The scramble for Cameroon was the competition among European powers to control the territory in the late nineteenth century.
Political Motives
- European powers wanted prestige and strategic locations.
- France and Britain sought to strengthen their regional positions.
- Germany wanted to compensate for territories lost elsewhere and prevent rivals from dominating the coast.
Economic Motives
- Cameroon provided palm oil, palm kernels, rubber, ivory and other resources.
- European firms sought markets, plantations and investment opportunities.
- Traders pressed their governments to protect commercial interests and debts.
Social and Strategic Motives
Missionary expansion, the campaign against the slave trade, improved medicine and the desire for military and naval bases encouraged intervention.
Effects
- Treaties and annexation reduced the independence of coastal rulers.
- European commercial and political control expanded.
- Competition among European powers intensified.
- The process prepared the way for German annexation in 1884.
