Central Africa

Central Africa (French: Afrique centrale; Spanish: África central; Portuguese: África Central) is a subregion of the African continent. It includes many different countries, and people may define it in slightly different ways. One common way to think about it comes from the United Nations, which calls this area Middle Africa. This group of countries includes Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Some nearby countries like Burundi and Rwanda are sometimes thought of as part of Central Africa, but they are often grouped with East Africa.

These countries work together in groups such as the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Some of them also share a special money system called the Central African CFA franc, which helps them trade with each other.

Another group, the African Development Bank, thinks of Central Africa as a smaller set of seven countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. This shows that the exact list can change depending on who is describing the area.

List of Central African countries

Here are the countries that make up Central Africa:

• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Gabon
• Republic of the Congo
• São Tomé and Príncipe

Background

The Central African Federation (1953–1963), also called the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, was made up of what are now the nations of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa covers dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, while the Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian has synods in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These states are now typically considered part of East or Southern Africa.

Geography

The Congo River basin has been very important for the people of Central Africa. It has helped connect different groups and has been a key part of the region's history and ecology.

History

Main article: History of Central Africa

Further information: Archaeology of Central Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa § Central Africa

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Central Africa

Archeological finds in Central Africa show that people lived there over 100,000 years ago. There is evidence of iron being used in the Central African Republic as far back as 3000 to 2500 BCE. Large walled settlements have been found in Northeast Nigeria, about 60 km southwest of Lake Chad, dating to the first millennium BCE.

Better farming and trade helped societies grow more complex, leading to early civilizations in West Africa such as Sao, Kanem, Bornu, Shilluk, Baguirmi, and Wadai.

Around 2500 BCE, people from Bantu groups reached the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa. By the first millennium BCE, Bantu people had also moved as far south as what is now Angola.

Ancient history

Sao civilization

Main article: Sao civilization

The West African Sao civilization thrived from about the 6th century BCE to the 16th century CE in northern Central Africa. The Sao lived by the Chari River south of Lake Chad in areas that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. They were the first people known to have left clear signs of their presence in what is now Cameroon. Today, several groups in northern Cameroon and southern Chad, especially the Sara people, say they are descendants of the Sao. Sao artifacts show they were skilled workers in bronze, copper, and iron. They made bronze sculptures, terra cotta statues of people and animals, coins, funerary urns, household tools, jewelry, decorated pottery, and spears. The biggest Sao discoveries have been made south of Lake Chad.

Kanem Empire

Main article: Kanem Empire

The West-Central African kingdom of Kanem–Bornu Empire was centered around Lake Chad Basin. It was called the Kanem Empire from the 9th century CE and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu until 1900. At its peak, it covered much of Chad, parts of modern eastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon, and parts of South Sudan. We know most about its history from the Royal Chronicle or Girgam found in 1851 by German traveler Heinrich Barth. Kanem began in the 8th century north and east of Lake Chad. The Kanem empire declined, shrank, and was defeated by Bilala invaders from the Lake Fitri region in the 14th century.

Bornu Empire

Main article: Bornu Empire

The Kanuri people of West Africa, led by the Sayfuwa, moved to the west and south of Lake Chad and created the Bornu Empire. By the late 16th century, Bornu had grown and taken back parts of Kanem that had been captured by the Bulala. Bornu had smaller states under it, like the Damagaram in the west and Baguirmi to the southeast of Lake Chad.

Shilluk Kingdom

Main article: Shilluk Kingdom

The Shilluk Kingdom was in South Sudan from the 15th century, along the western bank of the White Nile, from Lake No to about 12° north latitude. Its capital was in the town of Fashoda. The kingdom was founded in the mid-15th century CE by its first ruler, Nyikang. In the 19th century, the Shilluk Kingdom weakened after attacks from the Ottoman Empire and later British and Sudanese rule in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

Baguirmi Kingdom

Main article: Baguirmi Kingdom

The Kingdom of Baguirmi was an independent state during the 16th and 17th centuries southeast of the West-Central Africa Lake Chad area, in what is now Chad. Baguirmi appeared southeast of the Kanem–Bornu Empire. Its first ruler was Mbang Birni Besse. Later, the Bornu Empire took over and made Baguirmi a state that paid tribute.

Wadai Empire

Main article: Wadai Empire

The Wadai Empire began in Chad in the 17th century. The Tunjur people started the Wadai Kingdom east of Bornu in the 16th century. In the 17th century, a group called the Maba people rebelled and set up a Muslim leadership. At first, Wadai paid tribute to Bornu and Durfur, but by the 18th century, Wadai was independent and attacked its neighbors.

Lunda Empire

Main article: Lunda Empire

Further information: List of rulers of the Lunda Empire

After people from the Bantu Migration moved from Western Africa, Bantu kingdoms and empires formed in southern Central Africa. In the 1450s, a Luba person from the royal family Ilunga Tshibinda married Lunda queen Rweej and united all Lunda people. Their son Mulopwe Luseeng grew the kingdom. His son Naweej expanded it further and was the first Lunda emperor, called Mwata Yamvo (mwaant yaav, mwant yav), meaning the "Lord of Vipers". The Luba way of governing was kept, and people they conquered were included in this system. The mwata yamvo gave each conquered state a cilool or kilolo (royal adviser) and tax collector.

Many groups said they came from the Lunda. The Imbangala in inland Angola said they were from a founder named Kinguri, Queen Rweej’s brother, who did not agree with rule by mulopwe Tshibunda. Kinguri was the title used by kings of states started by Queen Rweej’s brother. The Luena (Lwena) and Lozi (Luyani) in Zambia also say they are from Kinguri. In the 17th century, a Lunda leader and warrior named Mwata Kazembe started an Eastern Lunda kingdom in the valley of the Luapula River. The Lunda’s western growth also included groups like the Yaka and the Pende. The Lunda connected Central Africa to trade along the western coast. The Lunda kingdom ended in the 19th century when it was invaded by the Chokwe, who had guns.

Kongo Kingdom

Main article: Kingdom of Kongo

Further information: List of rulers of Kongo

By the 15th century CE, the farming Bakongo people were united as the Kingdom of Kongo under a leader called the manikongo, living in the fertile Pool Malebo area on the lower Congo River. The capital was M'banza-Kongo. They were very organized and could defeat their neighbors and collect taxes from them. They were good at working with metal, making pottery, and weaving cloth from raffia fibers. They helped trade between regions by controlling taxes. Later, crops like maize (corn) and cassava (manioc) were brought to the area by traders from Portugal at places like Luanda and Benguela. These new crops helped the population grow, replacing millet as the main food.

By the 16th century, the manikongo ruled from the Atlantic ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east. Each area was given a mani-mpembe (provincial governor) by the manikongo. In 1506, Afonso I became ruler. Trading in enslaved people grew because of wars he started. Around 1568 to 1569, the Jaga attacked Kongo, destroying the kingdom and forcing the manikongo to leave. In 1574, Manikongo Álvaro I came back with help from Portuguese soldiers. In the late 1660s, Portugal tried to take control of Kongo. Manikongo António I led a Kongolese army of 5,000, but they were defeated by an army of Afro-Portuguese soldiers at the Battle of Mbwila. The kingdom broke into smaller groups fighting each other to capture people to sell as enslaved individuals.

Kongo got people from the Kingdom of Ndongo in wars. Ndongo was ruled by the ngola. Ndongo also traded enslaved people with Portugal, using São Tomé as a place to send people to Brazil. The kingdom did not welcome Portugal and saw them as enemies. In the late 16th century, Portugal tried to take Ndongo but was defeated by the Mbundu. Ndongo lost people because of raids for enslaved people. Leaders created another state at Matamba, led by Queen Nzinga, who resisted Portugal until she made peace. The Portuguese stayed on the coast to trade, not trying to take over the land inside. Trading in enslaved people caused big problems, with states starting wars to capture people. The Imbangala created the slave-raiding state of Kasanje, which was a big source of enslaved people during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Modern history

Further information: Decolonisation of Africa, Postcolonial Africa § Central Africa, and Neocolonialism

See also: Neocolonialism § Françafrique, Central African CFA franc, and Status of forces agreement

During the Conference of Berlin in 1884–85, European countries divided up Africa, setting boundaries that mostly still exist today. On 5 August 1890, Britain and France agreed on the border between French West Africa and what would become Nigeria. They agreed on a line from Say on the Niger River to Barruwa on Lake Chad, but left the Sokoto Caliphate under British control. Parfait-Louis Monteil led an expedition to find where this line was. On 9 April 1892 he reached Kukawa on the shore of the lake. Over the next twenty years, much of the Chad Basin was taken control of by treaties or force into French West Africa. On 2 June 1909, the Wadai capital of Abéché was taken by France. The rest of the area was divided by Britain in Nigeria, who took Kano in 1903, and Germany in Cameroon.

The countries in the area gained independence between 1956 and 1962, keeping the borders set during colonial times. Chad, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic became independent in 1960 after being part of French Equatorial Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo also became independent from Belgium in 1960, but quickly had political problems and conflict called the Congo Crisis (1960–1965), ending with Joseph Mobutu becoming president and the country being renamed Zaire in 1971. Equatorial Guinea became independent from Spain in 1968, and its leader Francisco Macías Nguema is now seen as one of the worst dictators in history. In 1961, Angola began a long struggle for independence from Portugal, finally gaining independence in 1975 after a revolution in Portugal in 1974. São Tomé and Príncipe also became independent in 1975 after that same revolution. In 2011, South Sudan became independent from Republic of Sudan after more than 50 years of war.

In the 21st century, some groups that do not recognize governments have started operating in Central Africa, including the Seleka and the Ansaru.

Over the 2010s, a group calling itself Ambazonia grew stronger in some areas, leading to ongoing issues in Cameroon known as the Anglophone Crisis.

Economy

The main ways people in Central Africa make a living are by farming, herding animals, and fishing. In many parts of northern and eastern Central Africa, about 40% of people in the countryside live with very little money and often don’t have enough food. In the south, people can grow crops when it rains, but in other areas, they use special ways to farm near lakes and rivers. Some people move with their animals to find good grass to eat during the rainy season and then move back when it gets dry.

Fishing is very important, especially around Lake Chad, where it provides food and jobs for over 10 million people. Fishers usually have rights to certain areas where they can fish, and others need permission to use those spots. Oil is also a big part of the economy in some countries like Chad, making up a large part of their total money made in a year.

Demographics

Further information: Demographics of Africa, List of African countries by population, and List of ethnic groups of Africa § Central Africa

After a big movement of people called the Bantu Migration, Central Africa is mostly home to Native African or Bantu peoples. Many people there speak Bantu languages, such as the Mongo, Kongo, and Luba. There are also many Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo Ubangian communities. In the northwest, the Kanuri are a big group. Many Ubangian speakers, like the Gbaya, Banda, and Zande, live in northern Central Africa.

Important groups in Central Africa include the Lake Chad Basin Commission and the Economic Community of Central African States.

Most people in Central Africa practice Christianity or traditional faiths. In Chad, most people follow Islam. Islam is also common in Cameroon, practiced by about 30% of the people. Smaller Muslim groups exist in other countries too.

Because of shared history and movements of people, the cultures in Central Africa share many similarities. These come from common origins as Nilo-Saharan or Bantu peoples and include music, dance, art, and rituals.

Some major Native African ethnic groups in Central Africa are:

Culture

Central Africa has a rich and diverse culture, with many unique traditions in clothing, food, music, and religion.

The region’s culture includes special clothes, tasty dishes, lively music, and various beliefs. You can learn more about these traditions in the links provided.

Architecture

Further information in the sections of Architecture of Africa:

• Ancient Central African Architecture
• Medieval Central African Architecture

Science and technology

Further information in the sections of History of science and technology in Africa:

• Mathematics
• Textiles
• Communication systems
• By country