The Republic of Cameroon is a unitary republic of central and western Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west;
Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south.
Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature"  for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests,  and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home
to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. The country is well  known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. English and French  are the official languages. Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest.
 Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which  Cameroon derives. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north  in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest  established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German  colony in 1884. After World War I, the territory was divided between
France and Britain as League of Nations mandates. The Union des Populations du Cameroun political party advocated independence but was outlawed in the 1950s. It waged war on French and Cameroonian forces until 1971. In 1960, French Cameroun became
independent as the Republic of Cameroun under President Ahmadou Ahidjo.
 The southern part of British Cameroons merged with it in 1961 to form  the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and the Republic of Cameroon in 1984.