The black continent is usually divided into five historical and geographical regions. One of them is Central Africa. What states are included in it? And how developed are they economically? This will be discussed in the article.
A Brief Geographical Description of Central Africa
This region is located in the heart of the mainland, in its internal continental part. By reserves of mineral resources - this is one of the richest parts of the planet. However, the colonialists only “squeezed out” the local wealth in their time, leaving behind backward and failed economies.
Central Africa is a region that is distinguished by a flat, poorly divided relief. In the depression of the Congo there are beds of full-flowing rivers - the same name of the Congo, Ogove, Kwanza and others. In the bowels of the region lie copper, zinc, cobalt and other ores of valuable metals, as well as diamonds. Central Africa is not deprived of deposits of "black gold" - oil.
Within Central Africa, you can see the most diverse natural areas - savannas with herds of wild animals, dense mangroves, beautiful gallery forests of the sub-equatorial belt. Very large areas of the region are swampy.
Central Africa: Composition of the Region
As a rule, 12 independent African states are included in this historical and geographical area. It:
- Chad;
- Cameroon;
- CAR (Central African Republic);
- Equatorial Guinea;
- Gabon;
- Congo
- Democratic Republic of the Congo ;
- Rwanda;
- Burundi;
- Angola
- Zambia;
- Malawi.
Some of these countries are very small (such as Rwanda), while others have huge areas (Chad, Angola). All of them are displayed on the map below in color.
Some geographers also rank St. Helena, located in the Atlantic waters, as a part of Central Africa.
Population and religion
The population of Central Africa is dozens of different ethnic groups, each of which is distinguished by its culture, traditions and beliefs. The most common of these are the Yoruba, Bantu, Hausa and Athara peoples. Information about the history of these and other ethnic groups in the central part of the continent is very scarce.
Almost all the numerical and small peoples of Central Africa belong to the Negroid race, and are distinguished by black skin, dark eyes, very wide nostrils and curly hair. In the Congo River basin, there are representatives of a surprising anthropological type - the so-called pygmies, whose average growth barely reaches 142-145 centimeters.
The peoples of Central Africa have experienced many unpleasant moments in their history. These are centuries of colonization, and the times of the slave trade, and military upheaval. Local traditional beliefs and rituals are still prevalent in the region. They also profess religions such as Islam or Christianity.
Features of the regional economy
The European colonialists left in Central Africa, to put it mildly, a not very good legacy - about a dozen backward and underdeveloped economies. Only two states of the region managed to create full-fledged production for the smelting of high-quality non-ferrous metals. These are DR Congo and Zambia. In many countries, large volumes of wood are harvested, which is ideal for export (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and others).
Agriculture in the region is predominantly low-tech and unproductive. Cocoa, coffee, tobacco, rubber, cotton and bananas are actively grown here.
One of the most developed (in industrial terms) countries in the region can be called Gabon. The state lives on through the development of fairly rich oil and manganese ore deposits, as well as timber exports. Gabon is Africa's most urbanized country. Almost 75% of the population lives in cities. Gabon has three international-class airports and several large ports.
An interesting country in the region is the Central African Republic - a sparsely populated state that does not have access to the oceans. Only 600 thousand people live here (for comparison: this is the population of the city of Khabarovsk). The main wealth of this country is large diamond deposits, which make up almost half of all CAR exports. There are no railways in the republic. But tourists often come here thanks to several world-famous natural parks.