History History

Central Africa has been occupied by prehistoric populations, but the acidity of the rain-washed soils means there is little chance of finding any traces of them. The oldest remains uncovered date back to the Paleolithic period. The Aka are thought to be among the first inhabitants of present-day Congo; inscriptions on the tomb of an explorer belonging to the Pharaoh Neferkare make clear reference to their existence.

Waves of migrations, probably fleeing the definitive drying up of the Sahara, gradually descended as far as Nigeria and Cameroon. One of these groups, belonging to the Bantu family, reached as far as the Mayombe and founded the Kongo kingdom.

The Portuguese explorer Diego Cao, in search of a navigable route, discovered the Kongo kingdom when he landed at the mouth of the river.

The Kongo kingdom and the Portuguese maintained a trading relationship marked by domination. A state tax was created, and the Kongo kingdom was obliged to maintain trade with Portugal under the strict control of the Lisbon sovereign. The slave trade began and intensified.

The Kongo kingdom, weakened by demographic pressures and clashes between kings and against the Portuguese, sank into oblivion.

Savorgnan de Brazza arrives in the Congo on behalf of France, sailing up the Ogoué and then the Alima rivers.

Born in Rome, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza joined the French Navy following his naturalization on August 12, 1874. The naval officer was stationed in Port-Gentil a year later. His superiors ordered him to explore the Ogooué, which many Europeans at the time confused with the Congo River. In December 1879, de Brazza returned to equatorial Africa. On September 10, 1880, he signed a "protectorate" treaty with the ruler of the Batéké kingdom. De Brazza presented himself as a liberator of slaves by flying the French flag. When the conquest of the "French Congo" was completed in 1897, de Brazza opposed the government when it awarded the economic exploitation of these territories to private companies. This led to his disgrace until 1905, when the French government set up a commission of inquiry in response to public pressure over the abuses perpetrated by the concessionary companies and their staff. De Brazza was called in to lead it. It was to be his last trip. He fell ill and died on the way back to Dakar on September 14, 1905.

On September 10, Savorgnan signed a protectorate agreement on behalf of France with the Teke sovereign, Makoko Iloo. He then founded a post on the site of Mfoa, on the banks of the Congo River, which was to become Brazzaville.

The Berlin Conference legitimized the agreements reached on the ground by allocating their respective territories to the various colonial powers.

After administering the Congo, Savorgnan de Brazza was dismissed, and concessionary companies took over the country. The exploitation of resources by concessionary companies was to be the source of the worst excesses towards local populations: forced labor, requisitions, looting and massacres.

De Brazza is recalled to Congo for a commission of inquiry. Overwhelmed by what he discovered and physically exhausted, he died on the way home.

The French Congo, comprising Congo, Gabon and Oubangui-Chari-Tchad, was reorganized, with each territory becoming a colony within French Equatorial Africa, whose Governor General was installed in Brazzaville. In 1911, the concessionary companies relinquished their rights to large territories, but the abuses they had denounced did not cease.

André Matswa set up an association to help veterans, which quickly became a protest movement. The colonial administration imprisons Matswa.

Decided in 1921, the construction of the Congo-Ocean Railway was a new trauma for the local population, with the loss of more than 17,000 African workers. Total disregard for labor and sanitary conditions, erratic organization and profit maximization meant that snuff often replaced food rations. In 2014, France was accused of crimes against humanity.

Under the impetus of Félix Eboué, French Equatorial Africa rallied to de Gaulle and became Free French Africa, with Brazzaville as its capital.

André Matswa died in prison, and his movement became a church, Matswanism, which recruited mainly from its Balari ethnic group.

A new constitution is adopted by a majority of the French and the peoples of the French Union. Congo becomes the Republic of Congo.

The first legislative elections are held. Abbé Fulbert Youlou defeats Tchicaya to become Prime Minister. Meanwhile, riots broke out in Brazzaville between the Laris and Mbochis populations. The army put an end to this embryonic civil war.

The Congo achieves independence, as do most of the countries colonized by France in Africa.

The only presidential candidate, Abbé Fulbert Youlou, was elected with 97.5% of the vote. This defrocked priest, whose personal life was incompatible with his office, is a whimsical head of state with a multicolored cassock and an obsessive anti-communist.

Following the "Three Glorious Years", its first president, Abbé Fulbert Youlou, was ousted and imprisoned, to the total indifference of France, which had supported him up to that point, and made way for his successor, Massamba-Débat.

Alphonse Massamba-Débat, a follower of "scientific socialism", had a new constitution adopted, abolished elections and advocated a one-party system. He was overthrown in 1968 by a faction of the army.

On December 31, 1968, Captain Marien Ngouabi became President of the Republic of Congo, reaffirming the socialist option. The Congo then became the People's Republic of the Congo. His presidency was marked by tensions between north and south. On March 18, 1977, Marien Ngouabi was assassinated. Accused of instigating the assassination, former president Massamba-Débat was executed.

Marien Ngouabi was born in 1938 in the Owando region. A "northerner" of Kouyou origin, a Mbochi sub-group, he was drafted into the French army in 1957. Noticed by his superiors, he was sent to Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, where he graduated with the rank of lieutenant. Returning to the Congo in 1962, he was promoted to captain in 1964 and opposed the Massamba-Débat regime on both ideological and regional grounds. Arrested in July 1968 following an attempted coup d'état, he was freed two days later by paratroopers led by a group of northern officers. After Massamba-Débat was forced to resign as head of state, he founded the Parti Congolais du Travail (PCT). In a country that had officially become Marxist-Leninist, but where oil was already bringing its share of corruption, Marien Ngouabi began to feel the emptiness around him. Faced with numerous coup attempts, sometimes supported by Mobutu's Zaire, he was assassinated on March 18, 1977.

Colonel Denis Sassou N'Guesso took power, and held it until the mobilization of the streets and the international context prompted him to announce a Sovereign National Conference on February 25, 1991. The Congo adopted a new semi-presidential constitution.

Legislative elections were held in July, in which Pascal Lissouba's UPADS won 39 seats, Bernard Kolélas' MCDDI 29, and Sassou N'Guesso's PCT 18. An alliance of UPADS and PCT saw Pascal Lissouba elected head of state on August 16, 1992.

The alliance between Pascal Lissouba and Denis Sassou N'Guesso is broken. Sporadic clashes and bombardments between the militias of Pascal Lissouba, Denis Sassou N'Guesso and Bernard Kolélas rage on. With elections scheduled, a coup by Pascal Lissouba against Denis Sassou N'Guesso leads to open warfare. Denis Sassou N'Guesso regained power on October 25, 1997.

Denis Sassou N'Guesso announces national reconciliation. He inherited a country in ruins, with communities pitted against each other and plagued by corruption.

In July, Denis Sassou-N'Guesso was confirmed at the head of the country by the ballot box, re-elected in the first round of a controversial election with 78.61% of the vote. He then implemented his "New Hope" program, which aimed to put the country back on its feet, both physically and morally.

Agreement between Pastor Ntumi's rebels and government troops. Calm is gradually returning to the Pool region. The country is benefiting from the soaring price of a barrel of crude oil, and is enjoying sustained growth, even though the crisis has not spared the Congo, which is having to revise its growth prospects downwards.

Re-election of Denis Sassou N'Guesso as head of the country with 78.61% of the vote, in a race with 12 candidates.

Explosion of three ammunition depots in Mpila, a working-class district to the east of Brazzaville, leaving an official toll of 282 dead, 3,000 injured and more than 20,000 homeless.

The legislative elections consolidate the presidential majority with the victory of the Congolese Labor Party. 13 women MPs (out of 136) sit in the new assembly.

Start of a major administrative census in preparation for local elections. New projects are launched, such as "Water for All", to provide 4,000 villages with access to drinking water.

Incumbent President Denis Sassou N'Guesso was re-elected in the first round with over 60% of the vote.

Denis Sassou N'Guesso, the incumbent president, was again a candidate in the presidential elections, winning 88.57% of the vote for a 5-year term.