Bas-Congo

Bas -Congo ( Lower Congo German ) is a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Matadi. It is the only province that lies on the Atlantic Ocean.

Geography

The province is located in the west of the country, bordered to the north by the Republic of Congo and Kinshasa, in the south of Angola, on the northwest by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, on the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the province of Bandundu.

In addition to the provincial capital Matadi Boma also has the official city status.

Population

According to a calculation from the 2010 Bas -Congo has 4,522,942 inhabitants. The population growth rate is currently 2.96% per year.

Population development:

Year

History

The province was created in 1960 as Congo- Central (central Congo) and renamed in 1971 in Bas- Zaire ( Niederzaire ). With the end of the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, the province as the Republic of Zaire was also renamed. Since then it is called Bas -Congo.

In the First Congo War, the provincial capital Matadi was taken on 22 May 1997 by the rebels.

With the adoption of a new constitution in May 2005, however, the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo should be restructured. In the course of administrative reform was also intended to rename the province of Bas -Congo in the Congo Central (central Congo ). The area size of this province should remain unchanged. This reform, which should contribute to the decentralization of the country, but was postponed several times and finally practically canceled by a controversial constitutional amendment by President Joseph Kabila in January 2011. Thus, the name of the province will not change for the time being.

Management

Administrative divisions

After the division of the Province Léopoldstadt in the provinces of Central Congo (now the Lower Congo) and Bandundu, Lower Congo consisted of two districts ( or sub-regions currently Zaïres ):

• District Waterfalls ( District of Cataractes ), capital Thysville, later renamed Mbanza - Ngungu
• District of Lower Congo ( District du Bas -Congo), the capital of Boma

Later in Niederzaïre came a third district to:

• District Lukaya, capital: Inkisi

After the transition from Zaire to Congo, the province changed the name in Lower Congo and the now eponymous district was renamed District underflow ( District du Bas - Fleuve ). After Boma became a town, was temporarily Nsiamfumu capital; today it is Thsela.

List of Governors

The names are in the order of first name ( prénom ), name ( nom de famille ), listed last name ( postnom ), in the period before Mobutu 's last name is often missing and during the reign of Mobutu the first names were abolished.