Central Africa

Central Africa is an equatorial region of the African continent encompassing Angola, Burundi, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe, an island located off the Atlantic coast (as defined by the European Union). The boundaries of the region vary according to the source of the definition, with some agencies also including Malawi, South Sudan, and Zambia. Central Africa is part of the larger region called the Sub-Sahara and is sometimes considered a sub-region.

The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) and the United Nations call the region Middle Africa, and its definition is often used for statistics. Geographical boundaries are sometimes used to define the region. In this definition, the region is described as the drainage basin of the Congo River, which is bordered on the east by the East African Rift System. The Congo Basin consists of land drained by the Congo River and its tributaries. The Congo is the second-longest river in Africa. Sometimes, parts of the Chad Basin or the Nile Basin are also included.

There is no single cultural identity for the region. Many people speak a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo language family, but English, French, Portuguese, and Sango are also commonly spoken. Christianity is the most commonly practiced religion, but Islam is also widely practiced in Cameroon and Chad. Indigenous beliefs remain important, mostly in remote areas. National boundaries have been drawn through traditional ethnic lands. Therefore, many people feel more connected to their ethnic group than to their nation.

Historical Perspective

Scientists believe that the Sub-Saharan region of Africa was the birthplace of humankind. The hunter-gatherer Mbuti people, an Indigenous group from the Congo Basin region, may have existed in Central Africa as long ago as 2500 BCE. Around the sixth century BCE, the Sao civilization rose and remained through the sixteenth century CE. Around the first century CE, the Bantu people moved into the region. Kingdoms such as Kongo, Bornu, and Ndongo were formed. Around 1470, a Portuguese colony was formed on the island of São Tomé, and a local and European slave trade began. In the 1600s, in addition to enslaved people, the salt and copper trade began, followed by the export of textiles. The Dutch moved in, followed by the French. Ivory traders moved into the region and kidnapped and enslaved local people. The practie of selling and trading enslaved people was ended by the late 1800s.

In 1885, King Leopold II of Belgium took over the Congo, calling it the Congo Free State, and made a fortune in the rubber industry. He was a brutal ruler, and the Belgian government assumed control in 1908, renaming the area the Belgian Congo. Later, its name was changed to Zaire, then to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997.

After World War II, many African nations gained their independence from the colonial countries that ruled over them. Some used peaceful means, but some had to battle for their freedom. South Sudan did not gain its independence from the Republic of Sudan until 2011.

Geography and Climate

Central Africa is geographically diverse because of its different climate zones. The equator runs through the region, and its hot, humid climate encourages the growth of the rainforest. Rain falls year-round in the rainforests, but rains are seasonal away from the equator. The savanna, or open grassland, covers much of the southern region, while in northern Chad, the land is a dry, hot desert.

The Congo Basin is home to the world's second-largest tropical forest, covering 781,250 square miles (2,023,428 square kilometers). It is home to many plants, animals, and people.

The Congo River is the major river in the region. It joins the Ubangi, Likouala, and Sangha Rivers to form large lakes before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. In the northern part of the region, Lake Chad is on the border of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. It is a freshwater lake and one of the largest in Africa. However, its size varies with the seasons, and it is shrinking due to climate change and other factors.

The Ruwenzori mountain range runs along the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Virunga Mountain range is located along the northern border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. The range has eight volcanoes, two of which are active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The mountainous Virunga National Park is home to the endangered (critically endangered from 1994 to 2018) mountain gorilla, as well as African bush elephants, lions, and the rare okapis, also called forest giraffes. Animals such as giraffes and zebras graze in the savanna, where predators such as cheetahs are also found. Snakes, chimpanzees, and okapi can be found in the rainforest, as well as a variety of birds and tree frogs. However, as rainforests and the savanna are cleared by industries and expanding agricultural activity, many rare plants and animals lose their homes, and Indigenous peoples are displaced from their lands.

Economy

The Central African region is rich in natural resources, such as minerals and gems, oil, and rare tropical plants and animals. Copper, gold, diamonds, petroleum, manganese, uranium, and iron ore are found in the region. Much of the world’s cobalt is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is an essential component in lithium-ion batteries that power modern technology like smartphones and electric cars.

Most people in the region are subsistence farmers. Grains such as millet are important staple crops in the region. Export crops include cocoa, coffee, sisal, tobacco, and rubber. Cattle are raised in areas that are not plagued by the tsetse fly, which transmits diseases. They are especially threatening in the southern savanna of Chad.

The region's waters contribute to the economy. The Chad Basin is an important source of commercial fishing, and fish is an important protein source for many people in the region. Some of the waterfalls, such as the Inga Falls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, provide hydroelectricity.

Historically, tourism has been limited in the region due to political conflict, civil unrest, and transportation issues. However, the rainforests, beaches, and wildlife attract some twenty-first-century travelers. Tourists visit conservation areas and national parks that protect and preserve wildlife, such as Loango National Park in Gabon and Akagera National Park in Rwanda. Visitors are also attracted to the outdoor markets and village festivals.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Central Africa’s economic growth slowed to 2 percent in 2015. It was expected to rise to 3.5 percent in 2016. Earlier estimates had predicted that the region would see growth of more than 4 percent. Low oil prices, security threats, and drought significantly impacted the region's economic growth. In the following decade, inflation, the global COVID-19 pandemic, and altered weather patterns continued to threaten economic stability in the area, though development, poverty levels, and barriers to growth varied by country. By 2022, the Central African region saw a 5 percent growth rate, with experts citing favorable commodity prices. The Democratic Republic of Congo was credited as a major contributor to this growth, with a growth rate of 8.5 percent. Cameroon continued to face significant threats to stability from the terrorist organization Boko Haram. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s primary threat to economic stability is the country’s widespread corruption that permeates every economic sector and the government. This corruption is linked to the country’s significant debt, a lack of basic infrastructure, mismanagement of natural resources, and over 70 million people living in absolute poverty. Its economy is one of the least competitive in the world.

Demographics

The population of the Central Africa region grew significantly in the first decades of the twenty-first century. The population of the Central Africa region in 2000 was 105 million, but this consistently increased in subsequent years—123 million in 2005, 145 million in 2010, 171 million in 2015, and 198 million in 2020. By 2023, the region's population was 217 million; by 2024, 225 million people lived in the region. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's population was the highest in the area, with over 103 million people, followed by Angola with 37 million people and Cameroon with 29 million.

About 3.9 million international migrants contributed to the region's population in the 2020s, as well as several million Indigenous peoples. The Indigenous population of the Central African region includes, among others, the Mbuti (Bambuti), the Aka (Biaka or Babenzele), the Mbororo (Fulbé), and the Babongo (Babongo). These people traditionally live in the rainforests or are nomadic hunter-gatherers who do not stay in one place, making it challenging to college accurate data. The Indigenous population of the Republic of the Congo in the 2020s was between 700,000 and 2 million people, according to Human Rights Watch. In Gabon, the Indigenous population varies according to the source, ranging from 18,000 to 20,000 people. Though census data was not collected through the first decades of the twenty-first century, in 2003, the Indigenous population in the Central African Republic was 39,299 Mbororo, or 1 percent of the total population. Aka populations in Central Africa have been estimated to be in the tens of thousands. The region's life expectancy at birth ranged from about fifty-five years for individuals living in Chad to sixty-eight years for those living in Gabon.

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