9 regions (regions, singular - region) and 1 commune*; Bouenza, Brazzaville*, Cuvette, Kouilou, Lekoumou, Likouala, Niari, Plateaux, Pool, Sangha.
The population of the Congo comprises four major ethnic groups divided into about 75 smaller groups. The Kongo, the major ethnic group, accounting for about one-half of the total population, occupy the section southwest of Brazzaville. The M’Bochi live in the area where the savanna and forest meet in the northern region; the Sangha also inhabit the northern forest zone; and the Teke live in the central region. About 12,000 pygmies also live in the country.
About half of the Congo's inhabitants belong to the Kongo peoples, whose major subgroups include the Sundi, Kongo, Lali, Kougni, Bembe, Kamba, Dondo, Vili, and Yombe. The Ubangi people include the Makoua, Kouyou, Mboshi, Likouala, Ngala, and Bonga. The Teke and the Sanga, or Gabonese Bantu, are also divided into various subgroups. The Binga Pygmies live in small bands, usually as clients of surrounding peoples. Most of the Europeans in the Congo are French who live in the main cities. There are also small populations of foreign Africans, Portuguese, and Chinese.
Bantu peoples in the Congo have been here since before ad 1000. When Diogo Cam, the first European explorer of the area, reached the Congo River in 1482, he found two large empires. The kingdom of Loango extended north and east from the river, and that of the Bakongo controlled the land near the mouth of the Congo River southward to the Cuanza River. Eventually, Portuguese imperialism and the slave trade destroyed the Bakongo’s empire and severely damaged that of the Loango. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza of France explored the area in 1879 and 1880. He signed treaties with local rulers, placing the territory under French protection. The region became known as the Middle Congo, which in 1910 became one of the colonies federated into French Equatorial Africa. Brazzaville, the chief city of the Middle Congo, became the seat of government for the federation. After many attempts following World War II (1939-1945) to bind its African territories into a meaningful association, France began to grant them independence. The Middle Congo became an independent functioning republic in 1960 called Republic of the Congo.
Human habitation of the Congo basin came relatively late in the Sangoan era (100,000 to 40,000 BP), perhaps because of the dense forest. The people who used the large-core, bifacial Sangoan tools probably subsisted by food gathering and digging up roots; they were not hunters. Refined versions of this tradition continued through the Lupemban (40,000 to 25,000 BP) and Tshitolian eras. Only late in the first millennium did agriculture emerge in the savanna adjacent to the lower Congo River. The early inhabitants were farmer-trappers, fishing peoples, and Pygmy hunters. People lived in households including kin and unrelated individuals; at the centre of the household was a “big man,” who represented the group. Mobility—of individuals, groups, goods, and ideas—figured prominently and created a common social environment.
Politics after independence were unstable; each disturbance made the government more radical. The first premier, Fulbert Youlou, outlawed all opposition but was overthrown in 1963. He was replaced by Alphonse Massamba-Débat and the National Revolutionary Movement; he secured good relations with Communist states throughout the world, especially the People’s Republic of China. In 1968 a coup organized by the army and more militant leftists overthrew Massamba-Débat and installed Marien Ngouabi as head of state. During the nine years of Ngouabi’s rule the Congo became even more of a Marxist country. In 1970, under a revolutionary constitution, the name of the nation was changed to People’s Republic of the Congo. Ngouabi was assassinated in 1977, and his place was assumed by General Joachim Yhombi-Opango. Despite its good relations with the Communist world, the Congo’s closest ties and much of its trade remained with France.
Precolonial artistic expression emphasized ceremonial music, dance, sculpture, and oral literature. Christianity and colonialism had a great impact on these art forms. The carving of ritual objects became commercialized, and music and dance altered as a result of the introduction of Western instruments and musical styles. In the 1980s the Brazzaville region, along with Kinshasa, across the river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, became a vital centre of contemporary African music. There are two libraries in Brazzaville, and a national museum contains collections of prehistoric objects as well as precolonial and contemporary art.
Although broken by rapids, the Congo River and its tributaries provide a major and highly developed transportation network. The Congo-Ocean Railroad (510 km/317 mi) links Brazzaville to Pointe-Noire; a 286-km (178-mi) spur links the line to Moanda, Gabon. Only a small percentage of the 12,800 km (7,954 mi) of roads are paved. The road network is densest in the south. International airports serve Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.
There are 6 daily newspapers published in the Congo. The government radio station broadcasts from Brazzaville, and a national television network began transmission in 1963. In 1997 there were an estimated 126 radio receivers and 12 television sets for every 1,000 people. There were 8 telephone mainlines per 1,000 people in 1998.
The country is fringed by a narrow coastal plain 40 miles (64 kilometres) wide, which stretches for about 100 miles between Gabon and Cabinda. The plain rises gradually from the sea to the Mayombé Massif, a low mountain range that parallels the coast. The Mayombé peaks are quite sharp and are separated by deep river gorges. At the southern end of the range, Mount Foungouti attains 3,051 feet (930 metres). The northern peaks are lower; among them, Mount Moguindou rises to 2,132 feet (650 metres). East of the Mayombé Massif lies the Niari valley, a 125-mile-wide depression. Toward the north the terrain rises gradually to the Chaillu Massif, which reaches elevations between 1,600 and 2,300 feet on the Gabon border; toward the south the depression rises to the Cataractes Plateau. The valley is an important passage route between the inland plateaus and the coast.
Cassava, pineapples, plantains, bananas, peanuts, maize, and avocados are the principal subsistence crops raised in the Congo. The main cash crops are sugarcane, palm kernels, cacao, and coffee. The most successful commercial agricultural operations are in the fertile Niari Valley.
The Congolese economy is based primarily on subsistence agriculture and the exploitation of natural resources. Commercial activities are also important, primarily because the country provides key port and transport facilities for the Central African Republic, Chad, and Gabon. In 1997 the estimated national budget included $307 million in revenues and $601 million in expenditures.
Petroleum and mining are the major export industries, followed by forestry and commercial agriculture. Light manufacturing (mostly shoes), sugar processing, and assembly industries also assumed greater importance in the 1980s. These activities, however, employed only a small fraction of the labour force, most of which was engaged in agriculture and the non-salaried informal urban economy. In the late 1980s, following the fall in world oil prices, Congo experienced a major financial crisis. Negotiations for aid from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank produced agreements to privatize portions of the national economy and to reduce the national bureaucracy. Such agreements may have improved the ability of Congo to compete in the international economy; at the same time, they did little to ameliorate the poverty of much of the population.
The economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector based largely on oil, support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing a major share of government revenues and exports. In the early 1980s, rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-scale development projects with GDP growth averaging 5% annually, one of the highest rates in Africa. Moreover, the government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its oil earnings, contributing to the government's shortage of revenues. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of Franc Zone currencies by 50% resulted in inflation of 61% in 1994, but inflation has subsided since. Economic reform efforts continued with the support of international organizations, notably the World Bank and the IMF. The reform program came to a halt in June 1997 when civil war erupted. Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO, who returned to power when the war ended in October 1997, publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions. However, economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices and the resumption of armed conflict in December 1998, which worsened the Republic of the Congo's budget deficit. Even with the IMF's renewed confidence and high world oil prices, Congo is unlikely to realize growth of more than 5% in 2001-02. With the return to fragile peace, the IMF approved a $14 million credit in November 2000 to aid post-conflict reconstruction.
services barely adequate for government use; key exchanges are in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, and Loubomo; intercity lines frequently out-of-order
domestic: primary network consists of microwave radio relay and coaxial cable
international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat
The population of the Congo (2001 estimate) is 2,894,336, giving the country an overall population density of 8 persons per sq km (22 per sq mi). About half the population follows traditional religious beliefs. Most of the remainder are Christian, primarily members of the Roman Catholic church, which had nearly 1 million adherents in the Congo in the early 1990s. Muslims are 2 percent of the population. Although French is the official language of the Congo, most people speak an African language.
the most important of the many parties are the Democratic and Patriotic Forces or FDP (an alliance of Convention for Alternative Democracy, Congolese Labor Party or PCT, Liberal Republican Party, National Union for Democracy and Progress, Patriotic Union for the National Reconstruction, and Union for the National Renewal) [Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO, president]; Association for Democracy and Social Progress or RDPS [Jean-Pierre Thystere TCHICAYA, president]; Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development or MCDDI [Michel MAMPOUYA]; Pan-African Union for Social Development or UPADS [Martin MBERI]; Union of Democratic Forces or UFD [Sebastian EBAO]
1992 constitution declared the Congo a multiparty democracy with a president as head of state. Legislative power was vested in a 125-seat National Assembly and a 60-seat Senate. According to the constitution, popular elections to the presidency and the National Assembly were to be held every five years, while Senate elections were to be held every six years. In October 1997 former president Denis Sassou-Nguesso overthrew the government of President Pascal Lissouba and suspended the constitution. Sassou-Nguesso appointed a multiparty cabinet in November, and in early 1998 he declared that the Congo would be returned to democratic rule under a new constitution after a three-year transitional period.
International organization Member
ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, ACCT, ACP, AfDB, BDEAC, CCC, CEEAC, CEMAC, ECA, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO.
Schooling is free and compulsory in the Congo for children of ages 6 to 16. In the 1995-1996 school year primary school enrollment was 497,305 pupils, and 214,650 students attended secondary schools, including technical and teacher-training schools. The country’s only university, Université Marien-Ngouabi (1961), is in Brazzaville. It has a yearly enrollment of about 12,000 students. The estimated literacy rate in 2001 was 98 percent, one of the highest in Africa.
Military branches: Army, Air Force, Navy, Gendarmerie
Military manpower - military age: 20 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 684,922 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 347,946 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 32,350 (2001 est.)
Most of the Congo river boundary with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is indefinite (no agreement has been reached on the division of the river or its islands, except in the Stanley Pool/Pool Malebo area)
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