LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Congo
built 133 days ago
Congo Hills is a concept which will appeal to a broad range of homeowners. Congo Hills was designed from the ground up as a fully contained resort to provide the best possible experience for the entire community. Congo Hills will offer its residents the best of both worlds; all the modern conveniences of gated community living along with the beauty and serenity of the carefully preserved natural surroundings. The following options are available: self contained bungalows, villas, lots, acres and condominiums. Congo Hills will be one of San Juan del Sur's premiere residences.
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Astride the Equator in west central Africa, Congo has a small population that is concentrated in the country's southwest, with a virtually uninhabited jungle in the north. Most people live between Brazzaville, the capital, and Pointe-Noire, Congo's port city and focus for the oil industry. Since it achieved independence in 1960, political turmoil has hampered the country. After almost three decades of Marxist rule, Congo adopted a multiparty, democratic system in 1992. Conflict in the late 1990s derailed democracy, but a new constitution in 2002 brings the promise of stability.
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The Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo-Zaire) gained independence from Belgium in 1960. Patrice Lumumba became the first Prime Minister and was overthrown by Joseph Mobutu within months. He Africanised all place names in 1966 and changed the country's name to Zaire in 1971. His government was toppled by a rebellion led by Laurent Kabila in May 1997. Kabila restored the old name of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His regime was subsequently challenged by a Rwanda and Uganda backed rebellion in August 1998.
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The country is divided into ten provinces (Bandundu, Bas-Congo, Équateur, Kasai-Occidental, Kasai-Oriental, Katanga, Maniema, Nord-Kivu, Orientale, and Sud-Kivu) and a federal district (which includes Kinshasa). In addition to Kinshasa, other major urban areas include Boma, Bukavu, Kalemie, Kamina, Kananga, Kisangani, Kolwezi, Likasi, Lubumbashi, Matadi, Mbandaka, and Mbuji-Mayi.
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Congo became independent on April 15, 1960. The postindependence era was dominated by President Fulbert Youlou, but in August 1963, he was deposed from office in an uprising led by labor elements. Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Debate was elected president for a five-year term; his term ended abruptly in 1968, when Capt. Marien Ngouabi and other army officers toppled the government in a coup. In 1969, President Ngouabi proclaimed Africa's first "people's republic" and changed the name of the National Revolutionary Party to the Congolese Labor Party (PCT). On March 1977, President Ngouabi was assassinated. The third Congress of PCT held in 1979 elected Sassou-Nguesso President of the Central Committee and President of the Republic of Congo.
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French is the Congo's official language, but it is spoken by relatively few persons. Swahili is widely used in the east, and Lingala is spoken in the west; Tshilaba is ... common. About 50% of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics and 20% are Protestants. A substantial number are adherents of Kimbanguism, an indigenous Christian church. Many also follow traditional religious beliefs, and about 10% are Muslims.
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