1. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

2. BASIC FACTS

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

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

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

6. People *  Religions:  70% Christian  20% indigenous FactorDRCUSA Infant mortality rate 83.11 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 2003. The literacy rates est. are from 2001. All other est. are from 2008.

7. 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 2000-2008.

8. 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

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

10. HISTORY

11. 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.

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

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

14. 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)

15. 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

16. Henry Stanley (1860s-1870s)  1869-1871: expedition to find Livingstone  1874-1877: transcontinental expedition

17. Leopold II’s Congo (1879-1908)  1879: Leopold II establishes the “Congo Independent State” as his private kingdom

18. Belgian Congo (1908-1960)  1906: Congo becomes a Belgian colony

19. Independent Congo (1960-present)  1960: Congo gains independence  1960-1965: Pres. Joseph Kasavubu  P.M. Patrice Lumumba (d. 1961)  1965-1997: Mobutu Sese Seko  1997-2001: Laurent Kabila  2001-present: Joseph Kabila Mobutu