Douala, Cameroon - Mont Cameroon - postcard c.1950s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Douala (Cameroun) [Cameroon] - Mont Cameroun
• Publisher: none stated
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport (DLA), it is the commercial and economic capital of Cameroon and the entire CEMAC region comprising Gabon, Congo, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Cameroon. Consequently, it handles most of the country's major exports, such as oil, cocoa and coffee, timber, metals and fruits. As from 2018, the city and its surrounding area had an estimated population of 2,768,400.[1] The city sits on the estuary of Wouri River and its climate is tropical.

The first Europeans to visit the area were the Portuguese in about 1472. At the time, the estuary of Wouri River was known as the Rio dos Camarões (Shrimp River). By 1650, it had become the site of a town formed by immigrants, said to have arrived from Congo, who spoke the Duala language. During the 18th century it was the center of the transatlantic slave trade.

In 1826[2] Douala appeared to be made of four different villages located in four specific locations: the village of Deido (Dido), of Akwa, of Njo and Hickory-town (today Bonaberi, located on the other side of Wouri River).

The German corvette SMS Olga at the bombardment of Hickorytown, Cameroon (today Duala) on December 21, 1884

Between 1884 and 1895 the city was a German protectorate.[3] The colonial politics focused on commerce and some exploration of the unoccupied territories. In 1885, Alfred Saker organized the first mission of the British Baptist Church. In the same year the city known as Kamerun was renamed Douala and became the capital of the territory until 1902, when the capital was moved to Buéa.

In 1907 the Ministry of Colonies was established and Douala had 23,000 citizens.[4]

After World War I in 1919, the German colonial territories became French and British protectorates. France received a mandate to administer Douala. A treaty was signed with the local chiefs.

From 1940 to 1946, it was the capital of Cameroon.[5] In 1955 the city had over 100,000 inhabitants.[4]

In 1960 Cameroon became independent and it became a federal republic, with its capital in Yaoundé. Douala became the major economic city. In 1972 the federal republic became a unified state. Douala then had a population of around 500,000.[4]

In the 1980s, in Cameroon the struggle for liberalization and multi-partitism grew. Between May and December 1991, Douala was at the center of the civil disobedience campaign called the ghost town operation (ville morte) during which economic activities shut down to make the country ungovernable and to force the government to allow multi-partitism and freedom of expression.[6]