There is less than 20 million people in the country of Cameroon, which is just over 180,000 square miles. In 1961 it gained its independence from the British and French domination. They celebrate their independence day on October 1st. Cameroon has 6 country neighbors, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Gabon, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea. It also has 3 different neighboring waters on its northern coastline which consist of the Atlantic Ocean, Bight of Bigony and a small part of the Gulf of Guinea. Read on to learn more interesting and fun facts about Cameroon.
CAMEROON FLAG
The Cameroon flag has 3 different vertical colors and one star. When the flag was first created there were 2 stars. The three colors each have a meaning, green is for the lavish vegetation, the red represents independence, and yellow simply represents sunshine. The two stars that were a part of the original flag represented the French and British parts of Cameroon. However when Cameroon became a unitary state in 1972 the second star was dropped.
CAMEROON NAME
Did you know that Cameroon is named after a river? In the 15th century, Portuguese explorers gave the name of Rio de Camarões, which means river of prawns, to a river already named River Wouri. The explorers named it such due to the wealth of crayfish and prawns.
CAPITAL
The capital of Cameroon is Yaoundé, it was founded in 1888. The population of Yaoundé is over 1.4 million people. Although Yaoundé is the capital it is not the largest or oldest city in the country. The largest city is Douala which was founded in the 15th century. It has a population of over 2 million people, and even though it is not the country capital it is however the commercial capital. The countries major airport and port are located in Douala.
INTERESTING FACTS
The biggest tourist destination in Cameroon is its Waza National Park. The park contains Giraffe, Elephants, Antelope and many more wild animals. There are two official languages in Cameroon, English and French. English is only used by a fifth of the population. The national anthem is called The Rallying Song in English and was written in 1928, it finally became the official anthem in 1957.
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