North West

According to UNESCO, the United Kingdom administered its part of Cameroon as an integral part of Nigeria, including after the UN General Assembly approved the trusteeship agreements on 13 December 1946. On 11 and 12 February 1961, a UN-supervised plebiscite saw Southern Cameroons choose union with the Republic of Cameroon by 70.50 percent; it became West Cameroon on 1 October 1961, under the federal constitution agreed at the Foumban conference that July. The referendum of 20 May 1972 replaced that federation with a unitary state, and West Cameroon became the North-West and South-West provinces. On 26 May 1990, John Fru Ndi launched the Social Democratic Front in Bamenda, despite a ban on the rally, at which security forces killed six young participants.

Official sourceUNESCO – General History of AfricaPublished 1 Jan 1993Verified 6 Sept 2026

Events tied to this region

Events tied to this region
Date	Event	Era	Source
c. 1350	Tikar migrations into the Grassfields	Precolonial Cameroon	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
6 August 1914 – 10 March 1916	The Kamerun campaign of the First World War	German Kamerun	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
February 1916 – March 1916	The Picot line and the provisional partition of Kamerun	Mandates and trusteeships	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
28 June 1919	The Treaty of Versailles confirms the partition of Kamerun	Mandates and trusteeships	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
1922	Indirect rule of the British Cameroons from Nigeria	Mandates and trusteeships	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
20 July 1922	League of Nations mandates over French Cameroun and the British Cameroons	Mandates and trusteeships	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
13 December 1946	Cameroon becomes a UN trust territory	Mandates and trusteeships	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
11 February 1961 – 12 February 1961	1961 plebiscite in the British-administered Cameroons · Contested	Independence and reunification	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
17 July 1961 – 1 October 1961	Foumban conference and the reunification of Cameroon	Independence and reunification	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
20 May 1972	1972 referendum and the creation of the unitary state · Contested	Independence and reunification	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
26 May 1990	Launch of the Social Democratic Front in Bamenda	The Renouveau era (since 1982)	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
11 October 1992 – 23 October 1992	1992 disputed presidential election · Contested	The Renouveau era (since 1982)	Official sourceUNESCO – General History of Africa
October 2016 – October 2017	Onset of the Anglophone crisis in the North-West and South-West · Contested	The Renouveau era (since 1982)	International organisationUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
10 September 2019 – 24 December 2019	Major National Dialogue and the 2019 special status	The Renouveau era (since 1982)	Official sourceNational Assembly of Cameroon