The Japoma Bridge (also known as the Edea German Bridge or the German Bridge) is a former railway bridge over the Sanaga River near Edea, Cameroon. [1]
Note there is now another bridge across the Dibamba River called the Yapoma Bridge. It is sometimes called Japoma Bridge, which causes confusion, for example, in accounts of the fighting during WW1 - see the First Battle of Edea. Gorges (1920: [2] 153) shows the other one.
The steel arch bridge was designed and built by the Gutehoffnungshütte of Oberhausen. Before being delivered, the bridge was assembled in Germany so it could be tested. It was then disassembled and transported in pieces to Cameroon by boat in 1911. It measures 160m in length, and was the largest in Africa at the time of erection. The vertical columns starting at the arch grille are used as a suspension for the roadway. One half of the arch was first assembled on the ground and the other half built on floating barges, which were then assembled. It remains as an architectural relic of the German colonial era in Cameroon. [3]
The strategic location of the bridge was a factor during the First and Second Battles of Edea during World War I. On 2 August 1937, the bridge was also visited by the entire crew of the German ship Wahehe , with certain officers going right up to the bank of the river, in what was thought to be a reconnaissance of the area. [1]
Until the early 1980s, the bridge was the only crossing point over the Sanaga Rivery for trains, vehicles and pedestrians. It is now used as a footpath and cycle track. [4]
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A pontoon bridge, also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry.
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The Pont Saint-Bénézet, also known as the Pont d'Avignon, was a medieval bridge across the Rhône in the town of Avignon, in southern France. Only four arches survive.
The Centre Region occupies 69,000 km2 of the central plains of the Republic of Cameroon. It is bordered to the north by the Adamawa Region, to the south by the South Region, to the east by the East Region, and to the West by the Littoral and West Regions. It is the second largest of Cameroon's regions in land area. Major ethnic groups include the Bassa, Ewondo, and Vute.
Edéa is a city located along the Sanaga River in Cameroon's Littoral Region. It lies on the Douala–Yaoundé railway line. Its population was estimated at 122,300 in 2001. There are bauxite facilities, aluminium processing facility, steel processing facility, timber facilities, paper facilities. These are primarily powered by the Edea Hydroelectric Power Station. Bananas, oil palm, and cacao are farmed nearby.
The Sanaga River is the largest river in Cameroon located in East Region, Centre Region and Littoral Region. Its length is about 603 km (375 mi) from the confluence of Djérem and Lom River. The total length of Sanaga-Djérem River system is about 1,067.5 km (663.3 mi). Djerem is the longest source of Sanaga River with a total length of 464.5 km.
The Wouri is a river in Cameroon. Cameroon has two major rivers, the Sanaga, the longest at about 525 km long and the Wouri, the largest. The Wouri forms at the confluence of the rivers Nkam and Makombé, 32 km (20 mi) northeast of the city of Yabassi. It then flows about 160 km (99 mi) southeast to the Wouri estuary at Douala, the chief port and industrial city in the southwestern part of Cameroon on the Gulf of Guinea. The river is navigable about 64 km (40 mi) upriver from Douala.
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The list of railway stations in Cameroon includes:
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The Second Battle of Edea was the German counter-attack against French forces stationed in the village of Edea during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. Allied forces from Duala occupied the town following the First Battle of Edea in October 1914. The Germans, eager to retake the position attacked on 5 January 1915 but were repulsed by the French force.
The First Battle of Edea involved the British and French assault on German forces stationed in the village of Edea during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. Allied forces from Duala launched their advance on 20 October. Following stiff resistance along the southern railway line between Duala and Edea, German forces withdrew from the town to Jaunde, allowing Allied troops to finally occupy Edea on 26 October 1914.
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