380 mm (about 15 in). A dry season in the north lasts from October to April. The average temperature in the south is 25°C (77°F), on the plateau it is 21°C (70°F), and in the north it is 32°C (90°F).
Population
16 million (UN, 2003)
Area
475,442 sq km
Ethnicity/ Race
Bamileke, Bamoun, Ewondo, Fulani, Kirdi, European and non-African
Major Languages
French (official), English (official), Spanish. There are 240 local African languages
Religion
Christianity35%, Islam25%, indigenous beliefs25%
Capital City
Yaounde
Major Cities
Douala, Garoua
Currency
1 CFA (Communaute Financiere Africaine) franc = 100 centimes
