Congo

Republic of the Congo

Republíki ya Kongó (Lingala)

Repubilika ya Kôngo (Kikongo)

Jamhuri ya Kongo (Swahili)

Ditunga dia Kongu (Luba)

Flag of Congo

13.5% Mongo

10.3% Bangala

6.1% Azande

5.8% Mangbetu

3.8% Hutu

2.7% Teke

2.3% Tutsi

2.3% Azande

19.1% Other

8.7% Sunni Islam

3.4% Kimbanguism

1.5% Other

**Congo**, officially known as the **Republic of the Congo**, is a large country located in central Africa. It is bordered by Ngola, Zambia, Ruanda, the East African Federation, Kush, Ubangi-Shari, Cameroon and Orungu. The capital is Kisantu, and the population is 142.5 million people. Despite having immense resource wealth, the country lacks the infrastructure and other means of fully accessing it.

## History

The Bantu expansion is thought to have reached northwestern Congo from present-day Cameroon by 4,500 BC, as well as the rest of the Congo, northern Ngola and western Zambia possibly as early as 500 BC, and then gradually started to expand southward. Their expansion was aided by the advent of pastoralism and early iron-working, which soon allowed the rise of small trading networks.

During the 13th century, the Kingdom of Kongo (Kikongo: *Kongo dia Ntotila*) to which the country gets it’s name from, began to arise in the west around the Nzere River, from the southern part of Orungu. It’s first recorded king is Lukeni lua Nimi, who started the Lukeni Kanda Dynasty, as well as conquering the Mwene Kingdom. He died sometime in the 1440’s, with Nanga of Kongo becoming his successor. The kingdom developed a government in the form of the Royal Council (Kikongo: *Ne Mbanda-Mbanda*).

In the mid 1500’s in the Kasai region of the central Congo, a culture started to rise, which would be known as the Upemba culture. This culture was replaced by the modern Luba and Lunda peoples, who were the populaces of the Luba Empire and Lunda Kingdom respectively. The cities of Sanga and Katango became important cities whithin the region, prospering from trade from Ngola and Cameroon. The two kingdoms reached their heights at the end of the 16th century, but prospered well into the 1700’s.

In the year 1665, slave raiders from the Kingdom of Lusitania arrived in the Kingdom of Kongo with the intent of capturing slaves from there, Ngola and Gabu (later ceded to France) to send over to Pindorama. The king at the time, Nvita a Nkanga, tried to get Lusitania to outlaw slavery, only to have a confrontation at the Battle of Ambuíla, which he lost and died in. As a result, Kongo fell into a state of civil war, as Lusitania rounded up more slaves. Lusitania eventually gained control of the kingdom, and the Kingdom of Kongo became a vassal.

Not far from the Kongo and the Luba-Lunda Kingdoms was the Kuba Kingdom in the northwest, which found itself in a precarious situation with the risk of Lusitanian-influenced Kongo invasion imminent, as well as the threat of Luba invasion. In 1884, Lusitanians finally arrived in the region, and the kingdom was usurped by the Pende people. This allowed the northwest to fall under European control. Finally, the Luba and Lunda kingdoms were conquered in the late 1800’s, though there was much resistance, which resulted in the near-total destruction of Sanga.

In the Kivu region meanwhile, before German colonization of Tanganyika, the Zanzibar Sultanate, on behalf of the Sultanate of Oman began their own slave raids, which came in direct competition with raids conducted by Lusitania & France raids in the west. This lead to the spread of Sunni and Ibadi Islam in the northeast, though the population was small. Meanwhile in Kisantu, the vassalized Kongo Kingdom and their subjects became the majority of the government and higher class due to colonial preferences, as Lusitania formally incorporated the Congo into the United Kingdom of Lusitania, Pindorama and The Congo.

## Demographics

paragraph about peple

15 Largest Ethnic Groups in Congo