Map of Congo
Travel tips for your trip to Congo Hotel Maps Famous Places in Congo helps you to make your trip to Congo in the holiday a Splendid One
The Republic of the Congo was first settled by the illusive Pygmies. They were followed by the Bakongo, Bateke and Sanga peoples in the mid-15th century.
Once the coastal areas were discovered and explored by the Portuguese, the natives (making friends quickly) began to cooperate with the Europeans, and soon, the slave trade flourished. In fact, the coastal area was a major source for the transatlantic slave trade.
Over many decades, an assortment of European traders searched for additional economic opportunities here, and then, in 1891, this resource-rich land was colonized by the French, and named the French Congo - later the Middle Congo.
Subsequently, the Congo's population suffered through forced labor, and the country's valuable rubber and ivory resources were exploited.
Independence from French control was achieved in 1960, however, over the decades that followed the Republic of the Congo suffered through Marxism, a bloody civil war, on-going political instability, and ethnic unrest.
The Republic of the Congo has significant underdeveloped economic potential, a poor infrastructure and inadequate health care. On the positive side, it's one of Africa's largest petroleum producers.
Its relatively sparse population is concentrated in the southwestern portion of the country, between the capital city of Brazzaville and the coastal city of Point Noire, leaving the vast areas of tropical jungle in the north virtually uninhabited.