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Geography of Cameroon

Cameroon is the world's 53rd-largest country. It is comparable in size to Papua New Guinea, and somewhat larger than the U.S. state of California. Cameroon's landmass is 181,252 sq mi (469,440 km2), with 2,317 sq mi (6,000 km2) of water.

The country is located in Central and West Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, between Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.


Cameroon is sometimes described as "Africa in miniature" because it exhibits all the major climates and vegetation of the continent: mountains, desert, rain forest, savanna grassland, and ocean coastland. Cameroon can be divided into five geographic zones. These are distinguished by dominant physical, climatic, and vegetative features.

Area:
total: 475,440 km²
land: 472,710 km²
water: 2,730 km²
Area - comparative: slightly larger than California

Land boundaries:
total: 4,591 km
border countries: Central African Republic 797 km, Chad 1,094 km, Republic of the Congo 523 km, Equatorial Guinea 189 km, Gabon 298 km, Nigeria 1,690 km
Coastline: 402 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 50 nmi (93 km)

Climate: varies with terrain, from tropical along the coast to semiarid and hot in the north
Terrain: diverse, with coastal plain in southwest, dissected plateau in center, mountains in west, plains in north