Abong-Mbang is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and commune in the

Haut-Nyong Haut-Nyong is a department of East Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 36,384 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 216,768. The capital of the department lies at Abong-Mbang. Subdivisions The department is divide ...

department, East Region of

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. Abong-Mbang is located at a crossroads of National Route 10 and the road that leads south to

Lomié Lomié is a town in the Lomié District in the Upper Nyong division of the East Province of Cameroon. An article in the ''Mail & Guardian Online'' describes it as having "no telephone connection to the outside world, and a single access road that ...

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

, the capital of Cameroon, is 178 km to the west, and Bertoua, the capital of the East Province, lies 108 km to the east. From Ayos, at the border in the

Centre Province 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 Littora ...

145 km (90 mi) from Abong-Mbang, the tar on National Route 10 ends and a dirt road begins. Abong-Mbang is the seat of the

department. The town is headed by a mayor.Mahop. Gustave Mouamossé has held the post since August 2002. Abong-Mbang is site of one of the East Province's four Courts of First Instance and a prefectural prison. The population was estimated at 18,700 in 2001.

History

According to oral traditions of the Kwassio and Bakola peoples, Abong-Mbang was settled when the Maka-Njem peoples moved northwest from the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

region of the

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

. They encountered

Pygmy In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

hunter-gatherers and requested their aid as guides through the region. Some of the migrants settled in the vicinity, which they called ''Bung-Ngwang'' ("bathing area in the Nyong River"). When Europeans arrived in the 19th century, this name was changed to ''Abong-Mbang''. Some migrants continued westward in search of salt; they became the Kwassio and Bakola of Cameroon's coast. German colonisers moved into the area in the late 19th century. They used the Nyong River as a means to reach the wild rubber growing farther inland.Quinn 15. The Germans built a fort and other military and administrative buildings in the town. The fort is today a prefectural prison, and the other buildings serve similar administrative functions.West 191. The French took over in 1919 following Germany's defeat in World War I.

People and economy

Abong-Mbang is the main settlement of the

Maka people The Maka or Makaa are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting the southern rain forest zone of Cameroon. They live primarily in the northern portions of the Upper Nyong division of Cameroon's East Province (Cameroon), East Province. Major Maka settlemen ...

, a group who speak a

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

language of the same name. Much of the population farms; important crops include bananas, cocoa, corn, groundnuts, tomatoes, and tubers.

Shifting cultivation Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned while post-disturbance fallow vegetation is allowed to freely grow while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cul ...

with no fertiliser is the primary method of agriculture.Boeglin ''et al.'' 277. Baka hunter-gatherers live in the surrounding forests. Since colonial times, the government has attempted to better integrate this group into Cameroonian society. Abong-Mbang is part of the Doumé-Abong-Mbang diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. The church estimates that 46.7% of the population is Roman Catholic. Since Francophone Cameroun's independence in 1960, Abong-Mbang has become an important centre of commerce for the East Province. This has led to a cosmopolitan influx of immigrants from outside the Maka area. An estimated 99% of males and 95% of females speak French. However, among traders, Ewondo is the lingua franca of choice: 72% use Ewondo but only 48% use French in market situations. By the late 1970s, the government had zoned large areas of the surrounding forest for timber exploitation. Most timber and

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...

traffic from the East Province passes through the town.Rose 2. Union Abong-Mbang FC is the local football (soccer) team. The town often suffers prolonged cuts to electric power, which the utility company, AES-SONEL, blames on an aging power plant. On 17 September 2007, violent protests against the cuts ended with two protesters dead and 10 others seriously injured. Abong-Mbang market boy

Geography

Abong-Mbang lies on the South Cameroon Plateau, approximately 700 metres above sea level. The soils are red. The Boumba, Dja, and Nyong rivers rise in the Abong-Mbang region. The Nyong forms the town's northern border and is navigable for about 160 km (100 mi) to

Mbalmayo Mbalmayo is a town in Cameroon's Centre Province, Cameroon, Centre Region. The town had 60,091 inhabitants in 2012. It is the capital of the Nyong-et-So'o, Nyong-et-So'o Division It is located at the banks of the Nyong river between Ebolowa and ...

in the

. The area along the Nyong consists of swampy forests that support populations of

raffia palm Raffia palms are members of the genus ''Raphia''. The Malagasy name is derived from ' "to squeeze juice". The genus contains about twenty species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa, and especially Madagascar, with one species ('' R ...

, such as ''Raphia montbuttorum''. The area surrounding the town consists of secondary-growth forest of

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical wood ...

trees, particularly ''

Sterculiaceae Sterculiaceae was a family of flowering plant based on the genus '' Sterculia''. Genera formerly included in Sterculiaceae are now placed in the family Malvaceae, in the subfamilies: Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Helicteroideae and Sterculioide ...

'' and ''

Ulmaceae The Ulmaceae () are a family (biology), family of flowering plants that includes the elms (genus ''Ulmus''), and the zelkovas (genus ''Zelkova''). Members of the family are widely distributed throughout the Temperate, north temperate zone, and ha ...

''; the primary-growth forest has been removed for logging and farming. In some areas, the forests are further degraded and home to other forms of vegetation. The Abong-Mbang Forest Reserve is north of the town. Local wildlife includes populations of

western lowland gorilla The western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla'') is one of two Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla'') that lives in Montane ecosystems#Montane forests, montane, Old-growth forest, primary and sec ...

and

forest elephant The African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'') is one of the two living species of African elephant, along with the African bush elephant. It is native to humid tropical forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It is the smallest of the ...

s. An estimated 100 elephants lived in the Abong-Mbang Forest Reserve in 1998.Barnes ''et al.'' 41. The Ntimbe Caves are 18 km (11 mi) south of the town.

Notes

References

*Albrecht, Gene H., Bruce R. Gelvin, and Joseph M. A. Miller (2003). "The hierarchy of intraspecific craniometric variation in gorillas: A population-thinking approach with implications for fossil species recognition studies", ''Gorilla Biology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective''. Cambridge University Press. . *Barnes, R. F. W., G. C. Craig, H. T. Dublin, G. Overton, W. Simons, and C. R. Thouless (1999). ''African Elephant Database 1998''. Cambridge: IUCN Publications Services Unit. . *Boeglin, Jean-Loup, Jean-Luc Probst, Jules-Rémy Ndam-Ngoupayou, Brunot Nyeck, Henri Etcheber, Jefferson Mortatti, and Jean-Jacques Braun (2006). "Soil Carbon Stock and River Carbon Fluxes in Humid Tropical Environments: The Nyong River Basin (South Cameroon)", ''Soil Erosion and Carbon Dynamics''. Boca Raton, Florida: Taylor & Francis Group. .
Chapitre 4: Caracteristiques de la Population
, Deuxième Partie: Population et Affaire Sociale, ''Annuaire Statistique du Cameroun 2006''. *Cheney, David M. (7 January 2007).

. The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Accessed 24 May 2007. *Chrispin, Pettang, directeur, ''Cameroun: Guide touristique.'' Paris: Les Éditions Wala. *Elvido, Sebastian Chi (2 August 2007).
Abong-Mbang : Les élites montent les populations contre le maire
. ''Mutations Quotidien''. Accessed 4 August 2007. *Fisiy, Cyprian F., and Peter Geschiere (2001). "Witchcraft, development and paranoia in Cameroon: interactions between popular, academic and state discourse". ''Magical Interpretations: Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa''. Routledge. *Foimoukom, Honoré (22 November 2005).
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''Le Messager''. Accessed 21 May 2007. *Geschiere, Peter (1997). ''The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa''. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. * Hudgens, Jim, and Richard Trillo (1999). ''West Africa: The Rough Guide''. 3rd ed. London: Rough Guides Ltd. *Mahop, Charles (4 October 2006).
Abong-Mbang: Chasse aux vêtements provocants
. ''Quotidien Mutations''. Accessed 23 May 2007. *Ngima Mawoung, Godefroy (March 2001).
The Relationship between the Bakola and the Bantu Peoples of the Coastal Regions of Cameroon and Their Perception of Commercial Forest Exploitation
. ''African Study Monographs'', Suppl. 26: 209—235. *Oyono, Phil René (2004). "From Diversity to Exclusion for Forest Minorities in Cameroon". ''The Equitable Forest: Diversity, Community, & Resource Management''. Resources for the Future. . *Nsom, Kini (20 September 2007).

. ''ThePostNewsLine.com''. Accessed 26 September 2007. *Peterson, Dale (2003). ''Eating Apes''. Berkeley: University of California Press. . *Quinn, Frederick (2006). ''In Search of Salt: Changes in Beti (Cameroon) Society, 1800–1960''. Berghahn Books. . *Redmond, Ian (2005). "Where Are the Great Apes and Whose Job Is It to Save Them?" ''World Atlas of Great Apes and Their Conservation''. Berkeley: University of California Press.. *Rose, Anthony L. (1998).
On the Road with a Gorilla Hunter: Turning Poachers to Protectors
. Hermosa Beach, California: Wildlife Protectors Fund/Gorilla Foundation. *Sigha-Nkamdjou, Luc, Daniel Sighomnou, Gaston Lienou, Gaspard Ayissi, J. Pierre Bedimo, and Emmanuel Noah (1998). "Variabilité des régimes hydrologiques des cours d'eau de la band méridionale du plateau sud-camerouais", ''Water Resource Variability in Africa during the XXth Century: (Variabilité des Ressources en Eau en Afrique au XXème Siècle)''. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Press. . *Simo Bobda, Augustin (16 December 2001).

. ''TRANS. Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften'', No. 11. Accessed 23 May 2007. *Stuart, Simon N. (1990). ''Biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa and its Islands: Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use''. Occasional Papers of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, No. 6. The World Conservation Union (IUCN). . * West, Ben (2004). ''Cameroon: The Bradt Travel Guide''. Guilford, Connecticut: The Globe Pequot Press Inc. *Wolf, Hans-Georg (2001). ''English in Cameroon''. Mouton de Gruyter. . *Wolfheim, Jaclyn H. (1983). ''Primates of the World: Distribution, Abundance, and Conservation''. Routledge. . {{Coord, 3, 59, N, 13, 10, E, display=title Populated places in East Region (Cameroon) Communes of Cameroon