Nation in Focus

When Portuguese sailors arrived at the Wouri River for the first timein 1472, they were so impressed by the abundance of prawns thatthey named it Rio dos Camar?es, “River of prawns.” The name of theriver didnt stick, but from the Portugese word for prawns came the modernname of the country, Cameroon. Sometimes called “the hinge of Africa”,Cameroon has a population of 19 million and sits on the Bight of Biafra,a sharp corner on the Atlantic coast. The densely forested plain on thetropical coast is said to be one of the wettest places on Earth. Rising slightlyfrom the coastal plain, a low plateau, also covered by forest, extends into thesouthern part of the country. North of the southern plateau, the land risesagain into a grassy highland. Savannah plains extend all the way up to LakeChad, which marks the northern tip of the country. A chain of mountainsand hills runs from Mountain Cameroon (4,095 meters above the sea level)up through the west of the country.