Ngaoundéré

Ngaoundéré, or N'Gaoundéré (Fula: N'gamdere 𞤲'𞤺𞤢𞤥𞤣𞤫𞥅𞤪𞤫𞥅) is the capital of the Adamawa Region of Cameroon. It had a population of 152,700 at the 2005 census. According to the film Les Mairuuwas – Maitre de l'eau produced by the University of Tromsø, the population has rapidly risen to 1,000,000 (as of October 2016) owing to mass immigration from the Central African Republic and the perceived danger from Boko Haram in northern Cameroon. The city lies at the northern end of the railway to Yaoundé and is also home to Ngaoundéré Airport. Attractions in the city include the Lamido Palace and the Lamido Grand Mosque. The town is named after a nearby mountain on its eponymous plateau; the mountain's name is the Mbum word for "navel mountain". The site of modern Ngaoundéré had previously been occupied by a Mbum capital, but the present city dates from around 1835, when it was founded by the Fulani leader Ardo Njobdi. The Fula continued to hold the area during the 19th century and Ngaoundéré was visited in 1882 by Robert Flegel. Ardo Muhammadu Abbo signed a protection agreement with the German explorer Siegfried Passarge in 1894 and a series of agreements between Germany, Britain, and France placed the area within Germany's sphere of influence. The German army occupied the town (period Ngaundere) by main force on August 20, 1901. On July 29, 1915, the town was the scene of a skirmish between German and British troops during World War I's Kamerun campaign. Following the war, the area fell under French occupation until the independence of Cameroon. The Mbum were the earlier population of the surrounding area before the 19th-century invasion of the Fulani. The Fulani have ruled the area since the foundation of Ngaoundere in approximately 1835 in conjunction with the Mbum, who are considered a protected people according to Islamic law. The ruler is required to be descended from the ruling Fulani family on his father's side, extending back to the first Lamido of Ngaoundéré Ardo Njobdi of Boundang.