The Democratic Republic of the Congo — also referred to as
DRC, DR Congo, Congo and Congo-Kinshasa, and formerly
Zaire — is a nation in
central Africa and the third largest
country on the continent. It borders the Central African
Republic and Sudan on the north, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi,
and Tanzania on the east, Zambia and Angola on the south,
and the Republic of the Congo on the
west<1>. The country
enjoys access to the sea through a narrow forty kilometre
stretch, following the Congo river into the Gulf of Guinea.
The name "Congo" (meaning "hunter") is coined after the
Bakongo tribe, living in the Congo river basin. Formerly,
the Belgian colony of the Belgian Congo, the country's post-
independence name was changed in 1971, from Congo-Kinshasa
(after its capital, to distinguish it from the Republic of
Congo, or Congo-Brazzaville) to Zaire, until 1997.
The Congo is situated
at the heart of the west-central portion of sub-Saharan
Africa and is bounded by (Clockwise from the west) Angola,
the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the
Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania across Lake
Tanganyika, and Zambia. Its territory also straddles the
Equator, with one-third to the north and two-thirds to the
south.
As a result of its equatorial location, the Congo
experiences extremely high amounts of rainfall. The average
rainfall for the entire country is about 1,070 millimeters
(42 in), which have created the second largest rain forest
in the world (after the Amazon). This massive expanse of
lush jungle covers most of the vast, low-lying central
basin of the river, which slopes toward the Atlantic Ocean
in the west. This area is surrounded by plateaus merging
into savannas in the south and southwest, by mountainous
terraces in the west, and dense grasslands extending beyond
the Congo River in the north. High mountains are found in
the extreme eastern region.
The jungles of
Congo are quite Hostile and Notorious . The rainforests of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo contain great
biodiversity, including many rare and endemic
species,
including both species of
chimpanzee: the Common chimpanzee
and the bonobo (also known as the Pygmy Chimpanzee),
mountain gorilla, okapi and white rhino. Five of the
country's national parks are listed as World Heritage
Sites: the Garumba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga and Virunga
National Parks, and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. The civil
war and resultant poor economic conditions have endangered
much of this biodiversity. Many park wardens were either
killed or could not afford to continue their work. All five
sites are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage In
Danger.
Over the past century or so, the DRC has
developed into the epicenter of what has been called the
Central African "
bushmeat" problem, which is regarded by
many as a major environmental, as well as, socio-economic
crisis. "Bushmeat" is another word for the meat of wild
animals. It is typically obtained through trapping, usually
with wire snares, or otherwise with shotguns or arms
originally intended for use in the DRC's numerous military
conflicts.
The "bushmeat crisis" has emerged in the DRC
mainly as a result of the poor living conditions of the
Congolese people. A rising population combined with
deplorable economic conditions has forced many Congolese to
become dependent on bushmeat, either as a means of
acquiring income (hunting the meat and selling), or are
dependent on it for nutritional sustainance. Unemployment
and urbanization throughout Central Africa have exacerbated
the problem further by turning cities like the urban sprawl
of Kinshasa into the prime market for bushmeat.
This combination has caused not
only widespread endangerment of local fauna, but has forced
humans to trudge deeper into the wilderness in search of
the ired animal meat. This overhunting results in the
deaths of more animals and makes resources even more scarce
for humans. The hunting has also been facilitated by the
extensive logging prevelant throughout the Congo's
rainforests (from corporate logging, in addition to farmers
clearing out forest in order to create areas for
agriculture), which allows hunters much easier access to
previously unreachable jungle terrain, while simultaneously
eroding away at the habitats of animals <13>.
A
particularly alarming case of bushmeat hunting is that of
primates. The Congo is inhabited not only by two distinct
species of chimpanzee, both belonging to the genus Pan, the
Common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobo (Pan
paniscus), but gorilla as well. The Democratic Republic of
the Congo is the only country in the world in which bonobo
are found in the wild. The two species of chimpanzees as
well as gorillas are the closest living evolutionary
relatives to humans. Both the Pan and Gorilla genuses are
now considered to be part of the subfamily Homininae to
which humans also belong and it has even been proposed that
the chimpanzees should be recatagorized in the genus Homo
as well. These apes are closely related to humans and are
considered highly intelligent and much concern has been
raised about Great ape extinction. Because of hunting and
habitat destruction, the chimpanzee and the gorilla, both
of whose population once numbered in the millions have now
dwindled down to only about 200,000 per species. Gorillas
and both incarnations of chimpanzee are classified as
Endangered by the World Conservation Union.
More summaries about the Discover The Congo !