British Cameroons was a United Nations trust territory on the west coast of Africa. It consisted of a long, narrow strip of land between Nigeria on the west and Cameroon on the east. It extended about 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) from the Gulf of Guinea northward to the area of Lake Chad.
British Cameroons was a part of the German colony of Kamerun from 1884 to World War I. Germany lost its African colonies during the war, and Britain and France divided Kamerun. After World War I, they administered the territories as mandates of the League of Nations. Beginning in 1946, they governed them as trust territories of the United Nations.
The area France administered became independent as Cameroon in 1960. That same year, the United Nations authorized Britain to end its trusteeship of British Cameroons. Voters in the two sections of the trust territory were allowed to choose whether they wanted to join Nigeria or Cameroon. The northern part of British Cameroons joined Nigeria on June 1, 1961. The southern part of British Cameroons joined Cameroon on Oct. 1, 1961.
