everything about Congo?

Question

I want to know the facts about congo...it could be animals, economy, U.S-Congolese relations, manners, games (what they tend to play daily), education, presidents, everything.because i am doing research on congo

Answer 1

Geography

The Congo is situated in west-central Africa astride the equator. It borders Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Angola exclave of Cabinda, with a short stretch of coast on the South Atlantic. Its area is nearly three times that of Pennsylvania. Most of the inland is tropical rain forest, drained by tributaries of the Congo River.
Government

Dictatorship.
History

In precolonial times, the region now called the Republic of Congo was dominated by three kingdoms: Kongo (originating about 1000), the Loango (flourishing in the 17th century), and Tio. After the Portuguese located the Congo River in 1482, commerce was carried on with the tribes, especially the slave trade.

The Frenchman Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza signed a treaty with Makoko, ruler of the Bateke people, in 1880, thus establishing French control. It was first called French Congo, and after 1905 Middle Congo. With Gabon and Ubangi-Shari, it became the colony of French Equatorial Africa in 1910. Abuse of laborers led to public outcry against the French colonialists as well as rebellions among the Congolese, but the exploitation of the native workers continued until 1930. During World War II the colony joined Chad in supporting the Free French cause against the Vichy government. The Congo proclaimed its independence without leaving the French Community in 1960, calling itself the Republic of Congo.

The Congo's second president, Alphonse Massemba-Débat, instituted a Marxist-Leninist government. In 1968, Maj. Marien Ngouabi overthrew him but kept the Congo on a Socialist course. He was sworn in for a second five-year term in 1975. A four-man commando squad assassinated Ngouabi on March 18, 1977. Col. Joachim Yhombi-Opango, army chief of staff, assumed the presidency on April 4. Yhombi-Opango resigned on Feb. 4, 1979, and was replaced by Col. Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

In July 1990 the leaders of the ruling party voted to end the one-party system. A national political conference, hailed as a model for sub-Saharan Africa, renounced Marxism in 1991 and scheduled the country's first free elections for 1992. Pascal Lissouba became the country's first democratically elected president.

Political and ethnic tensions intensified in 1993 after legislative elections, when the opposition's rejection of the results developed into violence. A peace agreement was signed between the government and the opposition in Aug. 1994. A four-month civil war (June 5–Oct. 15, 1997) devastated Brazzaville, the capital. Buttressed by military aid from Angola, former Marxist dictator Denis Sassou-Nguesso overthrew President Lissouba. In late 1999 a peace agreement was signed between Sassou-Nguesso, who comes from the north, and the rebels representing the populous south. The postwar period has been traumatic for the desperately poor country.

In March 2002, President Sassou-Nguesso was reelected with 89.4% of the vote. His opponents were either barred from the country or withdrew from the election.

The so-called Ninja rebels continued to battle government forces, each attempting to gain or maintain control of the country's rich oil reserves and each seemingly unconcerned about the toll this new outbreak of violence took on civilians. In May 2003, the government and Ninja rebels signed an agreement to end hostilities.
>map link below<

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/Congo-Brazzaville-Congo-Kinshasa.png

and more info;
National name: République du Congo

President: Denis Sassou-Nguesso (1997)

Current government officials

Land area: 131,853 sq mi (341,499 sq km); total area: 132,047 sq mi (342,000 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 3,702,314 (growth rate: 2.6%); birth rate: 42.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 85.3/1000; life expectancy: 52.8; density per sq mi: 28

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Brazzaville, 1,169,900

Other large city: Pointe-Noire, 544,200

Monetary unit: CFA Franc

Languages: French (official), Lingala, Monokutuba, Kikongo, many local languages and dialects

Ethnicity/race: Kongo 48%, Sangha 20%, M'Bochi 12%, Teke 17%, Europeans and other 3%

Religions: Christian 50%, animist 48%, Islam 2%

Literacy rate: 84% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $2.616 billion; per capita $700. Real growth rate: 8%. Inflation: 2%. Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 1%. Agriculture: cassava (tapioca), sugar, rice, corn, peanuts, vegetables, coffee, cocoa; forest products. Labor force: n.a. Industries: petroleum extraction, cement, lumber, brewing, sugar, palm oil, soap, flour, cigarettes. Natural resources: petroleum, timber, potash, lead, zinc, uranium, copper, phosphates, natural gas, hydropower. Exports: $2.209 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum, lumber, plywood, sugar, cocoa, coffee, diamonds. Imports: $806.5 million f.o.b. (2005 est.): capital equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs. Major trading partners: China, Taiwan, North Korea, U.S., France, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Netherlands (2004).

.Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 7,000 (2003); mobile cellular: 330,000 (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 5, shortwave 3 (2001). Television broadcast stations: 1 (2002). Internet hosts: 46 (2003). Internet users: 15,000 (2003).

Transportation: Railways: total: 894 km (2004). Highways: total: 12,800 km; paved: 1,242 km; unpaved: 11,558 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 4,385 km (on Congo and Oubanqui rivers) (2004). Ports and harbors: Brazzaville, Djeno, Impfondo, Ouesso, Oyo, Pointe-Noire. Airports: 32 (2004 est.).

International disputes: about 7,000 Congolese refugees fleeing internal civil conflicts since the mid-1990s still reside in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area.

Answer 2

There's a sh*tload of starving Africans milling about the place, breaking up the monotony with a seemingly never-ending civil war which has been going on in one guise or another since independence in 1960.

It is hopelessly corrupt, and is fraught with tribal tensions. It has almost as much chance of becoming a functioning state which is able to help its own people as does Somalia or any other number of totally inept African nations.

Answer 3

even with exterior government's interventions, billions of pounds (and money) in help, NGO's tips, and the ultimate will interior the worldwide, huge tracts of that benighted continent nevertheless head their inexorable way in direction of hell in a handcart. Politicians and different officials of government (inclusive of armies and police forces) are corrupt, and the west looks powerless to circumvent that corruption. even with feeling huge sympathy (who on earth does not?) for dispossessed and ravenous peoples (particularly toddlers), I even have reached my very own factor of exhaustion over Africa as an entire. If a rustic unquestionably seeks help, and might assure that any help provided would be allowed to ensue devoid of corruption or the disruption of warfare, then, in step with possibility that help could be provided. in any different case i think they could be left to their very own units.

Answer 4

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cg.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1076399.stm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2823.htm
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/africa/zaire.html
http://www.reference.com/search?q=democratic%20republic%20of%20Congo

I expect cash payment for my research. ;)