POPULATION 2,958,448
CHRISTIAN 50 percent
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS 48 percent
MUSLIM 0.8 percent
OTHER 1.2 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

The Republic of the Congo, a West Central African nation on the Atlantic Ocean, borders Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; formerly Zaire), and Angola. Topographically, from southwest to northeast, the country includes a relatively treeless coastal plain, an escarpment, a vast plateau region, and then an expansive lowland. While the DRC was a former Belgian colony, Congo (then Moyen, or Middle, Congo) was colonized by France. The main ethnic groupings are the Kongo (nearly 50 percent of the population; they live in the southwest), Teke (about 17 percent; most grow cassava and bananas), Mboshi (about 12 percent; they live in the northwest and are mainly traders, farmers, and fishermen), and Sangha (in the northeast; farmers and fishermen on the edge of the rain...