The history of the Republic of the Congo has been marked by diverse civilisations: Indigenous, French and post-independence.
The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world by discharge volume, following the Amazon and Ganges rivers. It is the world's deepest recorded river, with measured depths of around 220 m (720 ft). The Congo–Lualaba–Luvua–Luapula–Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km (2,900 mi), which makes it the world's ninth-longest river. The Chambeshi is a tributary of the Lualaba River, and Lualaba is the name of the Congo River upstream of Boyoma Falls, extending for 1,800 km (1,100 mi).
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as the DR Congo, the DRC, or Congo-Kinshasa, is a country in Central Africa. By land area the Congo is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 109 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, the Cabinda exclave of Angola, and the South Atlantic Ocean.
The Mpemba effect is the name given to the observation that a liquid which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold, under otherwise similar conditions. There is disagreement about its theoretical basis and the parameters required to produce the effect.
The Kongo people are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others.
The pre-colonial history of the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo encompasses the history of the Congo Basin region up to the establishment of European colonial rule in the era of New Imperialism and particularly the creation of the Congo Free State and its expansion into the interior after 1885. As the modern territorial boundaries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo did not exist in this period, it is inseparable from the wider pre-colonial histories of Central Africa, the Great Lakes and Rift Valley as well as the Atlantic World and Swahili coast.
The Kingdom of Kongo was a kingdom in Central Africa. It was located in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Southern of Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. At its greatest extent it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The kingdom consisted of several core provinces ruled by the Manikongo, the Portuguese version of the Kongo title Mwene Kongo, meaning "lord or ruler of the Kongo kingdom", but its sphere of influence extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Loango, Ndongo, and Matamba, the latter two located in what is Angola today.
The Kalûnga Line in Kongo religion is a watery boundary between the land of the living and the spiritual realm of the ancestors. Kalûnga is the Kikongo word "threshold between worlds." It is the point between the physical world and the spiritual world. It represents liminality, or a place literally "neither here nor there." Originally, Kalûnga was seen as a fiery life-force that begot the universe and a symbol for the spiritual nature the sun and change. The line is regarded as an integral element within the Kôngo cosmogram.
Lukeni lua Nimi was the traditional founder of the Lukeni kanda dynasty, first king of Kongo and founder of the Kingdom of Kongo Dia Ntotila. The name Nimi a Lukeni appeared in later oral traditions and some modern historians, notably Jean Cuvelier, popularized it. He conquered the kingdom of Mwene.
Erasto Bartholomeo Mpemba (1950–2023) was a Tanzanian game warden who, as a schoolboy, discovered the eponymously named Mpemba effect, a paradoxical phenomenon in which hot water freezes faster than cold water under certain conditions; this effect had been observed previously by Aristotle, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes.
The Bakwa Dishi is a people belonging to the Luba ethnic group living today in the Kasai-Oriental Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Miabi, the Dishi Capital, is located 16 miles (26 km) West of Mbuji-Mayi. The territory of the Bakwa Dishi lies on approximately 1,900 square miles (4,900 km2), which is known as the Miabi territory.
The Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza were a confederation of states in west Central Africa from the 13th century. They were absorbed into the Kingdom of Kongo in the 16th century, being mentioned in the titles of King Alvaro II in 1583. It neighboured the confederations of Vungu and Mpemba. Its capital district was on the Kwale River, and it controlled the lands eastwards to the Kwango River, northwards to the Pool Malebo, and westwards to the Inkisi River and north of the Kwilu River. This polity or region was first mentioned in texts of the Kingdom of Kongo in the late 16th century, although it probably existed much earlier. It was only then being incorporated into Kongo, through the kingdom's eastern province of Mbata. It is unclear what the Seven Kingdoms were, though perhaps they included Kundi and Okanga. Presumably these kingdoms represented an alliance of several smaller polities, though the sources of the time tell us nothing about it.
Alvaro VIII, of the House of Kinlaza, was king of the Kingdom of Congo, from 1666 to 1669.
The kingdom or polity of Vungu or Bungu was a historic state located in Mayombe. In the 13th century it led a confederation of itself, Ngoyo, and Kakongo. It neighboured the confederations of Mpemba and Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza. It is thought to be the origin of the Kingdom of Kongo.
Parisel Mpemba is a team handball player from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She plays for the club St. Maure, and on the DR Congo national team. She represented DR Congo at the 2013 World Women's Handball Championship in Serbia, where DR Congo placed 20th.
Kongo religion encompasses the traditional beliefs of the Bakongo people. Due to the highly centralized position of the Kingdom of Kongo, its leaders were able to influence much of the traditional religious practices across the Congo Basin. As a result, many other ethnic groups and kingdoms in West-Central Africa, like the Chokwe and Mbundu, adopted elements of Bakongo spirituality.
Ana Afonso de Leão was the queen regnant of the Kingdom of Nkondo between 1673 and 1710. She conquered the territories of Lemba and Matari, as well as those located along the Mbidizi river in the Kingdom of Kongo in the 17th century. She was a decisive figure during the Kongolese civil war.
Mpemba was a 13th century confederation in the western Congo Basin. Its northernmost territory, Mpemba Kasi, was incorporated into the founding of the Kingdom of Kongo in the 14th century. It neighboured the confederations of Vungu and Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza. Its capital and southernmost tip was on the Loze River in Angola, and it reached northwards 150 kilometres to the Congo River. It had sub-kingdoms, such as Mpemba Kasi and Vunda which was complex enough to have its own sub-units which included Mpangala.
