ABSTRACT
An independent nation since 1960, the Republic of Cameroon covers an area of some 475,500 square kilometres (183,600 square miles) in the western part of central Africa. With its southern borders dipping below the equator and its northern tip touching Lake Chad and the Sahara, the country - geographically and culturally - has been appropriately called 'Africa in miniature'. Its population of some 12 million people includes more than 250 different ethnic groups - Bantu in the south, Peul (Fulani) and Fulbe in the north, Tikar in the west and Pygmies and Maka in the east.
