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.
Brief geographical description of Central Africa
This region is located in the heart of the mainland, in its inner continental part. In terms of mineral resources, this is one of the richest parts of the planet. However, the colonialists at one time only “squeezed out” the local we alth, leaving behind backward and failed economies.
Central Africa is a region with a flat, slightly dissected topography. In the Congo depression there are channels of full-flowing rivers - the Congo, Ogove, Kwanza and others of the same name. The subsoil of the region contains copper, zinc, cob alt 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 a wide variety of natural areas - savannas with herds of wild animals, dense mangroves, beautiful gallery forests of the subequatorial zone. Very large areas of the region are marshy.
Central Africa: composition of the region
As a rule, this historical and geographical area includes 12 independent states of Africa. This is:
- 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 (like Rwanda), while others have huge areas (Chad, Angola). All of them are displayed on the map below in color.
Some geographers also include the island of St. Helena, located in the waters of the Atlantic, in Central Africa.
Population and religions
The population of Central Africa consists of 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.
Practically 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 an amazing anthropological type - the so-called pygmies, whose average height barely reaches 142-145centimeters.
The peoples of Central Africa have experienced many unpleasant moments in their history. These are centuries of colonization, and times of the slave trade, and military upheavals. Local traditional beliefs and rituals are still common in the region. Religions such as Islam or Christianity are also practiced here.
Features of the regional economy
European colonizers left in Central Africa, to put it mildly, not a very good legacy - about a dozen backward and underdeveloped economies. Only in two states of the region it was possible to create full-fledged production facilities for the smelting of high-quality non-ferrous metals. These are DR Congo and Zambia. In many countries, timber is harvested in large volumes, 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 (industrially) countries in the region can be called Gabon. The state lives by developing rather rich deposits of oil and manganese ores, as well as by exporting timber. Gabon is the most urbanized country in Africa. Almost 75% of the population lives in cities. Gabon has three international airports and several major 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 (forcomparison: this is the population of the city of Khabarovsk). The main we alth of this country is large deposits of diamonds, which account for almost half of all exports of the Central African Republic. There is not a single railway in the republic. But tourists often come here thanks to several world-famous natural parks.
