Central Africa: composition of the region, population and economy

The Black Continent is divided into five historical and geographical regions. One of them is Central Africa. Which states are included in it? And how much are they economically developed? This will be discussed in the article.

Brief geographical characteristics of Central Africa

This region is in the heart of the continent, in its inner continental part. According to the reserves of mineral resources - this is one of the richest parts of the planet. However, the colonialists at one time only "squeezed" the local wealth, leaving behind a backward and failed economy.

Central Africa is a region that is distinguished by an even, poorly dissected relief. In the basin of the Congo there are channels of deep-water rivers - the same name of Congo, Ogooue, Kwanza and others. In the bowels of the region there are copper, zinc, cobalt and other precious metal ores, as well as diamonds. Not deprived of Central Africa and the deposits of "black gold" - oil.

Within Central Africa, you can see a wide variety of natural areas - savannah with herds of wild animals, thick mangroves, beautiful galleries of the subequatorial belt. Very large areas of the region are swamped.

Central Africa: composition of the region

As a rule, this historical-geographical region includes 12 independent states of Africa. It:

• Chad;
• Cameroon;
• CAR (Central African Republic);
• Equatorial Guinea;
• Gabon;
• Congo;
• The Democratic Republic of the Congo ;
• Rwanda;
• Burundi;
• Angola;
• Zambia;
• Malawi.

Some of these countries are quite small (as, for example, Rwanda), while others have huge squares (Chad, Angola). All of them are shown on the map below in color.

Some geographers also include St. Helena, located in the waters of the Atlantic, to 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 people of Yoruba, Bantu, Hausa and Athara. Information about the history of these and other ethnoses of the central part of the continent is very scarce.

Almost all the numerically 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 basin of the Congo River, there are representatives of a surprising anthropological type - the so-called Pygmies, whose average height barely reaches 142-145 centimeters.

The peoples of Central Africa have experienced many unpleasant moments in their history. This is the century of colonization, and the times of the slave trade, and military turmoil. Local traditional beliefs and rituals are still prevalent in the region. There are also religions such as Islam or Christianity here.

Features of regional economy

European colonizers left in Central Africa, to put it mildly, not a very good inheritance - about a dozen backward and underdeveloped economies. Only two countries in the region managed to create full-fledged production of high-quality non-ferrous metals. They are DR Congo and Zambia. In many countries, large quantities of timber are harvested, which is ideal for export (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and others).

Agriculture in the region is mainly low-technology and low-productivity. Here, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, rubber, cotton and bananas are actively grown.

One of the most developed (in industrial terms) country in the region can be called Gabon. The state lives by developing fairly rich oil and manganese ore deposits, as well as timber exports. Gabon is the most urbanized country in Africa. In cities, almost 75% of the population lives here. In Gabon, there are three international airports, several large ports operate.

An interesting country in the region is the Central African Republic, a sparsely populated state that does not have access to the World Ocean. Here live only 600 thousand people (for comparison: this is the population of the city of Khabarovsk). The main wealth of this country is the large deposits of diamonds, which make up almost half of the total exports of the CARs. There is not a single railway in the republic. But here often come tourists thanks to several world-famous nature parks.