30th June: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Today the Democratic Republic of Congo celebrates Independence Day. Here are 10 things you may not know about this country:

1. DR Congo is the second largest country in Africa. In terms of population, it is the largest French speaking country in the world, the fourth most populous nation in Africa and the nineteenth most populous country in the world.
2. Located near the equator, it gets a lot of rain, and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world. It is home to the second largest rain forest in the world (after the Amazon).
3. In terms of wildlife, it is the only country in the world in which bonobos are found in the wild. Gorillas, chimpanzees and okapi also live here, as well as the world's largest concentration of Hippos.
4. Africa's most active volcanoes are in DR Congo, Nyiragongo and the Nyamulagira.
5. The capital, Kinshasa is thought to have a population of around 10 million people, and is the second largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris.
6. Kinshasa is very close to the capital of the neighbouring country with the rather similar name of Republic of the Congo, Brazzaville. These two cities are the two capitals which are closest to each other. They are separated by the Congo River and are just 5k or about three miles apart. There is no bridge between the two cities - if you wanted to go from one to the other, you would have to travel by boat.
7. The country has had several different names. It was formerly known as, in chronological order, Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), Republic of Zaire and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The name Congo comes from the river, and the river was named after kingdoms of people living in the area in olden times. The word is thought to derive from a word for a public gathering or tribal assembly. The name Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word nzere ("river").
8. DR Congo is very rich in mineral deposits. Its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth more than US$24 trillion. This includes 80% of the world's cobalt reserves, 70% of the world's coltan, over 30% of its diamond reserves, and a tenth of its Copper. It also has an abundance of Gold, tantalum, tungsten, and Tin. The uranium used in the Manhattan Project, the top secret mission that led to the construction of the atomic bomb in World War II, came from the Shinkolobwe Mine in Katanga province.
9. The official language is French, but 242 languages are spoken in the country overall. These include Kituba ("Kikongo"), Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili.
10. The airport in Gbadolite has one of the longest airstrips in Africa, despite being essentially in the middle of nowhere. This is because it was built to accommodate Concorde, and the plane did often land there. Gbadolite is an imitation French town built by Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, nicknamed "Versailles of the Jungle." It also had three palaces, the largest nuclear bunker in Africa, a state of the art hospital and grammar school, and a church where Mobutu's wife is buried.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page