General info
- Douala is the commercial and economic capital of an African region comprising 6 countries: Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and the Central African Republic.
- The city handles most of Cameroon's major exports: coffee, cocoa, oil, fruits, etc.
- Douala is 26th on the list of 231 African cities with the best living conditions in 2019.
- At the same time, about 30 per cent of the city's total population (2,768,400) lives in poverty.
- Besides, there's a big climate problem: floods, tornadoes and storms often disturb life in Douala.
- The Portuguese, who discovered the area in the 15th century, called it Rio dos Camaroes which is the Shrimp River.
- Interestingly, the city was earlier called Cameroon's Town and used to be the country's capital between 1940 and 1947.
City views
The Statue of Liberty
Temple of Centeneire (Evangelical church), built in 1947
Statue of King Akwa, one of Douala's most successful rulers
Douala's bird-eye view
A very special urban view
Douala's railway station – arguably the most well-developed in the whole country
Notable people coming from Douala
- Samuel Eto'o
- Louis Brody (actor, 1892-1951)
- Manu Dibango (jazz musician, 1933-2020)
- Patrick Baudry (first astronaut coming from Africa, 1946 - ...)
- Pascal Siakam (2019 NBA Champion, 1994 - ...)
It's worth a mention that plenty of famous Cameroonian footballers were born in Douala: apart from Eto'o, they are Carlos Kameni (ex-Espanyol goalkeeper), Wilfrid Kaptoum (ex-Barcelona talent), Paul-Georges Ntep (ex-Rennes star), and even Alex Song who played for Barca between 2012 and 2016.
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