Precolonial Cameroon
until 1884Before sustained European contact, the territory that would become Cameroon was home to a range of societies and kingdoms: the Sao and later Kotoko city-states of the Chad basin, the Bamum kingdom and the Tikar and Bamileke chiefdoms of the western highlands, and the Fulani emirate of Adamawa born of the jihad of the early nineteenth century. These polities rested on agricultural, pastoral and trading economies and on their own political institutions, long before any European administrative presence.
Events of this era
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tikar migrations into the Grassfields | Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa | |
| Founding of the Bamum kingdom by Nchare Yen | Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa | |
| Decline of the Sao and the rise of the Kotoko kingdoms | Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa | |
| Formation of the Bamileke chiefdoms | Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa | |
| Fulani jihad and the founding of the Adamawa emirate | Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa |