DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

BASIC FACTS

Geography  Area: ¼ size of USA  Capital: Kinshasa  Climate: tropical equatorial

People * FactorDRCUSA Population66.5 million303 million Population growth rate 3.236%0.883% Median age16.3 years36.7 years * All estimates are from 2008.

People  Ethnic makeup:  Bantu majority  200+ African groups  Major languages:  French  Lingala, Kingwana, others  Religions:  70% Christian  20% indigenous beliefs  10% Muslim

People *  Religions:  70% Christian  20% indigenous FactorDRCUSA Infant mortality rate deaths / 1,000 live births 6.3 deaths / 1,000 live births Life expectancy54 years78 years HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate 4.2%0.6% Literacy67.2%99% * The HIV/AIDS est. are from The literacy rates est. are from All other est. are from 2008.

Economy * FactorDRCUSA GDP per capita$300$48,000 GDP real growth rate 6.2%1.4% GDP composition by sector 55% agriculture 11% industry 34% services 1.2% agriculture 19.6% industry 79.2% services Inflation rate16.7%4.2% * All estimates are from the 21 st century, albeit different dates. The range is

Economy  Natural resources: cobalt, copper, cadmium, petroleum, zinc, diamonds, manganese, tin, gold, silver, bauxite, iron ore, coal, hydropower, timber  Agriculture: coffee, palm oil, rubber, tea, manioc, root crops, corn, fruits, sugarcane, wood products  Industry: mineral mining and processing, consumer products, cement, diamonds

Government  Type: republic (in name…)  Head of State: Pres. Joseph Kabila

HISTORY

Earliest Peoples (40,000 BCE-1400s CE) 1. Pygmies (Mbuti)  40,000 BCE  hunter-gatherers 2. Bantu  500 BCE – 1500 CE: migration from W. Africa  iron, sophisticated tools 3. Nilotes  migration from Sudan  farming, fishing, herding A Pygmy boy fishes for his lunch in the Ituri Forest in the DRC. Photo appeared in a 2005 National Geographic article about the Mbuti Pygmies today.

Many Ethnic Groups (600 CE)  Early peoples interacted and spread  600 CE: 200+ ethnic groups

Kingdoms & Empires (1400s-1500s)  Kongo  Luba  Lunda

European Arrival & Slave Trade (1480s – early 1800s) European Arrival  1480s: Portugal 1 st  Kingdom of the Kongo: happy to trade Slave Trade – Why?  most lucrative  staff Portuguese sugar plantations on nearby islands  French, British, Dutch join (New World)  already existed in Africa (POWs)

Slave Trade continued… The Impact   conflicts among African groups  guns introduced  abandonment of traditional econ. activities  unfortunate slaves vs. prosperous middlemen  Late 18 th c: 15,000 slaves/year  In sum: 1.5m slaves from Congo 12m from Africa Frightening Stats

Henry Stanley (1860s-1870s)  : expedition to find Livingstone  : transcontinental expedition

Leopold II’s Congo ( )  1879: Leopold II establishes the “Congo Independent State” as his private kingdom

Belgian Congo ( )  1906: Congo becomes a Belgian colony

Independent Congo (1960-present)  1960: Congo gains independence  : Pres. Joseph Kasavubu  P.M. Patrice Lumumba (d. 1961)  : Mobutu Sese Seko  : Laurent Kabila  2001-present: Joseph Kabila Mobutu