ABSTRACT
The terrain is coastal plain, southern basin, central plateau, and northern basin. “First inhabited by Pygmies, Congo was later settled by Bantu groups that also occupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, forming the basis for ethnic affinities and rivalries among those states. The area came under French sovereignty in the 1880s. Pierre Savorgnon de Brazza, a French empire builder, competed with agents of Belgian King Leopold’s International Congo Association for control of the Congo River basin. Between 1882 and 1891, treaties were secured with all the main local rulers on the river’s right bank, placing their lands under French protection. “The Central African Republic–Congo boundary extends between the Sangha and Ubangi rivers and is about 290 miles long.
