ABSTRACT
In Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) contains up to 17 percent of the world's tropical rain forests. The DRC rain forest is divided into two geographic areas: the central basin and the eastern highlands. The swamp forests are periodically flooded in the rainy season, and nutrientrich sediment is distributed across the flatlands. The central lowland forest is a rain forest that supports a unique biome called the savanna. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, civil and ethnic conflicts have defined the Congo region. In 1964, the Congolese people established the independent DRC. West Africa was one of the primary locations of early human evolution, and the forest played a central role in ancient societies. The development of agricultural systems, the ability to form metals, including copper, gold, iron, and silver, and a culturally diverse society led to the formation of four separate kingdoms in the Congo basin.
