Garoua is Cameroon's third largest port, despite the fact that the Bénoué River upon which it relies is only navigable for short periods of the year.

The Mayo Rey and Vina River cut north of this portion, leaving deposits of sedimentary stone except in the granite east.

The Mandara Mountains, which run roughly north–south at the province's Nigerian border, are irregular in that they are volcanic, composed mostly of crystalline and metamorphic rock and granite.

The region's annual rainy/dry cycle erodes the landscape and aids in the formation of iron deposits called duricrust or hardpans near the surface.

All rivers in the province experience a tropical regime, with a period of high water during the rainy season during which flooding may occur.

It shelters many large mammal species, including hartebeest, hippopotami, kob, and waterbuck, as well as smaller numbers of buffalo, giant eland, elephants, lions and reptiles such as crocodiles.

North of Garoua and in the Mandara Mountains, where large populations of non-Muslim (often known collectively by the derogatory name Kirdi) were forced to flee years ago, density peaks at 50 to 100 people per km2.

The city is today a mélange of the region, with large populations of Fulbe, non-Muslim Northerners and immigrants from Southern Cameroon, as well as from neighboring Chad and Nigeria.

The land west of the Mayo Rey is home to several peoples on a roughly south–north axis: Chamba, Fanbe, Gimbe, Komandera, and Vere.

The Doayo live east of the river, and the Ndupa, Dugun, another group of Chamba, and the Voko of Poli village neighbour them to the south.

Those with the most speakers include Daba, Dii, South Fali, Gidar, Adamawa Fulfulde (spoken by Cameroon's Fulbe), and Ngambay.

Sorghum, millet (both fast- and slow-growing), and maize are the staple crop throughout most of the province, though manioc (cassava) is also important on the Adamawa Plateau, and rice is especially popular in cities.

Among the goods produced in Garoua are beer and soft drinks, soap, cotton products such as textiles and cottonseed oil, construction materials, processed foods, and shoes.

Hunters also visit the Bouba Ndjida Park, though its thick vegetation and large number of rivers make it considerably more difficult to travel in.

The North enjoys a relatively high level of development in infrastructure thanks mainly to its most prominent native son, Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon's first president.

The Union Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Progrès (UNDP) is the most important political party in the area due to its large base of Fulbe supporters.

The UNDP has not presented much of a front in several years, however, because the ruling party, the Rassemblement démocratique du peuple camerounais RDPC, is careful to represent Fulbe interests.

The government of Cameroon allows these individuals to exercise relatively wide-reaching powers, so they can make laws, judge disputes, and intern prisoners.

The cultural hindrance comes from the traditional role of Fulbe women; girls marry as young as age ten or eleven, and schooling typically stops at this time.

In addition, most of the province's non-Muslim peoples maintain a lively traditional culture that includes a number of special ceremonies, dances, and holidays.

Hair styles and head coverings The flood plains of the Bénoué Depression have long attracted human settlement, as archaeological finds in the area and in Garoua attest.

The Chamba continued to migrate (due partially to internal squabbling) well into the colonial period, and they founded many settlements along the way, including Donga, Suntai, and Tissa.

Over time, Fulbe numbers grew, and the immigrants began to shift from subservience to other ethnic groups to settling Fulbe-only settlements.

By 1804, Fulbe numbers had reached the point where the herders had to seek new pastureland and the settlers tired of paying homage to non-Fulbe rulers.

The sentiment reached its peak when Fulbe mystic Usman Dan Fodio declared a jihad in what is today northern Nigeria and Cameroon.

Non-Fulbe peoples were forced to either submit to Fulbe control (and the rule of non-native rulers) or to continue their resistance long after Adama's death.

After the German surrender of 1918, the present North Province territories fell under a League of Nations mandate, to be administered by France.

Under André-Marie Mbida, first premier of Cameroon after France granted it self-governance in 1956, the North's Fulbe majority rose in opposition, especially against the 1957 Abong-Mbang Resolutions.

The period of Ahidjo's presidency proved a boon to the territory, as the native son relished great projects on Garoua and the surrounding zone, particularly in the road network.

Nevertheless, upon Biya's accession to power, the Cameroonian press accused an Ahidjo collaborator named Moussa Yaya of trying to turn the northern lamidos against the new president.