FORMERLY KNOWN AS CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE, this country lies to the north of the Congo River. It has a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.
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CLIMATE |
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The Republic of Congo is mostly hot and humid. A long dry season extends from May to September, and a shorter one occurs from mid-December to mid-January. The long rains last from mid-January to mid-May and the short rains from October to mid-December. Rainfall is high in the Congo Basin but lower on the plateau and the coast, which is kept cool by ocean currents.
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Peoples North of the Great River
The first peoples to inhabit the region north of the Congo (KAHNG-goe) River moved through the great rain forests, hunting wild animals and gathering food. They were probably the ancestors of small-statured groups such as the Baka (bah-KAH) and the Binga (BEEN-gah)
Around 500 B.C.E., Bantu-speakers (BAN-too) began to enter the region, mostly from the north. They were farmers, who built villages on the savanna and the riverbanks. By two thousand years ago, they had learned the skills of ironworking and developed relatively advanced agricultural tools. They bartered with the Baka in the forest, exchanging crops for useful tools, and hunted game such as antelope. The two groups did not intermarry, which is why the Baka remained of small stature.
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FACTS AND FIGURES |
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Official name: République du Congo Status: Independent state Capital: Brazzaville Major towns: Pointe-Noire, Nkayi, Loubomo Area: 132,046 square miles (342,000 square kilometers) Population: 3,700,000 Population density: 28 per square mile (11 per square kilometer) Peoples: 48 percent Kongo; 20 percent Sangha; 17 percent Teke; 12 percent Mboshi; and many other small groups Official language: French Currency: CFA franc National days: The Three Glorious Days (August 13–15) Country’s name: The name Congo comes from the Bantu kingdom of Kongo.
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Powerful Bantu kingdoms developed in the region in the Middle Ages. Loango (luh-WANG-goe), the kingdom of the Vili (VEE-lee) people, developed on the coast around Pointe-Noire (pwehnt-NWAHR) in the 1200s. The Vili regarded their kings as gods. Loango soon fell under the overall rule of the mighty Kongo Empire, which rose to power between the 1100s and 1400s. This was a federation of chiefdoms, whose overall ruler held the title manikongo (mah-nee-KAWN-goe). Its territory stretched southward across the Congo River (see CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF, and ANGOLA). The center of its power lay in northern Angola.
Another powerful kingdom was that of the Teke (TAE-kae) peoples of the plateau region, north of Malebo (mah-LAE-boe) Pool. This kingdom emerged as a confederation of nomadic peoples in a lightly populated part of the country. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Teke kingdom grew powerful from mining iron and copper and trading them at the great market crossroads of Malebo Pool, an expansion of the Congo River.
