George and Mary LeCron Foster Curator, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies
Northwestern University Library
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, Il 60208
About Democratic Republic of Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo by ISBN: 9780199685691Publication Date: 2015Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest country in equatorial Africa; it is bounded by nine other countries and has an outlet to the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Congo. It was known as Zaïre from 1971–1997.- Democratic Republic of the Congo byCall Number: Oxford African American Studies CenterPublication Date: 2006
Historical Dictionary of Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) by ISBN: 0585104611Publication Date: 1999-01-01The dictionary looks back at 30 years of Mobutuism, nearly 40 years of independence, over a century of colonial rule, and earlier kingdoms and groups that shared the territory.
Some Country Facts
Capital: Kinshasa. Other major cities: Lubumbashi (formerly Elisabethville), Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville).
Current estimated population, about 96 million (2023).
Area: 2,344,858 sq km (905,355 sq miles).
Location: Central Africa, bordered by Sudan, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia.
Ethnic groups: Kuba, Kongo (Bakongo), Mongo, and Mangbetu-Azande: about 45%; over 200 other groups, including Rwanda, Bangi, Ngale, Rundi, Teke, Boa, Chokwe, Lugbara, and Banda. About 80% are Bantu speaking.
Languages: French (official); Lingala; Kingwana; Kikongo; Tshiluba; Swahili; numerous other local languages.
Natural resources: Cobalt, copper, gold, cadmium, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, coal.
First Prime Minister: Patrice Lumumba.
About Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961)
Patrice Lumumba was Congo's first prime minister. An advocate of pan Africanism, he inspired strong feelings of nationalism. He was born on July 2, 1925 in Onalua village, Sankuru district, Kasai province. He was of the Tetela ethnic group. The Tetela primarily inhabit east-central Congo. They speak a Bantu language.
In his adulthood, Lumumba moved to Stanleyville where he was president of Evolues club, provincial president of the Association de Personnel Indigene de la Colonie (APIC) and a contributor to various magazines. He worked at a local brewery for two years. In 1956, he spent one year in prison convicted of theft.
Lumumba attended the first Pan African Conference in Accra in 1958, where he met Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah. He is said to be the first leader to openly call for Congo's independence in December 1958 at a political rally. He helped found the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC).
His rhetoric and political leaning to the Soviet bloc during the Cold War made him a target of especially western governments with vested interests in the Congo. He was assassinated in 1961, less than a year after Congo's independence.
Library Catalogs
- Herskovits Library Search This link opens in a new windowThe Herskovits Library's collection includes photographs, maps, posters, videos, books in African languages, archival materials and manuscripts, as well as art objects, ephemeral materials and other artifacts, many of which are digitally accessible.
Town names, June 1966
Map source: Kitchen, Helen A. Footnotes to the Congo Story; an Africa Report Anthology. New York: Walker, 1967.
