Congo is a region in Central
Africa inhabited by the Kongo
people, in addition to some other ethnic groups. The region is considered
the historical living space of the Congolese people.
Historically
Historically, the region of the Congo was a vast
geographical area of equatorial Africa located in the tropical wet forest of
Central Africa called Congolian forests.
It also owes its name to the predominant ethnic group in the
region, ruled by Kingdom of Kongo founded towards the end of the
14th century and extended from 1390 to 1914.
Although the span of rule of the kingdom varied, in its
greatest extent, the Kingdom of Kongo reached from the Atlantic
Ocean in the west to the Kwango
River in the east, and from the Congo River in
the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The kingdom largely
existed from c. 1390 to 1891 as an independent state, and from 1891 to 1914 as
a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal.
The Congo River, its main river, flows through the region
forming the Congo Basin.
Some groupings advocate a return to one Congolese homeland
on the basis of the historical kingdom. Very notably, the Bundu
dia Kongo movement advocates reviving the kingdom through secession from
Angola, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and
Gabon.
Languages
Majority of the people of Congo spoke the Kikongo
(the Kongo language), but other prominent languages spoken by significant
portions of Congolese populations included Lingala, Tshiluba and Kiswahili.
European languages are also vastly spoken by the Congolese
populations as lingua francas, most notably French owing
to long-running colonial rule of the various areas of Congo by the
French and Belgians. Some Congolese populations also speak Portuguese particularly in the Cabinda
Province, earlier known as Portuguese Congo and presently an exclave of Angola.
Present-day Congolese
regions
The nowadays geographic region spans across the Republic of the Congo (former French
Congo), Democratic Republic of the Congo (former
Zaïre/Belgian Congo), and the Angolan exclave of Cabinda (former
Portuguese Congo) which lies between the Republic and the Democratic Republic.
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