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Cameroon

Gazetteers

Online Gazetteers

• FamilySearch Places at FamilySearch
• World Gazetteers at Archive.org
• Essential World Atlas, 9th Edition at Archive.org
• Cameroon at Wikipedia.org
• Kamerun at Wikipedia.org
• Cameroon - Regions, Major Cities, Cities and Towns at citypopulation.de
• Major Rivers of Cameroon at WorldAtlas.com
• Historical Section of the Foreign Office, Great Britain. Cameroon. London : H. M. Stationery office, 1920. Online at: HathiTrust.
• Nelson, Harold D. Area Handbook for the United Republic of Cameroon. Washington : U.S. Govt. Print. Off, 1974. Online at: HathiTrust.
• U.S. Dept. of State. Background Notes, Cameroon. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of Public Communication, Editorial Division, 1983. Online at: HathiTrust.

Print Only Gazetteers

• Meek, Charles Kingsley. Land tenure and land administration in Nigeria and the Cameroons. London, England : Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1957. FS Catalog book 966.9 R2m
• United States Board on Geographic Names. Cameroon : official standard names approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Office of Geography, 1962. FS Catalog book 967.11 E5u

Why Use Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.

There are many places within a country with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Gazetteer Contents

Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:

• Different religious denominations
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
• The population size.
• Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
• Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
• Longitude and latitude.
• Distances and direction from other from cities.
• Schools, colleges, and universities.
• Denominations and number of churches.
• Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)