A Brief History of Cameroon, Africa

A Brief History of Cameroon, Africa The earliest inhabitants of Cameroon were likely the Bakas- or pygmies. They still inhabit the forests of the south and east provinces. Bantu speakers originating in the Cameroonian highlands were among the first groups to move out before other invaders. During the late 1770s and early 1800s, the Fulani- a pastoral Islamic people of the western Sahel- conquered most of what is now northern Cameroon, subjugating or displacing its largely non-Muslim inhabitants. Arrival of the Europeans Although the Portuguese arrived on Cameroons coast in the 1500s, malaria prevented significant European settlement and conquest of the interior until the late 1870s, when large supplies of the malaria suppressant, quinine, became available. The early European presence in Cameroon was primarily devoted to coastal trade and the acquisition of slaves. The northern part of Cameroon was an important part of the Muslim slave trade network. The slave trade was largely suppressed by the mid-19th century. Christian missions established a presence in the late 19th century and continue to play a role in Cameroonian life. From German Colony to League of Nation Mandates Beginning in 1884, all of present-day Cameroon and parts of several of its neighbors became the German colony of Kamerun, with a capital first at Buea and later at Yaounde. After World War I, this colony was partitioned between Britain and France under a June 28, 1919, League of Nations mandate. France gained the larger geographical share, transferred outlying regions to neighboring French colonies, and ruled the rest from Yaounde. Britains territory- a strip bordering Nigeria from the sea to Lake Chad, with an equal population- was ruled from Lagos. Struggle for Independence In 1955, the outlawed Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), based largely among the Bamileke and Bassa ethnic groups, began an armed struggle for independence in French Cameroon. This rebellion continued, with diminishing intensity, even after independence. Estimates of death from this conflict vary from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. French Cameroon achieved independence in 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon. The following year the largely Muslim northern two-thirds of British Cameroon voted to join Nigeria; the largely Christian southern third voted to join with the Republic of Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The formerly French and British regions each maintained substantial autonomy. A One Party State Ahmadou Ahidjo, a French-educated Fulani, was chosen President of the federation in 1961. Ahidjo, relying on a pervasive internal security apparatus, outlawed all political parties but his own in 1966. He successfully suppressed the UPC rebellion, capturing the last important rebel leader in 1970. In 1972, a new constitution replaced the federation with a unitary state. The Road to Multi-Party Democracy Ahidjo resigned as President in 1982 and was constitutionally succeeded by his Prime Minister, Paul Biya, a career official from the Bulu-Beti ethnic group. Ahidjo later regretted his choice of successors, but his supporters failed to overthrow Biya in a 1984 coup. Biya won single-candidate elections in 1984 and 1988 and flawed multiparty elections in 1992 and 1997. His Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) party holds a sizeable majority in the legislature following 2002 elections- 149 deputies out of a total of 180. Source Public Domain material, US Department of State Background Notes.

Atmospheric Stability and Instability

Atmospheric Stability and Instability Stability (or atmospheric stability) refers to airs tendency to either rise and create storms (instability), or to resist vertical movement (stability). The simplest way to understand how stability works is to imagine a parcel of air having a thin, flexible cover that allows it to expand but prevents the air inside from mixing with the surrounding air- as is true of a party balloon. Next, imagine that we take the balloon and force it up into the atmosphere. Since air pressure decreases with altitude, the balloon will relax and expand, and its temperature will therefore decrease. If the parcel were cooler than the surrounding air, it would be heavier (since cool air is denser than warm air); and if allowed to do so, it would sink back down to the ground. Air of this type is said to be stable. On the other hand, if we lifted our imaginary balloon and the air within it was warmer, and hence, less dense than its surrounding air, it would continue to rise until it reached a point where its temperature and that of its surroundings were equal. This type of air is classified as unstable. Lapse Rates: A Measure of Stability But meteorologists dont have to watch a balloons behavior every time they want to know atmospheric stability. They can arrive at the same answer simply by measuring the actual air temperature at various heights; this measure is called the environmental lapse rate (the term lapse having to do with temperatures decline). If the environmental lapse rate is steep- as is true when the air near the ground is significantly warmer than the air aloft- then one knows the atmosphere is unstable. But if the lapse rate is small, meaning theres relatively little change in temperature, its a good indication of a stable atmosphere. The most stable conditions occur during a temperature inversion when temperature increases (rather than decreases) with height. The easiest way to determine atmospheric stability at a glance is by using an atmospheric sounding. Edited by Tiffany Means.