Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo—also called Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic, or simply Congo—sits on Central Africa’s western coast, west of the Congo River. It shares borders with Gabon to the west, Cameroon to the northwest, the Central African Republic to the northeast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southeast, the Angolan exclave of Cabinda to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest.

Bantu-speaking groups have dominated the area for at least 3,000 years, establishing trade routes into the Congo River basin. By the 13th century, a confederation led by Vungu, which included Kakongo and Ngoyo, controlled the territory. The Tio Kingdom arose in the 14th century, followed by Loango in the 16th. France colonized the region in the late 19th century, incorporating it into French Equatorial Africa. The Republic of the Congo was founded on 28 November 1958 and became independent from France in 1960. From 1969 to 1992, it was a Marxist–Leninist state called the People’s Republic of the Congo. After multi-party elections were introduced in 1992, the democratically elected government was overthrown during a civil war, and Denis Sassou Nguesso—president from 1979 to 1992—returned to power in 1997. He has remained president ever since.

The country is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, La Francophonie, the Economic Community of Central African States, and the Non-Aligned Movement. It is the fourth-largest oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea, which has brought some prosperity, though political and economic instability exist in certain areas, and oil revenue is unevenly distributed nationwide. The economy relies heavily on the oil sector, and growth slowed after oil prices fell post-2015. Christianity is the most common religion. In the 2024 World Happiness Report, the Republic of the Congo ranked 89th out of 140 nations.

**Etymology**

The country takes its name from the Congo River, which itself comes from Kongo, a Bantu kingdom that controlled the river’s mouth when the Portuguese first arrived in 1483 or 1484. That kingdom was named after its people, the Bakongo, an endonym thought to mean “hunters” (in Kongo: *mukongo*, *nkongo*). Under French rule, it was called French Congo or Middle Congo. The Republic of the Congo (or simply Congo) is a separate country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). Brazzaville’s name honors the colony’s founder, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazzà, an Italian nobleman whose title referred to the town of Brazzacco in Moruzzo, Italy; that town’s name comes from the Latin *Brattius* or *Braccius*, both meaning “arm.”

**History**

Bantu-speaking peoples, during the Bantu expansions, largely displaced and absorbed the region’s earlier Pygmy inhabitants around 1500 BC. The Bakongo—a Bantu ethnic group that occupied parts of what later became Angola, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—formed the basis for ethnic ties and rivalries among these countries.

By the 13th century, three main federations of states existed in the western Congo Basin. In the east were the Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza, considered the oldest and most powerful, likely including Nsundi, Mbata, Mpangu, and possibly Kundi and Okanga. South of them was Mpemba, stretching from modern-day Angola to the Congo River, containing kingdoms such as Mpemba Kasi and Vunda. To the west, across the Congo River, was a confederation of three small states: Vungu (the leader), Kakongo, and Ngoyo. Some Bantu kingdoms—including Kongo, Tio, and Loango—built trade links into the Congo Basin. The Tio Kingdom formed in the 14th century; the link between kingship and smithing is thought to have originated with the Tio before spreading to Loango and Kongo.

Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão reached the Congo River’s mouth in 1484. Commercial ties grew between inland Bantu kingdoms and European merchants, who traded in goods, manufactured items, and people captured and enslaved in the interior. After centuries as a central hub for transatlantic trade, direct European colonization of the Congo River delta began in the 19th century, gradually eroding the power of local Bantu societies.

The area north of the Congo River came under French sovereignty in 1880 through Pierre de Brazza’s treaty with Tio King Iloo I. After Iloo’s death, his widow Queen Ngalifourou upheld the treaty and became an ally of the colonizers. This colony was first called French Congo, then Middle Congo in 1903. In 1908, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), which included Middle Congo, Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari (later the Central African Republic). Brazzaville was made the federal capital. Economic development in the first 50 years of colonial rule focused on extracting natural resources. Building the Congo–Ocean Railway after World War I is estimated to have cost at least 14,000 lives.

During the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, Brazzaville served as the symbolic capital of Free France from 1940 to 1943. The Brazzaville Conference of 1944 marked a period of reform in French colonial policy. Congo benefited from postwar expansion of colonial administrative and infrastructure spending, due to its central location within AEF and the federal capital at Brazzaville. It gained a local legislature after the 1946 constitution established the Fourth Republic. Following a revision of the French constitution...