[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 18: Cameroon

[Faraaz Damji]

   The Republic of Cameroon is a unitary republic of central and western
   Africa.  Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the
   Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.  The country is called "Africa
   in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity.  Natural
   features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and
   savannas.  The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and
   the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua.  Cameroon is home
   to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups.  The country is
   well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and
   bikutsi, and for its successful national football team.  English and
   French are the official languages.  In 1960, French Cameroun became
   independent as the Republic of Cameroun under President Ahmadou
   Ahidjo.  The southern part of British Cameroons merged with it in 1961
   to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.  The country was renamed the
   United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and the Republic of Cameroon in
   1984.  Compared with other African countries, Cameroon enjoys political
   and social stability.  This has permitted the development of
   agriculture, roads, railways, and large petroleum and timber
   industries.  Nevertheless, large numbers of Cameroonians live in
   poverty as subsistence farmers.  Power lies firmly in the hands of the
   president, Paul Biya, and his Cameroon People's Democratic Movement
   party, and corruption is widespread.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameroon


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Today's selected anniversaries:

64:
   The Great Fire of Rome started among the shops around the Circus
   Maximus selling flammable goods, eventually destroying four of
   fourteen Roman districts and severely damaging seven others.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome)

1863:
   American Civil War: Led by Union Army Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the
   54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first formal African
   American military unit, spearheaded an assault on Fort Wagner near
   Charleston, South Carolina.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54th_Massachusetts_Volunteer_Infantry)

1982:
   Guatemalan military forces and their paramilitary allies slaughtered
   over 250 Mayan campesinos in the village of Plan de Sánchez, Baja
   Verapaz department.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_de_S%C3%A1nchez_massacre)

1995:
   During the fifteenth stage of the 1995 Tour de France, Italian
   cyclist Fabio Casartelli suffered a fatal crash on the descent of the
   Col de Portet d'Aspet.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabio_Casartelli)

1996:
   Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 exploded at 00:31 UTC (20:31, July 17
   EDT) off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all 230 on board.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   eradicate: To pull up by the roots; to uproot.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eradicate)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the
   reflection of his own face.  Frown at it, and it will in turn look
   sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind
   companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.  -- William
   Makepeace Thackeray
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Makepeace_Thackeray)