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COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z Africa Institute of South Africa | Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles 147 Orientation Congo Brazzaville lies in the Congo basin, on the western side of the lower stretch of the great Congo River. On the river’s eastern side lies the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The equator cuts through the northern part of Congo Brazzaville which is covered by dense evergreen rainforest, while the southern half is made up of low bush-covered plateaus, separated from the Atlantic coast by the Mayombe escarpment. With fewer than 10 people per km2 , Congo Brazzaville is rather sparsely populated; the country has a population of nearly four million on a total land area of 342 000 km2 . Brazzaville is the capital city, largest urban area and major river port (on the Congo River) and has a population of about one million people. The name Brazzaville is sometimes added to the country’s name to avoid confusion with its much larger neighbour, the DRC. The second largest city is Pointe Noire, the country’s main port on the Atlantic Ocean. People The majority of the population in Congo Brazzaville are speakers of Bantu languages . The Kongo people (largest ethnic group) and their various sub-groups are predominant in the far southern region between the coast and Brazzaville. The Teke is the second largest group, including the Mboshi as their major sub-group. The Kouyou live further north, around Owando and Makou. Altogether the Kongo, Teke and Mboshi account for about 85% of the population. The smaller groups are the Ngundi, Mbeti and Punu, all of them related to larger groups in neighbouring Gabon and Cameroon. French is the official language; Kituba and Lingala are indigenous lingua francas, spoken in both Congos. Roughly about 45% of the population are Christian, but this figure does not include adherents of the African Independent Churches. Economy About one-third of the population in Congo Brazzaville depends on agriculture for a living, the majority of whom are subsistence farmers. Coffee and cocoa are the foremost cash crops, while cassava is the principal food crop. The sugar industry is robust, with production about 450 000 tonnes in 2000–2001. The extraction of petroleum from offshore wells is the major foreign exchange earner, accounting for 47% of total GDP and 90% of export value in 1999. Other minerals such as gold, lead, zinc and copper are mined in small quantities. The Congo, Republic (Brazzaville) COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z 148 Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles | Africa Institute of South Africa manufacturing sector is small and is mainly focused on the processing of agricultural and forest products; most factories are located in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire. History The early inhabitants of the Congo Basin were pygmy hunter-gatherers. The spread of Bantu-speaking groups from the north into the Congo saw the emergence of the Kongo Kingdom at the mouth of the Congo River towards the end of the 15th century. The Portuguese were the first whites to discover the Congo’s mouth, but cataracts in the river’s lower course made it impossible for them to travel further inland. It was not until the 1880s that a French explorer, Count Savorgnan de Brazza, founded Brazzaville on the west bank of the Congo River. Brazzaville later became the administrative capital of French Equatorial Africa (FEA), comprising the colonies of Middle Congo (now Congo Brazzaville), Gabon, Ubangi-Chari (now Central African Republic) and Chad. During World War II (1939–1945) French African subjects rejected the Germancontrolled government in France and fought with the Free French, led by Gen Charles de Gaulle. Brazzaville became the African headquarters of the Free French forces. After the war France granted the inhabitants of the FEA citizenship rights and parliamentary representation in France, in recognition of their support. However, all attempts to treat the French colonies as an extension of France failed. The French Congo (Congo Brazzaville) became a self-governing republic in November 1958 but in August 1960 the constituent republics within the FEA, including Congo Brazzaville, were given sovereign independence. Congo’s first president, Abbe Fulbert Youlou, resigned in 1963 after his attempts to centralise the state were met by strong resistance and countrywide demonstrations. His successor Alphonse Masemba- Debat formed the Marxist-Leninist Mouvement national de la révolution (MNR) and adopted an anti-Western foreign policy while following Soviet-style central planning. In August 1968 there was a military coup d’état, led...

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