Page 6 I. GENERAL INFORMATION ON CAMEROON A. Territory and Population Situated in Africa in the region of the Gulf of Guinea, Cameroon is bordered to the south by Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo, to the east by the Central African Republic, to the north-east by the Republic of Chad, to the west by the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to the south-west by Atlantic Ocean, along a 400-kilometre coastline. The country is triangular in shape and covers an area of 475 444 square kilometres, with a population of 18 million inhabitants, based on the country‟s 2005 population census. The population is essentially young, with about 50 per cent under 20 years old. The country was first under French rule in 1919 and then came under British rule in 1946. It has a pluralistic legal system which recognizes a Romano-Germanic legal system alongside the Common Law and customary rights systems. Cameroon is a miniature Africa, and is home to the variety of ecological systems found all over the African continent. These are three major bioclimatic systems, namely: - The equatorial areas with four seasons; over 1,500 millimetres of rainfall, average temperature of 25 per cent and thermal amplitude of 2 degrees Celsius. This area covers almost the entire south of the country, including the coast and the mountainous regions of the west. - This humid tropical climate has 300 to 1,500 millilitres of rainfall per annum. The average temperature is 28 degrees Celsius and the thermal gap is 6 degrees Celsius. The vegetation in this Sudan climate is made up of large areas of wooded savannah, covering the North, East, South and the entire Adamaoua province. - The dry tropical area, with a sudan-sahelian climate, strongly influenced by the continentality, with 300 to 900 ml of annual precipitation; an average temperature of 28 degrees Celsius and 707 degrees thermal amplitude. Severe weather conditions characterize this sahelian and desert climate of the Sudan area. This area covers a large portion of the North and Far North. The country has year-round waterways, some of which take their source from up country and flow to the ocean. This is an important socio-economic asset for the country. The ecological and climatic diversities condition the way of life of the people and their methods of child supervision.