ABSTRACT
The colonial experiences of Cameroon—German, French, and British—have not only been the basis for the definition of the entity Cameroon, but they have also made numerous contributions, negative and positive, to the country's social, economic, demographic, and political history. The major German interests in Kamerun were economic—obtaining materials needed in German industry and commerce and providing a market for German finished goods. These interests followed two major and often conflicting thrusts within Kamerun: trading and plantation agriculture. The major economic change of the Franco-British colonial period was the development and expansion of agricultural production for sale in world markets. The French turned mainly to the African farmer for economic change. The French emphasized growing coffee and cocoa and used forced labor much longer than the British. In the British territory, integration with Nigeria during the colonial period was to have numerous effects upon the growth of anticolonial sentiment and nationalism among the inhabitants.
