The Chamber of Commerce in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

is a building constructed between 1927 and 1928 under the French mandate, under the umbrella of the League of Nations. This building is in a late

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

architectural style.

History

The Chamber of Commerce was built between 1927 and 1928, and meant to host the Chamber of Commerce. It is among the earliest architectural testimonies of the early French era, within the framework of the Mandate, under the umbrella of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, after Germany was defeated in September 1918. Created in 1921, before the Conference and the treaty of Versailles, the Chamber of Commerce is merely an advisory body. Its mission was to give account of the resources dedicated to development, and also to fix the market prices lists for the farmers. The fifteen members of the Chamber were chosen by the Commissioner of the Republic, and appointed for two years through an arrêté. Among them were two natives: a farmer and a trader, a kind of social innovation within this very context of racial segregation. At the entrance of the edifice, there is a plate that commemorates General

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

's visit to Cameroon in 1940. He delivered an appeal to the inhabitants to join

Free France Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...

in front of the building.
Chamber of Commerce
' in ''Douala Ville d'art et d'histoire'', doual'art, Douala, 2006.

History

References

Further reading