Bantu-speaking peoples, who founded tribes during the
Bantu expansions, mostly displaced and absorbed the earlier inhabitants of the region, the
Pygmy people, about 1500BC. The
Bakongo, a Bantu ethnic group that occupied parts of what later became Angola, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formed the basis for ethnic affinities and rivalries among those countries. By the 13th century, there were three main federations of states in the western Congo Basin. In the east were the
Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza, considered to be the oldest and most powerful, which likely included
Nsundi,
Mbata,
Mpangu, and possibly
Kundi and
Okanga. South of these was
Mpemba which stretched from modern-day
Angola to the
Congo River. It included various kingdoms such as
Mpemba Kasi and
Vunda. To its west across the Congo River was a confederation of three small states;
Vungu (its leader),
Kakongo, and
Ngoyo. Some Bantu kingdoms—including those of the
Kongo, the
Tio, and
Loango—built trade links leading into the
Congo Basin. The
Tio Kingdom formed in the 14th century; the association of kingship with
smithing is believed to have originated among the Tio before spreading to the kingdoms of Loango and
Kongo. The
Portuguese explorer
Diogo Cão reached the mouth of the Congo in 1484. , from the book
Description of Africa (1668) The area north of the Congo River came under French sovereignty in 1880 as a result of
Pierre de Brazza's treaty with Tio King
Iloo I. After the death of Iloo, his widow Queen
Ngalifourou upheld the terms of the treaty and became an ally to the colonizers. This Congo Colony became known first as
French Congo, then as Middle Congo in 1903. In 1908, France organized
French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising the Middle Congo,
Gabon,
Chad, and
Oubangui-Chari (which later became the
Central African Republic). The French designated
Brazzaville as the federal capital. Economic development during the first 50 years of colonial rule in Congo centered on natural resource extraction. Construction of the
Congo–Ocean Railway following
World War I has been estimated to have cost at least 14,000 lives. The
Brazzaville Conference of 1944 heralded a period of reform in French colonial policy. Congo "benefited" from the postwar expansion of colonial administrative and infrastructure spending as a result of its central geographic location within AEF and the federal capital at Brazzaville. Antagonism between the
Mbochis (who favored
Jacques Opangault) and the
Laris and
Kongos (who favored
Fulbert Youlou, the first black mayor elected in French Equatorial Africa) resulted in a series of riots in Brazzaville in February 1959, which the
French Army subdued. Elections took place in April 1959. By the time the Congo became independent in August 1960, Opangault, the former opponent of Youlou, agreed to serve under him. Youlou, an avid anti-communist, became the first President of the Republic of the Congo. Since the political tension was so high in
Pointe-Noire, Youlou moved the capital to Brazzaville. 's 1-party rule (1963–1968) attempted to implement a
political economic strategy of "
scientific socialism". The Republic of the Congo became fully independent from France on 15 August 1960. Youlou ruled as the country's first president until labor elements and rival political parties instigated a
three-day uprising that ousted him. The Congolese military took over the country and installed a civilian provisional government headed by
Alphonse Massamba-Débat. Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Débat was elected president for a five-year term. Under his presidency, the Congo began to
industrialize. Some large production units with large workforces were built: the textile factory of Kinsoundi, the palm groves of Etoumbi, the match factory of
Bétou, the shipyards of Yoro, etc. Health centers were created as well as school groups (colleges and elementary school). The country's school enrollment rate became the highest in Black Africa. On the night of 14 to 15 February 1965, three public officials of the Republic of the Congo were kidnapped: (prosecutor of the Republic), (President of the Supreme Court), and (director of the Congolese Information Agency). The bodies of two of these men were later found, mutilated, by the Congo River. Massamba-Débat's regime invited some hundred
Cuban army troops into the country to train his party's militia units. These troops helped his government survive a
''coup d'état'' in 1966 led by paratroopers loyal to future President
Marien Ngouabi. Massamba-Débat's regime ended with a bloodless
coup in September 1968. An 11-member Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was then named to head an interim government, with
Joachim Yhombi-Opango serving as president. Two years later, Yhombi-Opango was forced from power, and
Denis Sassou Nguesso became the new president. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in the ending of Soviet aid to prop up the regime, and it abdicated power.
Pascal Lissouba who became Congo's first elected president (1992–1997) during the period of multi-party democracy attempted to implement economic reforms with IMF backing to liberalize the economy. In the years 1993 and 1994 the
first Congo Civil War in Congo occurred. In June 1996, IMF approved a three-year
SDR 69.5m (US$100m)
enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) and was on the verge of announcing a renewed annual agreement when civil war broke out in Congo in 1997. Congo's democratic progress was derailed in 1997 when Lissouba and Sassou started to fight for power in the
civil war. As presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. On 5 June, President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville, and Sassou ordered members of his private militia (known as "Cobras") to resist. Thus began a four-month conflict that destroyed or damaged some of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths. In October, the Angolan government began an invasion of Congo to install Sassou in power and the Lissouba government fell. After that, Sassou declared himself president. A
constitution, agreed upon by
referendum in January 2002, granted the president new powers, extended his term to seven years and introduced a new bicameral assembly. International observers took issue with the organization of the presidential election and the constitutional referendum, both of which were reminiscent in their organization of Congo's era of the 1-party state. Following the presidential elections, fighting restarted in the
Pool region between government forces and rebels led by
Pastor Ntumi; a peace treaty to end the conflict was signed in April 2003. Sassou won the following
presidential election in July 2009. According to the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights, a non-governmental organization, the election was marked by "very low" turnout and "fraud and irregularities". In March 2015, Sassou announced that he wanted to run for yet another term in office and a
constitutional referendum in October resulted in a
changed constitution that allowed him to run during the
2016 presidential election. He won the election believed by some to be fraudulent. After violent protests in the capital, Sassou attacked the Pool region where the
Ninja rebels of the civil war used to be based, in what was believed to be a distraction. This led to a revival of the Ninja rebels who launched attacks against the army in April 2016, leading 80,000 people to flee their homes. A ceasefire deal was signed in December 2017. In 2023, the
Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua was listed as a natural
UNESCO World Heritage Site. ==Geography==