The Republic of Cameroon (République du Cameroun in French) is located at the "hinge" of Africa's west coast, southeast of Nigeria. During the colonial period the country was originally a German colony called Kamerun. French and British troops captured it quickly at the start of World War I in 1914, and after the war the colony was divided between the two allies. The northern coast, including Capes Debundscha and Nachtigal, fell in the British zone called Southern Cameroons and the southern coast, including Kribi, in the French. In 1960 the people of the coastal region of British Cameroon voted to join with French Cameroun to form the present nation. Since 2017, however, there has been a separatist movement in the English-speaking region of the country; the separatists call the region Ambazonia. Cameroon is divided into 10 semi-autonomous regions. Both French and English are official languages in Cameroon. The French word for a lighthouse is phare, although a smaller light or harbor light is called a feu (literally "fire," but here meaning "light") or a balise (beacon). In French île is an island, cap is a cape, pointe is a promontory or point of land, roche is a rock, récife is a reef, baie is a bay, estuaire is an estuary or inlet, détroit is a strait, rivière is a river, and havre is a harbor. Navigational aids in Cameroon are maintained by the port authorities of Douala, the country's traditional port, and Kribi, the terminus for an oil pipeline from Chad. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume D of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
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![]() 1904 Cap Debundscha Light, Debundscha, February 2013 contributed photo copyright Ulrich Poggensee; used by permission |
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: South: Equatorial Guinea | West: Nigeria
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Posted September 23, 2005. Checked and revised April 26, 2025. Lighthouses: 9. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.