Yaoundé, surrounded by 7 hills, is the capital city of Cameroon. With a population of more than 2.8 million, it is the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. From December 1889 to May 1895, it was occupied by the German botanist Georg August Zenker as an agricultural research station named Jaunde after the local Yaunde or Ewondo people. During World War I, Jaunde was occupied by Belgian troops from the Congo. After Imperial Germany’s defeat in that war, France held eastern Cameroon as a mandate of the League of Nations and Yaoundé was chosen to become the capital of the colony in 1922. Douala long remained the more important settlement, but Yaoundé saw rapid growth after 1957 due to the cocoa crisis and unrest along the coast. It continued as the seat of government for the Republic of Cameroon upon its independence.