Territoires du Cameroun – Voies de communication

Large and rare map of Cameroon, dated 1933, probably the first map published by the French colonial administration. It indicates the various lines of communication, including the railways, the roads (both all-weather and dry-season), the landing strips, the radiotelegraphy stations and the navigable stretches for cruisers and warships, as well as for small whalers and canoes. In many respects, it can be considered a precursor of the “Carte Générale”, more detailed and larger than our example, published in 1936 by the same René Bugniet. This map was published 20 years after the conquest of German Kamerun by the Anglo-French forces. In 1922, the League of Nations officially divided the country between both nations, attributing four-fifths to France and the rest, bordering Nigeria to the north, to the United Kingdom. The priority of the colonial administration was to complete the railway network begun by the Germans, including the addition of the Eseka-Yaoundé stretch. Once finished, in 1927, the French administration moved its capital from Douala to Yaoundé, a city situated at 750 metres of altitude, which offered a more favourable climate by its altitude and its distance from the coast. This map was commissioned by Paul Bonnecarrère, governor of the territory from September 1932 to 1934. Finished on 1 February 1933, it suggests that one of his first acts as governor was to establish an updated map of the lines of communication to better manage the territory. The map was published in Paris by Dorel, a printing house that patented a technique similar to the modern photocopy, “Les Procédés Dorel”, from which it took its name. This suggests that the colonial administration probably intended to print the map in a limited number of copies. Rarity: to date we have not found this map in any dealer’s or auction house’s catalogue. There are only three examples recorded in WorldCat (none in the catalogue of the BnF, nor in France).