Bas-Congo (Province du Kongo Central)
At the time of independence, the area now encompassing Kongo Central was part of the greater province of Léopoldville, along with the capital city of Kinshasa and the districts of Kwango, Kwilu and Mai-Ndombe. Under Belgian colonial rule, the province was known as Bas-Congo (as in "Lower Congo River") and was renamed Kongo Central after independence.
Under the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko from 1965 to 1997, the Congo river was renamed as Zaire. The province was named as Bas-Zaïre. The name was later reverted to Bas-Congo. It was subsequently renamed as Kongo Central in 2015.
Map - Bas-Congo (Province du Kongo Central)
Map
Country - Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Centered on the Congo Basin, the territory of the DRC was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was reached by the Bantu expansion about 3,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to 19th centuries. In the northeast, center and east, the kingdoms of Azande, Luba, and Lunda ruled from the 16th and 17th centuries to the 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium formally acquired rights to the Congo territory in 1885 and declared the land his private property, naming it the Congo Free State. From 1885 to 1908, his colonial military forced the local population to produce rubber and committed widespread atrocities. In 1908, Leopold ceded the territory, which thus became a Belgian colony.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
CDF | Congolese franc | Fr | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
FR | French language |
KG | Kongo language |
LN | Lingala language |