Stage 7 - Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, researched by RunaroundSue
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the eleventh-largest country in the world, and the second largest in Africa with an area of 2,344,858 square kilometres. With nearly 92 million people, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the 19th largest country in the world by population.Tentative predictions suggest the population may double in the next 22 years. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is named after the Congo River, which flows through the entire country. The Congo River is the second-longest river in Africa and the largest river in the world by discharge. The country was initially named Zaire in 1971, by Mobutu Sese Seko, the country president. In 1997, the country was renamed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Laurent Desire Kabila.
Kinshasa, the capital is located on the Congo River and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was formerly known as Leopoldville until 1966 when it was changed to Kinshasa.
Mount Stanley is a mountain located in the Rwenzori range. With an elevation of 5,109 m (16,763 ft), it is the third highest in Africa, after Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.
The Ruwenzori range is located between Uganda and the DRC Congo. The range consists of many high mountains. The Mountain is named after journalist and explorer, Sir Henry Morton Stanley.
Mount Stanley is a part of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Virunga National Park is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet and home to the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas. The Virunga contains two of the world's most active volcanoes. It has a diverse habitat that ranges from swamps and steppes, lava plains, and Savannah on the volcano's slopes. Virunga National Park is the oldest national park in Africa.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located by the eastern part of DR Congo on the border of Uganda and Rwanda. Apart from the mountain gorillas, there are about 20,000 hippopotamuses in the rivers and a variety of birds from Siberia.
The active volcano called Nyiragongo, soaring above the city of Goma, occasionally sends plumes of smoke into the sky before becoming a flaming beacon visible for miles around after sundown. The crater of Mount Nyiragongo contains the largest and most voluminous lava lake in the world. It measures ten million cubic meters.
It poses a threat to the lives of the one million inhabitants of Goma. Goma town is 20 km from the active volcano. Lava is a part of the daily life of the Goma people. As a result, it is presently referred to as the most dangerous volcano in the world.
The area now known as the DRC was populated as early as 90,000 years ago. A site called Katanda in Congo has bone points which date this and this was shown by the 1948 discovery of the Semliki harpoon at Katanda.
In the western part of the nation, the kingdom of Kongo existed between the 14th century and the 19th century. The kingdom of Luba and Lunda ruled in the east and center regions of Congo from the 16th century to the 19th century.
The populous ethnic Bantu people began migrating into the Democratic Republic of the Congo region in the 5th century. By the 10th century, another exodus to DRC took place.
They began settling in the northwest of Central Africa in the beginning of the 5th century. Gradually, they started to expand southward. The 10th century marked the final expansion of the Bantu tribe in West-Central Africa.
Their propagation was accelerated by the transition from Stone Age to Iron Age techniques. The people living in the south and southwest were mostly San and hunter-gatherer groups.
At that time, their technology involved only the minimal use of metal technologies. The development of metal tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture and animal husbandry. Consequently, it led to the displacement of the hunter-gatherer groups in the east and southeast.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is extremely rich in natural resources. Similarly, it is potentially one of the richest countries in the world. Furthermore, it sits on $24 trillion worth of natural resources. These resources include gold, platinum, diamonds, iron ore, and uranium. However, Congo has its fair share of political instability, it suffers from lack of infrastructure, and has issues with corruption. Therefore, the resources are not well distributed across the country.
The people of the DRC represent over 200 ethnic groups, with nearly 250 languages and dialects spoken throughout the country. Apart from French which is the official language of the country, about 215 native languages are spoken.
The largest ethnic groups are the Luba, Kongo, Mangbetu-Zande, and Anamongo making up 45% of the population. There are also white Congolese of Belgian ancestry who remained after independence.Other popular ethnic groups are the Nilotic people, pygmy people, and the Ubangian.
Christianity is the majority religion in the DRC, followed by about 95% of the population. Roman Catholicism takes a major share of about 50%, Protestant 20%, and Kimbanguist 10%. There are an estimated 63 million Christians in the country.
The world’s second largest rainforest is located in DRC. The Congolian Rainforest spreads out through six countries, including DR Congo, and it is second in size only to the Amazon rainforest. In fact, it is so large that it contains about 25% of the entire planet’s remaining tropical forest! The Congolian Rainforest is so massive that it is divided into several ecoregions:
Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests
Northwestern Congolian lowland forests
Western Congolian swamp forests
Eastern Congolian swamp forests
Central Congolian lowland forests
Northeastern Congolian lowland forests
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to 5 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Garamba National Park
Kahuzi-Biega National Park
Okapi Wildlife Reserve
Salonga National Park
Virunga National Park
Because the equator passes right through DR Congo, it gets a lot of rain and thunderstorms, with the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world! On top of that, its equatorial location means that some parts of the country can receive over 6.5 ft (2 m) of rainfall each year, which is helpful for sustaining the rainforests and the biodiversity within.
Lake Tanganyika is a large freshwater lake and one of the African Great Lakes in the Rift Valley. It is so large that it borders 4 countries: DR Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, and Zambia. Lake Tanganyika is the second-largest freshwater lake in the world (by volume), the second deepest freshwater lake, and the second-oldest freshwater lake. The first in each case is Lake Baikal in Russia.
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Crossing into the Democratic Republic of the Congo from MG Edwards