North Region (Cameroon)

The North Region makes up 66,090 km² of the northern half of The Republic of Cameroon. Neighbouring territories include the Far North Region to the north, the Adamawa Region to the south, Nigeria to the west, Chad to the east, and Central African Republic to the southeast. The city of Garoua is both the political and industrial capital. Garoua is Cameroon's third largest port, despite the fact that the Bénoué River upon which it relies is only navigable for short periods of the year.
Major ethnic groups include the Fula or Fulani, who are Islamic pastoralists, and numerous Muslim and animist speakers of Adamawa, Chadic, and Nilo-Saharan languages. French is the language of formal education, and Fulfulde, the language of the Fulbe, is widespread as a lingua franca.

Geography

Land

Bands of alternating metamorphic and sedimentary rock interspersed with granite characterise the north's geology. Granite covered in volcanic basalt makes up the southernmost reaches, which form part of the Adamawa Plateau. A series of faults lies north of this and separate the plateau from the band of metamorphic stone to its north. Random granite deposits also characterise this area. The Mayo Rey and Vina River cut north of this portion, leaving deposits of sedimentary stone except in the granite east. North of this lies a band of sedimentary alluvium, clay, limestone, and sandstone. Faults tentatively follow the Bénoué River north of this and form a barrier to split the remainder of the province, with metamorphic rocks such as gneiss, mica, and schists dominating to the south and sedimentary stone making up the north. Another large band of metamorphic rock makes up the territory northwest of the Bénoué basin. The Mandara Mountains, which run roughly north–south at the province's Nigerian border, are irregular in that they are volcanic, composed mostly of crystalline and metamorphic rock and granite.
The Adamawa Plateau divides the province into two main soil types. Those to the north are mostly shallow and ferruginous, brown or brownish red in colour. On the plateau itself, they are mostly ferralitic or lateritic. The region's annual rainy/dry cycle erodes the landscape and aids in the formation of iron deposits called duricrust or hardpans near the surface. in addition, the area between the Vina and Mbere Rivers and the Mayo Deo valley is hydromorphic, while the volcanic Mandara and Atlantika Mountains, other high points in the province, and the Mayo Oulo valley are composed of relatively young soils high in raw mineral content. The bottom of the Bénoué basin is alluvial soil.

Drainage

All rivers in the province experience a tropical regime, with a period of high water during the rainy season during which flooding may occur. The Bénoué, Mayo Oulo, Mayo Kébi, and Mayo Godi are particularly susceptible to this. In contrast, however, the rivers mostly dry up during the dry season, many disappearing completely into the sand. Animals and humans must dig during this period to retrieve water. This means that the port of Garoua on the Bénoué is only functional during a small portion of the year.
The Bénoué River serves as the North's primary waterway, as it passes through the port at Garoua. It flows down from the Adamawa Plateau and is enlarged by the Mayo Rey, the Mayo Kebi, the Mayo Louti and other rivers. Its valley forms the main part of the Bénoué Depression. Several smaller tributaries also flow into the Bénoué. All of these waterways form part of the Niger basin.
The Lagdo Reservoir is formed by a dam at Lagdo that traps waters from the Benoue and its smaller tributaries the Mayo Godi, Mayo Rey, Mayo Sina, Mayo Oldiri, and others, many of which rise on the Adamawa Plateau. The reservoir provides an important source of hydroelectric power for Cameroon's three northern provinces. Local villagers also use it as a source of fish, and both the lake and the river are used for irrigation.
Another significant river is the Vina, which rises in the Adamawa Province, flows through the North, and then empties into the Logone River in Chad. It is swelled by the Mbéré River east of Touboro. Before this, the Mbéré forms the province's southeastern border with Chad for several kilometers. These are the only major rivers in the province that form part of the Chad Basin.

Relief

The Bénoué Depression constitutes the North Province's primary land feature. This basin runs along the Mayo Kébi and Bénoué River and has an elevation of between zero and 200 metres. The valleys surrounding the various rivers that feed the Kébi and later Bénoué reach elevations only slightly higher than this, averaging 200–500 metres in the north and 500–1000 metres in the south. Garoua lies at about 235 metres. Farther north is the Kaélé Elevation. A major fault runs north of the Bénoué, roughly parallel to it.
South of the Bénoué Depression lies the Adamawa Plateau. This descends to the Depression in escarpments and peaks of between 1000 and 2000 metres that follow a major fault. Past this frontier region, the plateau slopes south and southeast into the Adamawa Province and Chad.
The North's third significant land feature is the Mandara Mountains and their southern extension, the Atlantika Mountains, the likely results of tectonic activity. These chains form most of the western edge of the province, with peaks as high as 1000 metres. The mountains continue north into the Far North Province and Nigeria, though their elevations gradually drop to as low as 500 metres. The surrounding terrain is hilly. The North's highest elevation is Hosséré Vokré, an isolated peak of 2,049 metres.

Climate

From the bénoué Depression south, the North experiences tropical climate of the Sudan type. Average rainfall is between 900 and 1500 mm per year, decreasing from south to north due to elevation. Garoua, the major city, thus receives between 500 and 1000 mm per year. Rainfall in the Bénoué Depression is unpredictable, though it rarely drops to less than 1000 mm in any one year. North of the Bénoué Depression, a Sahel climate prevails. Here, the dry season lasts longer, and temperatures reach even higher levels. Provincial temperatures average 24 °C in the south along the plateau. In the Depression, they rise to 26 °C. North of the reservoir, temperatures climb as high as 28 °C.
Seasons follow a wet/dry pattern, with rough divisions in November and April. The year begins under the influence of the harmattan winds in the dry season. In this period, temperatures are at their highest and rainfall is virtually nonexistent. This period of stifling heat continues until April, which brings with it torrential rains and lower temperatures. Rains ease up in June, though temperatures remain lower and humidity relatively high. Then in November, the province becomes drier and temperatures cool as a shadow of winter sets in.

Plant and animal life

The North Province is a land of savanna. This begins with wooded savanna on the Adamawa Plateau with its thick grasses and isolated copses of trees. This territory was once more heavily forested, but repeated burning and livestock trampling has left this original vegetation only in the valleys. Moving north, the wooded savanna gradually gives way to Sudan savanna or parkland savanna in the Bénoué Depression. Here grass cover thins out, and trees become fewer and more isolated, and stunted shrubs become more prevalent. Common species include acacia, baobab, and various palms. Most of these have adapted to the region's harsh dry season and seasonal burning by growing thick bark and shedding their leaves during this period. This area has been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as part of the East Sudanian savanna ecoregion.
After centuries of human habitation and manipulation, very little of the North's indigenous wildlife survives. Of the countless species that once roamed the area, today only hippopotami, jackals, various monkeys such as baboons, and various species of reptile exist in human-inhabited areas. The region's full diversity of species is today only extant in the handful of protected areas. The Bénoué National Park protects 1,800 square kilometres southeast of Garoua at the province's centre. It shelters many large mammal species, including hartebeest, hippopotami, kob, and waterbuck, as well as smaller numbers of buffalo, giant eland, elephants, lions and reptiles such as crocodiles. It has been a protected area since 1968.
The 2,200 square kilometres Bouba Njida National Park is southeast of Garoua on the Chad border. Cameroon created the park in 1968 to protect the black rhinoceros and Derby eland. Many experts today say that the rhinoceros is now extinct in the area today. Other animals in the park include buffalo, elephants, giraffes, leopards, lions, and hippopotami.
Farthest south is Faro National Park, which protects 3,300 square kilometres of terrain straddling the Adamawa Plateau and the Bénoué Depression. The park houses many reptile species as well as elephants, giraffes, and hippopotami. Today, however, poachers have wiped out much of the park's animal population.

Demographics

Settlement patterns

The North Province is moderately populated, averaging 12 to 25 people per km² in most areas. This density jumps to 25 to 50 people in the river valleys west of the Lagdo Reservoir and in the Bénoué Depression. North of Garoua and in the Mandara Mountains, where large populations of non-Muslim were forced to flee years ago, density peaks at 50 to 100 people per km². Due to the major port located there, Garoua was at one point Cameroon's third largest city, though its population is 235,996. The city is today a mélange of the region, with large populations of Fulbe, non-Muslim Northerners and immigrants from Southern Cameroon, as well as from neighboring Chad and Nigeria.
Dwelling units differ from ethnic group to ethnic group, but many follow a fairly common pattern. The house of the chief often forms the centre of a village, and houses are grouped around it with granaries nearby to help the villagers survive the dry season. Various fields of crops in turn surround homes. A common house type is a round building with a cone-shaped roof. However, houses of cement brick and roofed in sheet metal are quite common in larger settlements. Villages are often clustered along the main roads.
In contrast to the province's various settled peoples, the Mbororo Fulbe are nomadic and live in portable, tent-like huts. They do establish semi-permanent settlements called ruga, however, to care for the aged and for women to raise children while their husbands are out to pasture.
Image:North Province ethnic groups.png|thumb|right|400px|Territories of the North Province's ethnic groups