Western High Plateau

As the vast savannah grasslands of Cameroon region is known from high volcanic plateau that lies to the west of Cameroon in the provinces of East and West since the time of the German colony of Cameroon.

Topography

The altitude of this plateau is located between 1000 and 1800 meters, in the extension of the Cameroon Mountain. They are dominated by the mountain summits such as the Bamboutos, Mont Manengouba and the Okuberg with a summit elevation of 2,000 meters.

History

At the end of the 19th century colonization of the Cameroon Grasslands became internationally known. The German explorer Eugen Zintgraff led in 1890 an expedition from the coast of Cameroon through the forest belt in the Cameroon Grasslands. In Bali he put on the station Bali Castle.

Culture

The area is heavily populated: One third of the Cameroonian population lives here, a total of 5 million people. Several chiefdoms in the region have created here works of art that have gained worldwide attention.

In Cameroon Grasslands bantoide different languages ​​are spoken, not belonging to the Bantu languages ​​and are therefore referred to as a semi- Bantu: the Prairie languages.

In this region was 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos the place. This gas explosion claimed 1700 victims in the surrounding villages.

Ethnological Collection of Kurt Strümpell from 1902

Kurt Strümpell belonged to the German colonial force in Cameroon and in 1901 station chief in Tinto. At his home leave in 1902 he donated his ethnological collection to the Metropolitan Museum in Braunschweig. It consisted largely of objects of the Cameroon grasslands; Also present were some objects from the Cameroon forest land. The items that brought Kurt Strümpell, cover the entire material living area of ​​the former inhabitants of the Cameroon grasslands: ritual objects, status symbols, jewelry, clothing, bags, weapons, tobacco pipes, musical instruments, etc. The archival materials, that is also the documents for the acquisition history of objects, located in Braunschweig palace in the city archives Brunswick.

Agriculture

The soil is fertile. One favored under intensive agriculture, the production of coffee, cocoa and tea, this depends on the different food cultures in a growing population. The natural wildlife and the jungle were pushed back in the course of expansion.

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