History

An interactive timeline from precolonial Cameroon to today: seven eras, their events, and the places and people tied to them. On topics that are debated, Camerpedia presents several sourced readings rather than a single version.

Events

Events up to 1884

Events
Date	Event	Era	Source
c. 1350	Tikar migrations into the Grassfields	Precolonial Cameroon	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
c. 1394	Founding of the Bamum kingdom by Nchare Yen	Precolonial Cameroon	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
1472	Portuguese contact and the naming of the Rio dos Camarões	Early contact and the Atlantic trade	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
c. 1500	Decline of the Sao and the rise of the Kotoko kingdoms	Precolonial Cameroon	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
c. 1550	Formation of the Bamileke chiefdoms	Precolonial Cameroon	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
c. 1660	Rise of the Duala as a coastal trading power	Early contact and the Atlantic trade	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
c. 1750	The Atlantic slave trade and the port of Bimbia	Early contact and the Atlantic trade	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
c. 1809–1847	Fulani jihad and the founding of the Adamawa emirate	Precolonial Cameroon	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
c. 1830–1860	Transition to so-called "legitimate" commerce	Early contact and the Atlantic trade	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
10 June 1840 – 7 May 1841	Anti-slave-trade treaties signed by Bell and Akwa	Early contact and the Atlantic trade	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
1845 – 1858	Alfred Saker’s Baptist mission and the founding of Victoria	Early contact and the Atlantic trade	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
12 July 1884 – 19 July 1884	The Germano-Duala protection treaty and the proclamation of Kamerun	German Kamerun	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa