The Two Congos: Why Africa Has Two Congo Countries With A HUGE Population Difference
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2024
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Africa is home to two Congo countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo/ But despite sharing a name, river, and rainforest, these two countries are actually quite different. Mostly it that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has about 20 times more people. So why is there such a large population difference between to neighboring countries that share mostly the same land?
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Belgium didn't just get out of the Congo quickly without leaving behind a constitution and elected government like France did in the RoC. Belgium with the help of the CIA took part in the overthrow of the DRC's government and aided in the murder of its leader Patrice Lumumba. I feel like that is an important point to bring up when discussing why we see a legacy of corruption and instability left by Mobutu Sese Seko's Zaire.
As much as you would like it to be the CIAs fault or Germans from the 1900s fault or the French, it's African corruption and it's driven by Africans. Leave your white guilt driven racism out of it.
Agreed! I don’t think corruption is the only issue.there are other factors like the mines being controlled by western companies who coup/assassinate anyone who interferes with the exploitation.
We also need to talk about the indigenous pgmys who are slaughtered and enslaved by Bantus
I don't care about that stupid dictator I like the name Zaire it makes more sense not because of that jerk
Sounds like we need another video to deep dive on those topics. I love YT because no history class I’ve ever been in throughout k12 has ever discussed Africa’s history the way Geoff and others have. Even the current events in Niger is being kept away from msm….hmm. Something is going on here.
One thing he forgot to mention is that the Congo free state was not owned by Belgium originally. It was a privately owned colony of King Leopold ii of Belgium, and all the wealth went to his personal possessions rather than the Belgium government. It was only in 1908 after worldwide protests over the abuse the native Congolese suffered under the rule of King Leopold and the employees of his private company that ran the colony that he finally sold the Congo free state to Belgium and allowed the government to run it. A great book on this topic is “King Leopold’s Ghost” by Adam Hochschild.
A congo that he'd never once been to...
Please mention the 10million indigenous people murdered during colonial rule
@@MegaTheoD it was a disgrace, modern day belgians are not proud of it...
When Leopold sold his colony to Belgium, a lot of incriminating files got burnt!
When his funeral cortege wound through Brussels streets, some working-class people booed! (I would have...)
You inferred it.
My grand dad was a writer and he was in Congo for long time Pre and after it independence and if I remember correctly I don’t think those countries got their name from the Congo river , rather it’s from the Congo kingdom that existed there in the territory that include morden day part of DRC , Congo republic and part of Angola Pre western colonialism/ slavery . The whole Congo river thing according to him is the west rewriting history of Africa . May he RIP
Did you mean the Kingdom of the Kongo?? I tend to believe your grandfather...(may he rest in peace)
He’s right.
Same difference tbh. The river was named after the kingdom. It’s all intertwined
2:25
SIDE NOTE: Spain held the Western Sahara and what is today Equatorial Guinea.
Yeah, watching the video I kept wondering why Equatorial Guinea was being ignored.
02:50 Cameroon was actually German before WWI and became French after.
It was African before that.
@@second2none914 That goes without saying.
@@djordjesrnic1223 that was never french nor german.
That was occupied
@@mddi1420 Read the above comments.
a larger part became French while a smaller part became British
There was a third congo, portuguese congo as well now called cabinda and it is now part of angola even though it‘s seperated.
Very good . Most people do not know about Portuguese Congo. Glad to see another Geographile
DRC breaks my heart. I travelled through it from Rwanda to CAR over 40 years ago. It is the ultimate example of how megalomaniacs rule the world without love for others. I always hoped it would change but….
The only logical blame goes to unholy European colonialism...
@@chrisnyasia7 victim mentality.
@@chrisnyasia7 eedyotahasz
Before the colonization, Congo Brazzaville ,western region of DRC ,angola and some regions of gabon was part of the " Kongo empire" ,kongo empire had a long history of dealing with the kingdom of Portugal and was for decades a vassal kingdom of Portugal.
And also DRC changed it name to zaire not in 1965 but in 1971.
yup. write your own name with right spelling!
it's KONGO. not "C". the hell europeans cant spell. smh...
C is pronounced like C in "Cherry" word. it's "Ce".
in European languages, C can be S, K.. if it's like that, then whats the purpose of C letter, European languages !??
this also applies for YOU, all the people that some of words in your language got butchered or wrongly spelled. NOW YOU NEED TO FIX IT.
one big example of this dumb spelling fixing is the "Muslim" word. back then, like.. recently before 2010s, those europeans still writes it as "Moslem". bruh.. dumb spell.
but now, it's fixed to be "MUSLIM". that's one big example that WE CAN FIX THIS DUMB EUROPEAN SPELLINGS
Cingis Han/Khan not Genghis Khan;
Muhammad not Mohamed;
Nur not Noor;
Karim not Kareem;
Cin/Chin not Qin;
Krakatau not Krakatoa;
Kampung not Kampong;
Bajau not Badjau or Badjo;
Yun not Yoon;
San not Sun;
Asolot not Axolotl;
etc.
It's great you bring this up because the relationship between the kingdom of the Kongo and Portugal, the original European colonizer, is so old that the African people purchased by Portugal during this match made in hell, are considered, genetically, the forefathers of all African Americans...
Well said
match by god you mean@@chrisnyasia7
@@chrisnyasia7 all??
They used to call them Congo-Leo and Congo-Brazzaville. I've come across that in old spy novels.
Kinshasa used to be called Leopoldville.
In the early 60s they were referred to as Republic of Congo and Republic of the Congo; Then Congo Brazzaville and Congo Leopoldville soon changed to Kinshasha (beacuse who would want anything named for that guy. Then it was Congo Brazzaville and Zairre and now (finally?) Republic of Congo And Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I like better Zaire not because of that jerk Dictator I like the name Zaire it makes more sense so it won't be confuse with the country of Congo
This was a great video. Love to learn about a region the world that I have not heard much about before
Read the book "King Leopold's Ghost Goes into detail on how Belgium became the most brutal European colonizer
As a congolese canadian I always feel extremely happy when people talk about Congo- both in this case. Thank you for sharing this!
No matter how many times I study the map of Africa, I can never keep straight the countries & capitals:((
Dw about the capitals, what helped me with Africa was memorizing the regions. Go in this order, north, east, central, south, and then west. In my opinion west is the hardest. So do that last
Africa have 54 countries
I like more the name Zaire for the country not because of that stupid dictator who care about that jerk is that the name makes for sense for the country
@@Dynamic241I used the same method, but funny enough I found west the easiest and east the hardest.
To me they are easy to remember to me the pacific nations in Oceania are harder to remember
I thought it was “Minors, many of whom are children,” until I realized it was “Miners, many of whom…”
Makes more sense now :)
“Miners, many of whom are minors”
I think you mean ":("
@@MayTheSchwartzBeWithYou glad you didn’t say “makes more cents now.” The wages are sadly pretty low
@naka8919 That's basically the definition everywhere.
@@MayTheSchwartzBeWithYounot in America - it is 18.
Great channel 😊
Great job! And excellent pronunciation of all the words 👏🏽
He didn’t pronounce Angola correctly but he did well with the other countries
@@zinhle_dladla I've got Angolan friends that's exactly how they pronounce it.
Extremely interesting and instructive video work. Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup Monsieur !
There was elections in Belgian Congo in 1960. The coalition of Lumumba won and he became prime minister. Belgium also provided DRC with " loi fondemental" ( fundamental law) that served as provisional constitution. The early date for DRC independence was the result of the insistence of Congolese delegates at the table ronde( January 20- February 20, 1960) . They opted for immediate independence which was scheduled for June 30,1960; leaving about four months only for the transition from a colony to an independent state. Some Congolese leaders were associated to the management of the country during that time at both national and provincial levels.
But frankly, the time was a bit short.
Agents of administration and Belgian officers in the army were supposer to stay in the country until we can have qualified people to replace them. But they left some time after the independence due to troubles and the relations between Congo and Belgium worsening.
I’m from Congo Brazzaville sadly I’ve never had the opportunity to cross the river to Kinshasa. I will have to cross whenever I’m back home.
Do one about Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹
Another great video and thanks.
There are 4 two countries
1. TWO CHINA
2. TWO SUDAN
3. TWO KOREA
4. TWO CONGO
FREE CONGO 🤣
Also two indias, India and Pakistan where one
1 Republic of Congo and Democratic republic of Congo
2 South Sudan
3 North Korea and South Korea
4 China
Please I need for information about China because everyday we keep learning
Add a fifth. Guinea. There's Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry.
Also, just a note: From 1969 to 1992, the Republic of the Congo was a fully Marxist state officially known as the "People's Republic of the Congo." (The real oddity is that "Democratic Republic of . . ." is also a common name used by Marxist or Communist nations as is "People's Republic of . . ." East Germany was officially the "German Democratic Republic" and North Vietnam was officially the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam." The Marxist/Communist government of Afghanistan which came to power in 1978--and eventually propped up by the Soviet Union in 1979--was officially the "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan." Yet, the Democratic Republic of the Congo--while continually unstable politically--was never a Marxist, much less Communist, state.)
Mabuto was installed by the colonizers! Zaire was never a Marxist state. He was a brutal authoritarian and in the 70s, perhaps the richest man on earth.
You are spot on. Although I am from DRC I have always find the name of my country quite strange. One can disagree with Mobutu but at least he had the good idea of giving the country a more straightforward name clearly distinguishing it from the Congo Brazzaville.
@@christianmpassi3450 any idea why it was changed back?
@@bopax4317 When Laurent Kabila took power there was a huge anger against how Mobutu mismanaged the country. Mobutu pocketed huge amounts of money for himself, destroying the economy. The population was struggling particularly in the last years of his régime and the political scene was chaotic as Mobutu was manipulating it behind the scene. His good work in keeping the country united and giving us a sense of national pride was thus forgotten. Doing away with everything linked to Mobutu was however a useless exaggeration.
I'd imagine that most of the DRC's population is involved in subsistence farming so it boggles the mind that they'd have to import 80% of their food as this video implies 🤔
It's very sad to say this but my people are so used to being spoon fed instead of getting food on their own. Everyone wants a blue collar job while we have been blessed with rich soil to exploit. On top of that our leaders DON'T care about the well being of the country. Its pretty much "how much money can it get while I'm in this position " type of mentality
Europe & US are still pillaging Africa to this day! African people toil in deadly conditions to provide material wealth to the global powers, meanwhile having very little political power to seize their material wealth for themselves. This is starting to change, but has been the status quo.
Most people in Demo Congo have an average of 12 children in a nuclear family. But if a guy has two wives, he can have 20 or more children. So even subsistence farming really doesn't help coz agriculture takes times to give yeilds. So most congelese are traders. I live in Zambia, DRC's neighbouring country. It's true they import most of their food from us and South Africa. And guess what? Am a farmer. Lol
@@chalimutangama5840 The civilization of the African continent has been exceeded too far away by other continents, as if it has just entered the Stone Age/Bronze Age to Iron Age, with no trace of industrial civilization visible
@@chalimutangama5840 Agriculture in modern society requires ultra-high levels of industry and technology, which is much more difficult than producing cars, airplanes, rockets, and satellites. Congo is backward in agriculture is understandable,
i love this content and your voice ❤
Highly recommend Andres Giles, Voyage au Congo.
Can you imagine being subdued by a country 76 times smaller than you? That would honestly be scary.
It is honestly terrifying to think about. Not to mention-how much power these countries could hold. These conquered nations were being ruled by a small populace that almost certainly saw them as lesser beings for being conquered and having a different culture from the colonizers doing a hostile takeover. Conquest is an evil and terrifying thing.
Small in geography is not small in population. Wake up.
@@MrDifficille Yeah, in 1960 the population of Belgium was 9 million, which wasn't much smaller than Congo's 15 million. And the technological disparity was immense.
These countries had significant populations compared to Africa not to mention their tiny size and large population meant they had a large ability so subjugate others. The DRC is massive with the second largest rainforest on The planet meaning people were not connected.
Belgium had the help of Satan
The DRC's Mineral (and therefore, Human) Exploitation industry exemplifies why the tremendous cost to human lives, pollution (which also devastates local people's health), and environmental damage do NOT make battery-powered cars and business model of big tech (i.e. disposable nature of constantly upgrading, therefore, quickly trashing computers, cell phones, and other products way too frequently) "sustainable" or environmentally-friendly.
The last part really irritates me.
Congo Brazzaville is Switzerland for Congo Kinshasa
Ne plaisantez pas, les Zaïrois, la RDC, immigrent dans toute l'Afrique centrale, du Sud et de l'Est
Great discussion on these 2 countries. How about sharing the history of Rwanda next?
Except they left out the 3rd Congo = Portuguese Congo .
Interesting video. Small but big thing - you incorrectly used ‘England’ at 2:23 for your map of colonising states. England is but one part of the UK and your error would be like saying California or Texas when referring to the whole of the US. Seeing as this is supposed to be a geography channel it’s a surprising error.
Fun Fact both capital cities in the Congo's are close to one another across from the river
Belgium didn't control Congo Free state which was in theory an independent state and private property of Leopold II, King of Belgium. Belgium took over the Congo Free state in 1908 which became the belgian Congo
Could you please do a video on the East African Rift?
Forgot to mention they have the closest capitals between two countries
Thank for the video, I am Congolese (DRC).
Thereis a third Congo, it was annexed by Angola in the 1970s civil war. Portugal administered it as a separate colony, but the Communist soldiers from Cuba overran the place in about 1975.
Thanks, interesting 🤔
DRC has Ubangian, Bantu, Pygmy, Central Sudanic and Nilotic groups. I don't like that the Ubangian, Central Sudanic and Nilotic groups are ALWAYS ignored in favour of the Bantus and Pygmys. Especially when you consider the fact that some of the most prolific Congolese people such as Mobutu or Koffi Olomidé came from these groups but they're always ignored in these videos.
You can even add the hamitic/cushitic in reference to the Hema and Tutsis but they’re also always ignored in these conversations
😂
DRC is 98 percent bantu.
@@tks4829 na we like the bahemas and tbh personally I like the Tutsis in Drc
Hello im nilote from kenya will like to know more of nilotes in congo
Thanks for the facts! I'm so interested in geography but not enough to read lol
Reminds me of republic of China and people’s republic of China
Except the modern congos have never been together and don’t claim each other
How about the Republic of Korea & Democratic People’s Republic of Korea?
@@pranawdhital but huge parts of modern congo's and gabon used to be parts of Congo empire where the names is derived from and both share same language, people and culture
8:20 nice graphic!
second, last time I was this early, it was all Kongo
I still don't use the name DRC, I still use the name Zaire.
amazing
My biggest flaw is that I believe I can fix Africa if I felt like it
Well, now China/PLA is fixing Africa as I type.
I dream about it all the time
YOUR PROBABLY WHITE
More Africa please
Brazzaville and kinshasa are two most near capital cities on earth at 30miles
Regarding the river, when was it named the Zaire River and when was it changed back to Congo River? Was there any opposition when it was renamed as the Zaire River?
Not really because they were avoiding war plus, originally it was known as Kongo river from the Kongo Empire...
This video was really interesting and incredibly sad.
The Chinese way to d disambiguate these two countries is to call them Congo-Bra 刚果布 and Congo-Kin 刚果金, suffixing with the first syllable of their capital name.
There was originally 3 Congo territory's Belgium Congo , French Congo & Portuguese Congo .Portuguese Congo was invaded by Angolan & Cuban troops and is still fighting to get there rights = Cabinda war
The D.R.O.C. should change it's name back to Zaire.
I agree. Its less confusing with the other one
Nah its good
Real Talk
Countries with “Democratic” in their title will have more people obviously😂 probably nothing democratic at all given its history of dictators.
In 1987 I was with 2 Brits and we went waterskiing out of the "boat club" in Kinshasa. A storm rolled in and we tried to take cover on shore directly across from Kinshasa on the shore of Brazzaville. We landed the boat next to shore and soon found ourselves with AK-47's pointed at us by 4 Congo soldiers. They wouldn't let us get out of the water and take cover. So we sat there in shallow water up to our necks, trying to shield ourselves from the pelting rain. I was more nervous of reptiles in the shallow water than I was of the Congolese soldiers. 40 minutes later the rain stopped and we slowly got into the boat and took off towards Kinshasa. Made for a great story later. Waterskiing on the Congo River is not as nice as it sounds.
If anyone is looking for more, I very highly recommend ‘The Poisonwood Bible’ by Kingsolver. Incredible piece of historical fiction that goes deep into Belgian occupation and the results
I agree with you. I read the Poisonwood Bible. Excellent book.
The DRC was Zaire until Mobutu fell and Kabila took the power which happened in the 90’s. Also, Kongo-Brazzaville like Kongo-Kinshasa are both colonial names.
They should call them East Congo and West Congo!
I think you should use the metric system for area and distances, or at least have both.
We have 4 Kongo's : DRC, Congo, Angola and Gabon and the capital of Kongo is based in Angola. Please rivized your knowlege of africa. Not be focus after Berlin conference leaded by imperialist people from Europe.
Those Angola bakongo were from Congo 🇨🇩
Lots Of Love From #India Bro
One is a country the other is a continent.
I'm a bit surprised that this part didn't get mentioned in the video ...but..... SIZE MATTERS too......
You also forgot to mention they both speak a common language...
I am a geography enthusiast and I am embarrassed to admit that I have very little knowledge of central African states. The fact that I am unaware of the two Congos is proof. 😅
Gabon is thinly populated as well
How long is the DRC’s coastline?
i thinks its around 37 km
In that área there is only one small Spanish speaking country, Equatorial Guinea, the second richest country in África (in income per head), which got Independence from Spain in 1968
It's like George Foreman's kids all George
Long live URC (United Republic of Congo)
The same can be said about Sudan too.
🙏
Few things you get wrong but mostly accurate
The internet estimate of mineral wealth in the country (DRC) is 24 trillion dollars. That divided by 110 million people would be $218,000 per person. Of course I realize it would not be distributed fairly or equally. Much of what makes our modern life possible (coltan and cobalt) comes from this country. Yet of course the people are some of the poorest in the world. I am visiting this country next month and I'm sure I'll get more insight.
In addition to Ethiopia, Liberia wasn’t colonized as well
But it was an American slave settlement
Liberia is an amerikan colony.
It was a United colony
The same reason there's North and South DAKOTA!
Correction: Cameroon was first a German colony: Kamerun. Aftr WW I it was divided between France and the United Kingdom.
* Liberia was also not colonised.
Yes it was. It was a United States colony.
Are you dumb? Just look at their flag, it literally looks like the one of the USA
Not a by an European power. But practically, it was colonized and ruled by freed slaves and their descendants who didn't ask what the opinion of the locals that found there on the matter
❤❤❤❤
God bless Africa
This is the only place in the world where the capitals of two countries lie side by side separated by a river.
There used to be Portuguese Congo - which is now Cabinda province of Angola
you forgot how they both share 3 commonly spoken languages and a similar culture!
I think the fact the Free French were held up in their Congo during WW2 might also come into play..
Fun fact: These countries have the most closed capital each and other.
Vatican and Rome lol
Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 & Montevideo 🇺🇾
Missed Katanga …
Which one drinks all the Um Bongo?
Cameroon wasn't French from the start. It was German until WWI. I recommend you double-check when you do your research cause there seems be many of them in your video.
It the past it was called Congo brazaville and of course Zaïre when mubuto lived.
@geographybygeoff yet refers to the United Kingdom as England at 02:25 Are Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland a joke to you?
Colonism gets tricky
Don't both "Congos" share some ethnic groups. The broader Bantu family of peoples is common to both. They're not that estranged from one another.
The Congo region was divided in 3: Portuguese Cabinda and Northern Angola, French Congo and Belgian Congo (Zaire).
Do one about Grenada 🇬🇩
URGENT FURY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cameroon was a German Colony like Namibia, Rwanda, Burundi, Togo
CAR, DRC and Congo should just merge into a single Central African nation.
And 2 Sudans 🇸🇩🇸🇸
People are never referred to as an "amount" but a "number". It's a "number of people". Why? "Amount" is for aggregates of things like stones, sand, and water. "Number" is for all living things and for things you can count. To use "amount" for people is actually pretty insulting.
These videos always begin with a junior high school history review which is kind of insulting. The actual explanation to the question is tucked away at the very end, the last few minutes.
This "amount of people" scourge is even on the news!!
The video feels incomplete, you didn't go into detail about the daily lives of those living in the Republic of Congo and the resources they have
These maps don't do the DRC justice - most of the population lives in the East near the border and lakes. That's why their history is more influenced by the likes of Rwanda and Uganda and not the other Congo, which lies beyond a massive jungle.
2:40 Germany owned Cameroon until World War 1..