Africa as a continent is sub-divided into five sub-regions of which Central Africa region is one of them; Middle Africa is a term made use of instead of Central Africa by the United Nations when differentiating geographic sub-regions is considered an analogous term which includes Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, The Central African Republic, Angola, Gabon, The Republic of Congo, the democratic republic of Congo, and Sao Tome and principe.

List Of Central African Countries And Their Capitals

No.  Country  Capitals
1. Angola Luanda
2. Cameroon Yaoundé
3. The Central African Republic Bangui
4. Chad N’Djamena
5. The Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa
6 Republic of the Congo Brazzaville
7. Equatorial Guinea Malabo
8. Gabon Libreville
9. São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé
10. South Sudan Juba
11. Rwanda Kigali
12. Burundi Bujumbura

Speaking of the Central African countries, there is a total number of 11 (Eleven) states encamped in Central Africa, but before we move into details of the Central African Countries, let’s take a look at the highlights of all the countries encompassed in Central Africa.

Central African Countries And Their Capitals

  • Background

The Central African Federation also called or known as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from the year 1953 to the year 1963 was formerly made up of countries like Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, in similar terms, the Central African province Anglican Church covers dioceses in countries like Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, while the Central African Church “Presbyterian notably has synods in countries such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. However, all these countries are now considered typically as part of Eastern or Western Africa.

  • Brief History about Central Africa Countries

100, 000 years ago Archeological finds in Central Africa was discovered, and according to Holl and Zagato, iron-smelting evidence was found in the Central African Republic and Cameroon drove far back to 3000 to 2500 BCE, more also, Extensive walled settlements as of recent have been found in Northeast Nigeria, which is in approximation 60 km Southwest of the Lake Chad far back the first millennium BCE. Developed agricultural Techniques and trades prop up more refined societies, at this moment leading to the early civilizations of Kanem, Bornu, Sao, Wadai, Shiluk, and Baguirmi.

Notably, at around 1000 BCE, the migrants of Bantu had gotten to Central Africa’s Great Lake Region, after about half of the first millennium BCE, the migrants of Bantu had also be noted to have settled down at far South which is now a place known as Angola.

In the year 1884 and year 1885, during the scramble for Africa, the majority of the regions were shared between France, Belgium, and Britain, and later on, the Lake Chad was added forcefully to be a part of French West Africa by the French and having Britain left with parts of the basin. Furthermore, as at then, the Germans laid hold of parts of Cameroon until other African Nations around the pan gained back their independence. Following recent changes, South Sudan gained independence from the Sudan Republic following a war that spanned for five decades.

The Sao civilization burgeoned from Ca, in the 6th Century BCE spanning till the 16th Century CE in Northern Central Africa. The Sao are known to have lived by the Chari River Southern Lake Chad in a territory that later turned out to be part of Cameroon and Chad. These people are the earliest people noted to have left behind evident traces of their existence in the territory of modern Cameroon. Currently, various ethnic groups of Southern Chad and Northern Cameroon especially the Sara descendants’ claimed descent from the Sao Civilization.

  • Demographics

Following the migration of the Bantu people, Central Africa is mainly populated by the people of Bantu, and their languages now predominate as these include the Mongo, Luba, and Kongo peoples. More also, Nili-Saharan and the Niger-Congo Ubangian Communities are also included in Central Africa, while the Nilo-Saharan Kanuri predominates the North Western Central Africa. Most of the people who understand and speak Ubangian in Africa are often classified with the Niger-Congo as they are located in Central Africa, while the Gbaya, Zande, and Bandstand are located in North Central Africa.

On a notable term, the Supra-region organization of Central Africa includes the Economic Community of Central African states and the Lake Chad Commission.

  • Geography

The Lake Chad Basin has in the past been cost-effectively crucial to the Central African Population, concerning the Lake Chad Basin Commission helping as a significant Supra-regional organization in Central Africa.

  • Economy

There are notably three main activities of the economy in the region which are, Fishing, Farming, and herding. Agriculture is not possibly enough in providing all the needs of the masses as 40% as estimated, of the total population of the Northern and Eastern parts of the region are undergoing severe food scarcity and poverty as well.

However, crop productions based on water downpour (Rain) is in the southern belt possible alone, while flood recession agriculture is made do with around Lake Chad and in the wetlands riverine areas.

In the period of the year 2000 to the year 2001, the Lake Chad fisheries provided income and food to over 10 millions of people following a harvest ton of about 70, 000.

Fisheries have been managed conventionally by a system where each village has legal rights over a particular or defined part of the river, lake or wetland, while fisher from other places or regions must request permissions and also pay a specified amount as a fee to make use of the area. However, the governments mandated rules and regulations only to a restricted extent, while local governments and traditional rulers are mainly occupied in rent-seeking, accumulating license fees with supports from the police or Army.

Still speaking of the Central African economy, oil is discovered as the significant exportation of the Northern and Eastern Central African Countries which notably marks up a considerable proportion of the GDPs of South Sudan and Chad.

  • Religion

Speaking of the dominating religion of the Central African countries, it is discovered that the predominant religion in this region of Africa is Christianity and traditional beliefs.

Central African Countries and their Capitals Currency

Country Currency
Angola Angolan Kwanza
Cameroon CFA franc
The Central African Republic CFA franc
Chad CFA franc
Republic of the Congo CFA franc
Equatorial Guinea CFA franc
Gabon CFA franc
The Democratic Republic of the Congo Congolese franc
São Tomé and Príncipe Dobra
  •  Language

In the Central African Region, there is a notable predominating language, which is the French language which is majorly spoken by seven of the nine countries present in Central Africa as their official or national language and of these seven countries only three states have French limited as their national language and those three countries include; Gabon, The Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other words discovered in this region are Portuguese, Sango, and Sango. The predominant of the French language in this region can be traced down to colonial periods when Belgium and France people occupied the area.

Central African Countries Land Mass

Countries Landmasses (km2)
São Tomé and Príncipe 964 km2
Gabon 267,668 km2
Equatorial Guinea 28,051 km2
Republic of the Congo 342,000 km2
The Democratic Republic of Congo 2,344,858 km2
Chad 1,284,000 km2
The Central African Republic 622,984 km2
Cameroon 475,442 km2
Angola 1,246,700km2
  • Culture

In Ancient times, the Central African Region has passed through a series of movement both from within and outside, concerning this, the Central African region has a lot of different cultures. Emphasizing the Bantu people, the Bantu people brought up an entirely different culture into the region. However, the existing cultures in this region are discovered in their music, Body adornment, Initiation, Dance, Marriage rituals, and arts.

Speaking of the ethnic groups with the highest population, we talk of the two major ethnic groups discovered in Central Africa which are the Mongo and Luba peoples as both communities are noted to have a population range of 10 to 15 million.

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Conclusion

The Central African Countries are indeed great countries with different cultural heritages and lifestyle, though we may as well say some if not all of the African countries were influenced at the colonial period by foreign countries, all the same, the Central African Countries are great. Right above have been listed the Central African Countries alongside all you practically need to know about the Central African countries.

Tag: List of Central African Countries Region