The coat of arms of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

consists of a shield with a banner above and below it. Behind the shield are two crossed fasces. The shield has the same color pattern as the

flag of Cameroon The national flag of Cameroon (french: drapeau du Cameroun) was adopted in its present form on 20 May 1975 after Cameroon became a unitary state. It is a vertical tricolour of green, red and yellow, with a five-pointed star in its center. Ther ...

, and in the center is a map of the nation. The scales of justice are superimposed on top of the map of the nation since 1998.

Description

The

constitution of Cameroon The Constitution of Cameroon is the supreme law of the Republic of Cameroon. Adopted in 1972, it is Cameroon's third constitution. The document consists of a preamble and 13 Parts, each divided into Articles. The Constitution outlines the rights gu ...

describes the coat of arms as follows: ''The coat of arms of the Republic of Cameroon shall be an escutcheon surmounted chief by the legend <> and supported by two crossed fasces with the motto <> base.'' ''The escutcheon shall be composed of a star on a field ertand triangle gules, charged with the geographical outline of Cameroon azure, and surcharged with the sword and scales of justice sable.'' The previous version of the state arms had text in French only, with "République du Cameroun – 1er Janvier 1960" on a scroll above the shield, and "Paix, Travail, Patrie" below the shield. The shield differed in that the green and yellow areas to left and right each had one large blue five-pointed star, while the central red area did not have a star on top (so that the blue map outline of Cameroon extended higher).''Guide to the Flags of the World'' by Mauro Talocci, revised and updated by Whitney Smith (), p. 144.

Earlier coats of arms

Proposed arms 1914

In 1914, the German government decided to assign coats of arms to its overseas colonies, including Cameroon. Arms were designed, but

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out before the project was finalised, and the arms were never actually taken into use. Giving the colonies their own insignia in time of war could let them have a symbol to rally around in case of rebellion. The arms proposed for the Imperial Colony of Cameroon depicted an elephant's head and the German imperial eagle on a chief. The eagle and the imperial crown on the shield was the same for all the proposed colonial arms.Schurdel, H.D. . Battenberg (1995). ''Flaggen & Wappen Deutschland - Heraldik, Hymnen, BRD & DDR Flaggen und Wappen, Deutsche Ostgebiete, ehem. deutsche Kolonien u.v.m.''

Other coats of arms

File:British Cameroons Seal.svg, Badge of

British Cameroons British Cameroon or the British Cameroons was a British mandate territory in British West Africa, formed of the Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Today, the Northern Cameroons forms parts of the Borno, Adamawa and Taraba states of ...

(1922-1961) File:Proposed Coat of Arms Kamerun 1914.svg, Proposed coat of arms of

German Cameroon Kamerun was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon. Kamerun also included northern parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern ...

(1914)

References

External links

National symbols of Cameroon

Coats of arms with weighing scales