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Congo is located in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa, along the Equator. To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is bounded by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean.
The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely varied, reflecting the great diversity and different customs which exist in the country. Congolese culture combines the influence of tradition to the region, but also combines influences from abroad which arrived during the era of colonization and continue to have a strong influence, without destroying the individuality of many ...
A small minority practice Kimbanguism, a syncretistic movement that originated in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. While retaining many elements of Christianity, Kimbanguism also recognizes its founder ( Simon Kimbangu ) as a prophet and incorporates African traditional beliefs, such as ancestor worship.
The Baháʼí Faith in Democratic Republic of the Congo began after `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote letters encouraging taking the religion to Africa in 1916. [20] The first Baháʼí to settle in the country came in 1953 from Uganda. [21] The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly of the country was elected in 1957. By 1963 there were 143 local ...
Male Power Figure (Nkisi), Kongo artist and nganga, late19th–mid-20th century, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Supernatural objects that were reduced to the derogatory term, fetishes, by the Portuguese were said to be inhabited by nature spirits or deified people who embodied the extraordinary power of the spiritual world. These objects or ...
The traditional religious beliefs of the Luba people included the concept of a Shakapanga or a Universal Creator, a Leza or the Supreme Being, a natural world and a supernatural world. [ 13 ] [ 31 ] The supernatural world was where Bankambo (ancestral spirits) and Bavidye (other spirits) lived, and what one joined the afterlife if one lived an ...
In 1885, Belgium's monarch, Leopold II, established a personal colony in Central Africa known as the Congo Free State which, in 1908, was annexed by Belgium as the Belgian Congo. Under both the Free State and Belgian regimes, Christian missions were encouraged to work in the Congo as part of the civilising mission which served as the colonial ...
[26] [27] [28] The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries; Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and Congo is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to Zaire as the name used by the natives (i.e., derived from Portuguese usage) remained ...