Courade Georges, Magouët T.P. "The Urban development of Buea : An essay in social geography". In La croissance urbaine en Afrique Noire et à Madagascar. Yaoundé : ORSTOM, 1972, 27 p.
I. NATURE, HISTORY AND PEOPLE IN THE FORMATION OF THE TOWN
BUEA is a small town of 11,000 inhabitants situated at 55 kms (35mls) from DOUALA, 2Okms (12 mls) from VICTORIA as the crow flies, spreading at an altitude of between 800 ms (2,600 ft) and 1,100 ms (3,600 ft) on the slopes of the Cameroon Mountain.
(c) Isaac Menyoli
At present the capital of the Federated State of WEST CAMEROON, it attracted the Europeans very early owing to its temperate climate and the absence of malaria, this town being at a latitude of 4'09' North.
It was chosen for a short period between the years 1901 and 1909 as the capital of the German colony of CAMEROON. The volcanic activity of the mountain led them to transfer the capital from BUEA to DOUALA in 1909. Around 1900, the BAKWIRI village of BUEA comprised approximately 1,500 inhs, 3,200 in 1953, and between 11,000 and 12,000 today.
The natural conditions which have favoured the development of the town are frankly few. First of all the climate : the temperature rarely exceeds a monthly average of 25Q C (??OF), whereas TIK0 20kms (12 miles) from BUEA, on sea-level, reaches a temperature of 33' C (91°F); however, the humidity is very high, the rainy season is long and heavy and the sky rarely clears up-except towards the end and-the beginning of the rainy- season, Secondly, the almost total absence of malaria. Furthermore, it is there that the few springs to be found at such an altitude are situated on the slopes of the mountain in spite of the altitude. Actually, the tokn is built on mud flows separated by numerous ravines and the slopes are sometimes relatively steep.
The town did not develop around the small BAKWERI village of BUEA but in opposition to it.
The villagers fought the arrival of the Germans who only succeeded in subduing BUEA in 1894. The village was destroyed by reprisals and was rebuilt on the present site of BUEA TOWN native quarters. The Germans took the land between BUEA TOWN, SMALL SOPPO, GREAT SOPPO and BOKWANGO for the construction of the STATION and the creation of plantations.
At the beginning of the XXth century, BUEA was on the German penetration road which went from VICTORIA to BUEA across the W.A.P.V. plantations. It was more than a village : its central position and its chiefs assured it of its leading position in the whole of the BAKWERI zone.
BUEA began to emerge from the lethargy into which it had fallen after the German departure when the firsts seeds of local government were created in 1958, and really to grow since independance. The choice of BUEA as a political capital made it an urban centre. Without that the town would probably have been no more important than MUEA. For neither the plantations nor the port or trading activities were there to give the town the decisive spark.
The agglomeration of BUEA shows well differentiated aspects despite its small size ; firstly by its scattered habitat which corresponds to the nature of the land and to the taste of the English coloniser ; by its buildings of various periods which give the STATION its particular character ; by the no man's land areas isolating the different quarters of the town ; by the ravines dividing the town along its longer dimension ; by the fences enclosing the native quarters and those of the strangers.
The wish of the inhabitants to delimit the sociologically different zones is rellected in its development. The Government's effort to control the development of the town by the creation of camps and lay-outs restricted to one type of construction contributes to reinforcing the impression of urban division more or less determined by the natural conditions but also sought after by the people.
The sociological profile of the town reflects its functions : over a thousand civil servants some 2,500 salaried employees of either the Federal or Federated Governments or public or quasi-public establishments.
Such a large number of salaried employees in a town comparatively small by Cameroonian standards has created a special sort of society as regards its wishes, its way of living, and its system of hierarchy which manifests itself in the way the land is occupied.
This population with higher incomes than the regional average poses numerous problems owing to its recent arrival. The demand for housing has been important and has led to the disorderly construction on the outskirts of plank-built accomodation without the basic collective equipment being provided ; it has also led to a fervour of residential construction partially controlled by theCovernment in the Station, and finally to an accumulation of people in the dilapidated houses of Buea Town strangers' quarter. This has resulted in an increase of the cost of living accelerated by the absence of modern shops, and the weakness of the traditional small trade.
Therefore Buea in 1970 is fast becoming an urban centre whose character has quickly Changed - and of which we are going to analyse the spatial and social components by the geographical study of its urban area.
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Paper presented to the International Colloquium of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique -Social Science - on "Urban growth in Black Africa and Madagascar", September 29th to October 2nd 1970, at the Centre d'Etudes de Geographie Tropicale, Bordeaux.
BUEA BEING THE FIRST CAPITAL OF CAMEROON HAVE NOTHING IN GENERAL TO BE PROUD OF APART FROM THE OLD PRIME MINISTER'S LODGE, THE OLD FADED SO CALLED PRESIDENCY.WHAT ELSE CAN BUEA BE PROUD OF NOTHING AT ALL.
THE BIYA GOVERNMENT HAVE TEND DOWN THE SOUTHWESTERNERS AND THE BAKWERIANS AS A WHOLE.IF YAOUNDE WHICH BECAME THE SECOND CAPITAL AFTER INDEPENDENCE CAN BE PROUD OF TWO UNIVERSITIES WHILE NOT BUEA BEEN THE FIRST CAPITAL.MANY BAKWERIAN STUDENTS ARE BEEN STRANDED IN THE STREETS BECAUSE THEY CANNOT HAVE ADMISSION IN THE UNIVERSITY IN THEIR OWN TERRITORY WHAT A PITY.SOME OF THEM HAVE TAKEN INTO ARMED ROBBERY AND PROSTITUTION WHAT A SAD STORY,AM EVEN ASHAMED TO TALK ABOUT THAT IS WHY MOST OF THE BAKWERIANS HAVE TAKEN ON THEIR HEELS TO EUROPE FOR GREENER PASTURES AS I HAVE DONE ALSO MAY GOD BE OUR HELPER
Posted by: monangai john monangai | Monday, October 01, 2007 at 09:45 AM