(also Yaunde), the capital of Cameroon and the administrative center of the South Central Province. Yaoundé is situated on a plateau at an elevation of 750 m. The climate is equatorial. The average January temperature is 22.8°C, and the average July temperature is 20.7°C. Annual precipitation totals 1,600 mm. Population, 178,000 (1976).
Yaoundé was founded in 1888 as the center of the German colonial administration. It was made the capital of Eastern Cameroon, a mandated territory of France, in 1922 and was named the capital of independent Cameroon in 1960. With a railroad station and a large airport, Yaoundé is an important through transportation center for the interior regions of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and the Republic of Chad.
Industry includes food processing (particularly cocoa butter, beer, and tobacco), metalworking, and the manufacture of wood products. The city also has garment factories. Yaoundé is the commercial center of an agricultural region devoted largely to export products, such as cocoa, coffee, and palm kernels.
Educational institutions in Yaoundé include a university, which opened in 1962 and had approximately 6,600 students in 1976–77 academic year; the Higher Normal School, which trains secondary school teachers; the Advanced School of Agriculture; the National School of Administration; and the International Polytechnical School of Yaoundé. The principal libraries are the National Library of Cameroon (10,000 volumes in 1976) and the library of the University of Yaoundé (65,000 volumes).