Abstract
Bantu tribes migrated to the Congo basin from the northwest in the first millennium AD, forming several kingdoms and many smaller forest communities. Congo emerged as a kingdom on the Atlantic coast in the 14th century. King Nzinga Mbemba entered into diplomatic relations with Portugal after 1492. The Luba kingdom was centred on the marshy Upemba depression in the southeast. Expansion began in the late 18th century under Ilungu Sungu. In central Congo the Kuba kingdom was established in the 17th century as a federation of Bantu groups. Agriculture became the mainstay of the Kuba economy, strengthened by the introduction of American crops by Europeans. Trade made the Kuba elite, especially the Bushoong group, wealthy and encouraged the development of art and decorated cloth. Kuba thrived until the incursions of the Nsapo in the late 19th century.
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Further Reading
Gondola, Didier, The History of Congo. 2003
Hochschild, Adam, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Study of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. 1999
Melson, Robert, Genocide and Crisis in Central Africa: Conflict Roots, Mass Violence and Regional War. 2001
Renton, David, The Congo: Plunder and Resistance. 2006
Wrong, Michaela, In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo. 2000
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Turner, B. (2011). Congo, Democratic Republic of the. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-59051-3_196
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-59051-3_196
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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