Concept
Messamena (also spelled Messaména) is a town and commune in Cameroon. The town of Messamena is the capital of the arrondissement (commune) of the same name. They are located in the Haut-Nyong Department, East Region. The commune is bounded to the north by the commune of Atok (Maka-bebend), to the south by Somalomo, to the east by Mindourou, to the west by Akonolinga, and to the northeast by Abong-Mbang. The commune is around . Under German colonialism, Messamena was the principal town of its subdivision, and this arrangement was sustained under French rule. Messamena received the first administrative infrastructure on the eve of the Second World War, in 1937, with a prison, district hospital (1937), and junior school (1940). It was formally constituted as a commune by decree on 7 June 1955, and the construction of a town hall, Protestant and Catholic churches (1957) and a post office (1958) followed. In 1966–67, Messamena town had a population of 540 and the commune as a whole a population of 17,079. Its area was , with a population density of 3.43 per km2 (of which was considered to be an inhabited zone, with a population density of 4.58). According to the local-government Diagnostic de l'Espace Urbain Communale and Diagnostic Participatif au Niveau des Villages, as of around 2012, the Municipality of Messamena had a total of 32,282 inhabitants, including 10,790 men, 10,364 women and 11,128 young people, with an average density of 6 people per km2. 2,159 inhabit urban areas and 30,123 inhabitants rural ones. The municipality has 86 villages, including ten camps of the Baka people and four quartiers. The population is ethnically diverse, including people from the Bikélé, Badjoué, Kaka, Pygmies, as well as more recent arrivals, some from West Africa, including members of the Bamiléké, Eton, Hausa, Ewondo, and Bulu. The landscape of the district is characterised by low hills, draining huge amounts of runoff in the rainy season, which results in the formation of streams in the valleys.