Ria's Colony
A collage-shaped map of Africa filled with photographs of African people, traditional dress, music and dance, textiles, coffee, wildlife, savanna, mountains, beaches, and cultural scenes, representing the diversity explored across all 54 African countries.

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African Culture & History

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Every African country has its own story. These articles cover all 54 of them, one country at a time, through the things people there still live with: music, dance, dress, food, ceremonies, languages and old kingdoms.

They also go into history, from ancient states like Kush and Great Zimbabwe to colonial rule, independence and the choices countries are making now.

Start with a country you know, or one you have never read about.

All articles on African Culture & History

A collage-shaped map of Africa filled with photographs of African people, traditional dress, music and dance, textiles, coffee, wildlife, savanna, mountains, beaches, and cultural scenes, representing the diversity explored across all 54 African countries.

Latest · September 24, 2026

Fifty-Four Countries Later: What This Series Actually Found

After exploring all 54 African countries, this series looks at the cultures, histories, traditions, borders, migration and memories that connect and distinguish the continent.

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Mauritian sega dancers perform beside the ocean, with a woman in a colorful traditional skirt dancing while musicians play a drum and triangle in the background.

September 24, 2026

Mauritius: The Dance That Turned Grief Into Celebration

Discover the history of Mauritian sega, from its roots in slavery to its role in Mauritius today, including music, dance, food, religion and culture.

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Young Swazi women in traditional attire carry reeds during a cultural ceremony in Eswatini, wearing beaded accessories and standing together against a mountainous landscape.

September 24, 2026

Eswatini: The Dance Where a King May Choose a Wife

Explore Eswatini’s Umhlanga Reed Dance, its royal history, Swazi traditions, ceremonies, food, religion, music and cultural life today.

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A Basotho person wearing a traditional mokorotlo hat and blue patterned blanket stands beside stone walls and thatched homes, overlooking the dramatic highland mountains of Lesotho.

September 24, 2026

Lesotho: The Fortress in the Sky

Explore Lesotho’s history and culture, from Moshoeshoe I and Thaba Bosiu to Basotho blankets, music, food, traditions, wool and mohair.

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Villagers sit in a circle beneath a large shade tree as a traditional leader in a patterned robe speaks at a kgotla meeting, with thatched round houses in the background.

September 24, 2026

Botswana: The Meeting Where People Come to Be Heard

Explore Botswana culture through the kgotla, traditional leadership, food, music, languages, beliefs, crafts and the history shaping modern Botswana.

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A Herero woman in a long dark blue traditional dress and distinctive cattle-horn-shaped headdress stands against Namibia’s dry landscape and mountains.

September 24, 2026

Namibia: The Dress That Turned Genocide Into Defiance

Discover the history of the Herero dress, from colonial-era clothing and the 1904–1908 genocide to its place in Herero identity and Namibia today.

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A Mozambican musician playing an acoustic guitar on a sunlit waterfront, with palm trees, boats and a coastal city in the background.

September 24, 2026

Mozambique: The Guitar That Broke and Built a Genre

Explore Mozambican culture through marrabenta, Makonde art, Mapiko, timbila, food, languages, religion and the history that shaped modern Mozambique.

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A masked Gule Wamkulu dancer in elaborate straw and feather costume performs in a Malawian cultural gathering, with other masked dancers, spectators, Lake Malawi and distant mountains in the background.

September 24, 2026

Malawi: The Dance You Are Not Allowed to Watch Too Closely

Explore Malawi culture through Gule Wamkulu, Vimbuza, food, music, languages, religion, traditions, festivals and the history behind them.

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The Litunga travels across the Zambezi floodplain in the Nalikwanda royal barge during Zambia’s Kuomboka ceremony, accompanied by rows of paddlers, ceremonial boats and traditional regalia beneath a golden sunset.

September 23, 2026

Zambia: The Country That Moves Its King by Water

Discover Kuomboka, Zambia’s famous royal ceremony, and explore the country’s Lozi heritage, ethnic diversity, languages, traditional chiefs, food, music and culture.

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A woman in colourful African-print clothing sits on rocks overlooking the ancient stone walls of Great Zimbabwe at sunset, with a rounded stone tower, woodland, distant hills and a golden sky in the background.

September 23, 2026

Zimbabwe: The Country Named After Its Own Ruins

Discover Great Zimbabwe, the ancient stone city that gave Zimbabwe its name, and explore the history, cultures, music and traditions that shaped the country.

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A couple dances semba on a Luanda waterfront at sunset while drummers play nearby, with palm trees, a colourful Angola mural and the city's skyline across the bay.

September 23, 2026

Angola and Brazil: The Atlantic Story Behind Semba, Samba and More

Explore Angola’s history, culture and connection with Brazil through semba, samba, kizomba, religion, food, art, capoeira and the Atlantic slave trade.

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A masked performer in an ornate red-and-gold royal costume performs Tchiloli in São Tomé and Príncipe, surrounded by fellow performers, drummers and spectators, with a colonial-era church, palm trees and green mountains across the sea in the background.

September 23, 2026

São Tomé and Príncipe: The Stories, People and Traditions Behind the Islands

Explore São Tomé and Príncipe's history and culture, from Tchiloli and Creole languages to colonial plantations, food, religion, literature and the roças.

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A Black woman in a colourful African print dress looks across a tropical waterfront in Equatorial Guinea, with the national flag, palm trees, colonial-era buildings and a volcanic mountain in the background.

September 23, 2026

Equatorial Guinea: Languages, Peoples, History and Culture

Explore Equatorial Guinea's history, Fang and Bubi cultures, Spanish language, food, religion, literature, oil boom and changing capital.

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A Gabonese forest ceremony featuring a traditionally dressed initiate, musicians, a carved ceremonial figure, lush rainforest, and iboga root bark displayed in the foreground.

September 22, 2026

Gabon: The Forest That Gave Away Its Deepest Secret

Explore Bwiti in Gabon, from iboga and initiation to Mitsogho and Fang traditions, ancestral art, music, Punu masks and the forests that shaped them.

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A stylish Congolese man in a vivid blue tailored suit, fedora and sunglasses stands on a Brazzaville riverside promenade, surrounded by elegantly dressed people, colorful street art, tropical greenery and the Congo River skyline, evoking the culture of La Sape.

September 22, 2026

When Dressing Sharp Became a Statement: The Story of La Sape in Congo

Discover the history of La Sape in Congo, from colonial-era clothing and migration to Congolese rumba, fashion, identity and modern Brazzaville.

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create a featured image for this blog post, the image should have with little to no text,here is the blog post; # DR Congo: The Story of Rumba, Memory and a Country Shaped by Many Histories If you have ever heard Congolese rumba, you may have noticed how difficult it is to separate the music from movement. Congolese rumba is a style of music and dance that developed in the two Congos, especially in the cities of Kinshasa and Brazzaville. It is usually built around singing, guitars, percussion and dance. The songs can be romantic, political, humorous or about everyday life, and some can run for quite a while. The guitar is particularly important. In many songs, the vocals eventually give way to a longer guitar section called the *sebene*, where several guitar parts can work together while people dance. But Congolese rumba did not start in a recording studio in Kinshasa. Its history goes much further back. UNESCO traces it to *nkumba*, an older Central African dance whose name means “waist” in Kikongo. The story then crosses the Atlantic through the history of forced migration, reaches Cuba, and eventually comes back into Central African cities through recorded music. Congolese musicians took what they heard and developed it into their own style. UNESCO traces Congolese rumba to an older Central African dance called **nkumba**, a Kikongo word meaning "waist." The dance involved the movement of the waist and hips, and it was part of the cultural traditions of the peoples of the former Kingdom of Kongo. Over time, the music and dance developed into the form now known as Congolese rumba. UNESCO added Congolese rumba to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. But there is another part of the story. The Atlantic slave trade forcibly took millions of Central Africans to the Caribbean, including Cuba. They carried their music, dances, languages and religious traditions with them. In Cuba, these traditions developed alongside Spanish and other Caribbean influences, producing different musical forms, including son. By the 20th century, Cuban music was being recorded and those records began reaching Central Africa. Musicians in the Congo listened to the recordings and started experimenting with what they heard. They used the guitars and musical structures they liked, but they also brought in their own languages, instruments, rhythms and dance traditions. That is part of how the music that became Congolese rumba developed in the cities of the Congo. To understand why the music sounds the way it does, though, you have to look beyond the music itself, because the story takes you into the history of the people and places that shaped it. ## A Huge Country With Many Histories The Democratic Republic of Congo is enormous. At more than 2.3 million square kilometres, it is the second-largest country in Africa by land area, after Algeria. The equator crosses the country, the Congo River runs through its centre, and the landscape changes dramatically from one region to another. There are dense tropical forests, broad savannas, mountains, rivers and large lakes. More than 100 million people live across this territory, and more than 200 ethnic groups are represented in the country. So when someone says "Congolese culture," there is a lot packed into those two words. A person from Kinshasa does not necessarily have the same cultural background as someone from Goma, Kananga, Lubumbashi or Kisangani. Different communities have their own histories, languages, food, artistic traditions and social practices. The country also has hundreds of languages. French is the official language and is widely used in government, education and formal settings. Four languages have national-language status: **Lingala, Swahili, Tshiluba and Kikongo-Kituba**, also known as Kituba. Lingala is especially prominent in Kinshasa and has a strong connection with Congolese popular music. Swahili is widely spoken in eastern Congo. Tshiluba is particularly important in the Kasai region, while Kikongo and Kikongo-Kituba are important in western and southwestern parts of the country. Someone's language can tell you a lot about where they grew up and the communities around them. The country's size also meant that different societies developed their own political systems long before there was a country called the Democratic Republic of Congo. ## Before Belgium There was no single state covering the territory of today's DRC before European colonial rule. There were kingdoms, chiefdoms and other political communities, each with their own systems of authority. The **Kingdom of Kongo** was one of the most prominent. At its height, it covered parts of what are now Angola, the Republic of Congo, the DRC and Gabon. Portuguese sailors reached the Kongo kingdom at the end of the 15th century, beginning a relationship that lasted for centuries. The Portuguese brought Christianity and developed diplomatic and commercial relationships with Kongo rulers. Some members of the Kongo royal family converted to Christianity, and Christianity became part of the kingdom's political and religious life. King Afonso I, who ruled in the early 16th century, was a Christian and corresponded with the Portuguese king. Trade was another major part of the relationship. At first, Kongo and Portugal had diplomatic and commercial interests that could benefit both sides. Over time, however, the Atlantic slave trade became increasingly important. People were captured and sold, political relationships became more unequal, and Portuguese influence in the region grew. So Christianity was already present in parts of Central Africa centuries before Belgium established colonial rule over the Congo. The Kingdom of Kongo was not the only major political society in the region. The **Luba** developed powerful states in central Congo, while the **Kuba** built a highly organised kingdom further west. Both left behind artistic traditions that are still studied today. ## When History Is Kept in Objects The Luba have a particularly interesting way of preserving historical knowledge. It involves a small carved wooden object called a **lukasa**. At first glance, a lukasa can look like a decorated board covered with beads and markings. It is much more than that. The markings can represent places, people, political relationships and events. Members of the Mbudye association were trained to interpret the boards and use them when recounting Luba history and political knowledge. The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes the lukasa as a kind of conceptual map of Luba political organisation, historical chronicles and territory. The Kuba developed a different artistic tradition using raffia. Kuba textiles are made from raffia palm fibre and can involve weaving, embroidery and appliqué. Some are relatively simple. Others have elaborate geometric patterns and designs. The cloth has been used for clothing, ceremonial purposes, prestige objects, marriage-related exchanges and funerary practices. Textile production could also be collaborative, with men weaving the basic cloth and women adding decorative elements. These objects give us another way to understand societies whose histories were not recorded mainly through European-style written documents. A piece of cloth could show a person’s status or mark an important occasion. A memory board could help preserve knowledge about political history. People also passed knowledge down by telling stories, teaching younger people about their families, important events, customs, and the history of their communities. Songs could carry those stories too, allowing people to remember and pass them on from one generation to the next. ## Christianity Was Already Here Christianity has a long history in the Congo that goes back centuries before Belgian colonial rule. In the Kingdom of Kongo, Christianity was adopted by the royal court in the late 15th century, during the reign of King Nzinga a Nkuwu, who was baptized in 1491. Christian communities and institutions developed in the kingdom over the following centuries. Christianity later spread in different forms across Central Africa. European missionaries established churches and schools, while African Christians shaped the religion within their own communities and created their own movements. One of the best-known examples in the Congo was Simon Kimbangu. In 1921, he began preaching in the Lower Congo and attracted a growing number of followers. He became known for preaching and for healing people through prayer. Belgian colonial authorities viewed the movement as a threat and arrested him. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent the rest of his life in prison, where he died in 1951. His followers continued the movement after his arrest and death. It eventually became the Kimbanguist Church, one of the major African-initiated Christian churches in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Christianity is now a major part of religious life across the country. The Catholic Church has a large presence, alongside Protestant, Anglican, Pentecostal and other independent African churches. There are also older religious traditions with their own histories. Among Kongo peoples, for example, **minkisi** are objects that are understood to contain or channel spiritual power. They have been used in different contexts, including healing, protection and oath-taking, with their meaning depending on the particular object and tradition. Religious life in the Congo has therefore developed through many centuries of change. Christian churches, African-initiated movements and older religious traditions have all formed part of that history, with different communities practising and understanding them in different ways. ## Leopold II's Congo European control of the Congo took a harsher form in the late 19th century, when King Leopold II of Belgium established the **Congo Free State** in the 1880s as his personal possession. It was not initially a Belgian colony, even though Leopold was the king of Belgium. Leopold's administration focused heavily on extracting the territory's resources, particularly ivory and rubber. As international demand for rubber grew, Congolese communities were subjected to increasing pressure to collect it. Forced labour became part of the system, and people who failed to meet production demands could face punishment, including violence. Missionaries, travellers and other observers began reporting the abuses taking place in the territory. Their accounts, along with photographs and other evidence, contributed to growing international criticism of Leopold's administration. The Congo eventually became the subject of a major international campaign calling attention to the treatment of its population. In 1908, after years of criticism and growing international pressure, Belgium took control of the territory from Leopold and established the **Belgian Congo**. The U.S. Department of State records that the annexation followed widespread reports of mistreatment and international outrage. Millions of people died during the Congo Free State period, although historians cannot establish one precise death toll. There was no reliable population census before the period of mass exploitation, and deaths resulted from several causes, including violence, forced labour, disease, hunger and the disruption of communities. The transfer from the Congo Free State to the Belgian Congo ended Leopold's personal rule, but it did not give Congolese people political control over their own country. Belgium continued to govern the territory as a colony until the Congo became independent in 1960. ## Life Under Belgian Rule Belgian colonial rule lasted until 1960. During that period, the administration built roads and other infrastructure and established schools, hospitals and other institutions, but these developments took place within a colonial system in which Europeans held most of the political and administrative power. Education was also tightly controlled, especially at higher levels. By the time the Congo became independent, very few Congolese people had received university education or had been given the opportunity to prepare for senior positions in government. At the same time, Congolese cities were growing and changing. Léopoldville, which later became Kinshasa, developed into a major urban centre where workers, traders, religious groups, political organisers and musicians came into contact with one another and built new social networks. Music became part of everyday city life. Records from abroad circulated through Léopoldville, local musicians formed bands, and dance halls became places where people gathered to listen to music, dance and socialise. It was in this growing urban environment that modern Congolese rumba began to take shape. ## From Central Africa to Cuba and Back The history of Congolese rumba reaches back to Central African musical traditions and to the movement of people and music across the Atlantic. During the Atlantic slave trade, millions of Central Africans were forcibly taken to the Americas, including Cuba. They carried their languages, religious practices, music and dance traditions with them. In Cuba, these African traditions developed alongside Spanish and other Caribbean influences. Several musical forms emerged from this environment, including **son**, which later became widely influential in Cuba and beyond. By the 20th century, recordings of Cuban music were reaching Central Africa. Musicians in the Congo listened to these records and began working with some of the sounds and musical structures they heard. They played them with their own instruments, sang in Lingala and other local languages, and connected them with Central African rhythms and dance traditions. As musicians experimented with these different influences, the music developed into a style that suited the growing urban audiences of Kinshasa and Brazzaville. There was also an older Central African tradition behind this history. UNESCO traces Congolese rumba to **nkumba**, an older dance tradition whose name means “waist” in Kikongo. Over time, the music developed into the form now known as Congolese rumba, a genre and dance tradition shared by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. By the middle of the 20th century, Congolese musicians had developed a sound of their own. Some songs were slow and romantic, while others were built for dancing. The guitar became especially important, with songs often moving from sung sections into longer instrumental passages in which the musicians could build the rhythm and give dancers more room to move. The growing cities of Kinshasa and Brazzaville gave this music a large audience and a place to develop. ## The Sound of a New Congo One of the most important bands of the independence era was **African Jazz**, led by Joseph Kabasele. Kabasele recorded **"Indépendance Cha Cha"** in 1960, around the time the Congo became independent from Belgium. The song became associated with the independence period and circulated widely across Africa. It was not the only important band. **OK Jazz**, led by Franco Luambo, became another major force in Congolese music. Franco's career stretched across several decades, and his band helped establish guitar-driven Congolese music as a major sound across Africa. Another feature of Congolese music became known as **sebene**. This is the part of a song where the guitars become more prominent and the instrumental playing gives dancers more room. Several guitarists can interlock their parts, creating the long, repeating patterns that became a familiar feature of Congolese popular music. Congolese bands became influential outside the country too. Musicians travelled. Records circulated. Other African musicians listened and borrowed from Congolese guitar styles. The music spread across the continent. In 2021, UNESCO formally recognised Congolese rumba as part of the world's intangible cultural heritage. The organisation describes it as music used for celebrations, mourning and other social occasions, and notes that it is passed from one generation to another through families, neighbourhoods, clubs, training schools and community organisations. ## Independence and Lumumba The Congo became independent on **30 June 1960**, but independence came with serious political and institutional problems. The Belgian colonial government had left very few Congolese people with experience in senior administrative or military positions, and the army mutinied shortly after independence. Katanga then declared its independence, while political tensions spread across the country. **Patrice Lumumba**, the Congo's first prime minister, became one of the central figures in the crisis. His government was removed from power, and Lumumba was eventually captured and transferred to Katanga. He was killed there on **17 January 1961**, along with two of his associates, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. A United Nations investigation later concluded that the three men had been killed shortly after arriving in Elisabethville, in the presence or probable presence of senior Katangan officials. The circumstances surrounding Lumumba's removal and death also involved foreign actors. Belgian government authorities and Belgian advisers in Léopoldville supported the transfer of Lumumba to Katanga. A Belgian parliamentary inquiry published in 2001 concluded that certain Belgian officials and other Belgian participants were morally responsible for the circumstances that led to his death, while also finding no evidence that the Belgian government had directly ordered his physical elimination. The United States was also involved in efforts to remove Lumumba from power. CIA officials developed an assassination plan in 1960, but the historical record does not establish that the CIA carried out or directly participated in his killing. A U.S. Senate investigation and later reviews by the Office of the Historian concluded that CIA representatives in the Congo were not involved in Lumumba's death. Lumumba's death became one of the defining events of the Congo's early independence period. It took place during a wider crisis involving Congolese political divisions, the breakaway of Katanga, foreign intervention and the struggle over who would control the new country. ## Mobutu's Zaire In 1965, **Mobutu Sese Seko** took power and went on to rule the country for more than three decades. In 1971, he changed the country's name to **Zaire** and introduced a political and cultural programme known as *authenticité*. The programme encouraged people to embrace African names, clothing and cultural practices and to move away from some symbols associated with European colonial rule. At the same time, Mobutu built a highly centralised political system in which opposition was restricted and political loyalty played an important role in access to government positions and state resources. Corruption became deeply established within the state, while much of the country's political and economic power remained concentrated around Mobutu and those close to him. Mobutu's government also became an important Cold War ally of the United States and other Western countries because of its opposition to communist movements in Central Africa. That support continued for much of the Cold War, even as Mobutu's domestic rule became increasingly authoritarian. The situation began to change in the early 1990s. The Cold War was ending, which reduced the strategic importance that Zaire had held for its Western allies, while the country's economic problems and domestic political opposition were growing. Mobutu faced increasing pressure to introduce political reforms, and his government became less able to maintain the system that had kept him in power for so long. Then, in 1994, the genocide against the Tutsi in neighbouring Rwanda changed the regional situation. The aftermath of the genocide brought large numbers of refugees and armed groups into eastern Zaire, creating new security and political tensions along the country's border with Rwanda. Those tensions would soon become part of a much larger conflict. ## The Wars in Congo In 1994, the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda killed more than 800,000 people, most of them Tutsi and moderate Hutu, according to the United Nations. After the genocide, large numbers of people fled into what was then Zaire. Among them were members of the former Rwandan government and armed forces, as well as people who had participated in the genocide. Some of the former Rwandan soldiers and armed groups regrouped in eastern Zaire and launched attacks against the new Rwandan government from across the border. Rwanda became increasingly concerned about the armed groups operating so close to its territory, while the presence of refugees and armed forces in eastern Zaire added to tensions that had already existed in the region. In 1996, Rwanda and Uganda supported a coalition of Congolese rebels led by **Laurent-Désiré Kabila**. The coalition launched an offensive against Mobutu's government, and the First Congo War ended in 1997 when Mobutu was forced from power. Kabila became president and restored the country's name from Zaire to the **Democratic Republic of the Congo**. The change of government did not bring an end to the fighting. In 1998, Kabila fell out with Rwanda and Uganda, and another rebellion began in the east. This time, the conflict drew in several countries. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia supported Kabila's government, while Rwanda and Uganda supported rebel groups operating against it. The fighting spread across large parts of the country and became known as the **Second Congo War**. A formal peace agreement brought the Second Congo War to an end in 2003, although armed conflict continued in parts of eastern Congo. The human cost was enormous. A major International Rescue Committee study estimated that about **5.4 million excess deaths occurred between August 1998 and April 2007**. Most of these deaths were not caused by people being killed directly in combat. Disease, hunger, displacement and the collapse of basic healthcare accounted for much of the additional mortality. The wars also left behind armed groups, displaced communities and unresolved political and territorial disputes, particularly in eastern Congo. Those problems would continue to shape the country's history long after the formal end of the Second Congo War. ## Why Fighting Has Continued in the East Eastern Congo has remained unstable because several conflicts and interests overlap there. Communities have disputes over land and political authority, while armed groups have different aims and sources of support. Some conflicts begin locally but become connected to national politics or to the interests of neighbouring countries. Rwanda, Uganda and other countries in the region have also been involved in Congo's conflicts at different points. Natural resources are another part of the picture. Eastern Congo has deposits of gold, tin, tantalum and other valuable minerals, and armed groups have made money from mining, taxation and trafficking. Mineral trading has provided income that has helped some armed groups maintain their operations. The causes of the conflict, however, extend beyond the mineral trade. Questions about who can own or use land, who has political authority, who is recognised as a citizen, and how communities protect themselves have all contributed to tensions in the region. These issues have also been shaped by decades of war, displacement and cross-border conflict. ## M23 One of the armed groups that has received significant international attention in recent years is **M23**, short for the March 23 Movement. The group first became prominent in 2012, when it captured territory in eastern Congo before being defeated by Congolese and United Nations forces later that year. M23 re-emerged in 2021 and has since captured territory in North Kivu, fighting the Congolese army and other armed groups. Rwanda's involvement has become one of the central international issues surrounding the conflict. The United Nations has documented military support from Rwanda for M23, and in February 2025 the UN Security Council called on Rwanda to stop supporting the group and withdraw its forces from Congolese territory. Rwanda has disputed aspects of these accusations and has repeatedly pointed to the threat posed by the **FDLR**, an armed group operating in eastern Congo that includes members and descendants of forces associated with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The fighting has continued into 2026, alongside diplomatic efforts to reach agreements and improve humanitarian access. United Nations reporting has described continued confrontations between armed groups and Congolese forces, while negotiations have taken place alongside efforts to establish ceasefires and humanitarian arrangements. The **AFC**, a political-military alliance associated with M23, has also established parallel administrative structures in areas under its control. UN sanctions information describes the AFC as allied with M23 and providing political, logistical and operational support. The effects of the fighting are felt most directly by civilians. United Nations reporting recorded high levels of grave violations against children in 2025 and identified AFC/M23 forces and Rwandan forces among the actors contributing to those violations. Continued fighting and displacement have also disrupted access to homes, farms, schools, healthcare and other basic services across affected communities in eastern Congo. ## The Forest Communities of Congo The DRC is also home to several forest-dwelling communities that are often grouped under the name **Mbuti**. The term refers to several different communities rather than one single ethnic group, and their languages, histories and ways of life are not all the same. For many of these communities, the forests of the Congo Basin have long been an important source of food, knowledge and livelihoods. Hunting, fishing and gathering forest plants have been part of life for some communities, alongside farming and other activities. People have also developed detailed knowledge of the plants, animals and places around them and passed that knowledge down through generations. Life in the forest has become more difficult in some areas. Armed conflict has displaced communities from their homes and disrupted access to forest resources, while conservation projects have sometimes restricted where local people can live, hunt, gather or farm. The effects vary between communities and locations, but these changes have raised ongoing questions about how forest conservation can be carried out while also recognising the rights and livelihoods of people who have long depended on the forest. Those questions matter beyond the DRC because the country contains a large part of the **Congo Basin rainforest**, one of the world's major tropical forest regions. The forest supports millions of people across Central Africa and plays an important role in regional ecosystems and the global climate. ## What People Eat Food in the DRC varies across the country, but cassava is one of the most important staples. It can be prepared in several ways, including as **fufu**, a soft, dense food that is commonly eaten with soup or stew. Plantain, maize, rice and beans are also widely eaten, while fish is especially important in communities along the Congo River and around the country's lakes. Cassava leaves are used in another familiar dish, **pondu**, also known as saka-saka. The leaves are prepared and cooked into a thick stew, with recipes varying from one household and region to another. Palm oil, onions and spices are common additions, while fish, meat or other ingredients may also be included. Palm nuts are used in **moambe**, another well-known dish in the region. The nuts are processed into a rich sauce that is often cooked with chicken and served with rice, fufu or other staples. Groundnuts also appear in many Congolese dishes, adding another flavour and source of protein to meals. Because the DRC is so large, there is no single way of describing Congolese food. What people eat depends partly on what grows locally, what can be caught or farmed, and what is available in markets. A community near a river may have easier access to fish, while farming communities further inland may rely more heavily on crops such as cassava, maize and plantain. In Kinshasa, people from different parts of the country have brought their food traditions together, so the city's markets and restaurants reflect many of these regional influences. ## Dressing Up in La Sape Walk through parts of Kinshasa or Brazzaville and you may come across people dressed in suits that are impossible to miss. Bright colours. Carefully chosen shoes. Hats. Pocket squares. Sunglasses. Tailoring that is meant to be noticed. This is **La Sape**. The name comes from *Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes*, and people involved in the movement are known as **sapeurs**. La Sape developed in both Kinshasa and Brazzaville and later became closely connected with Congolese communities in France. For a sapeur, clothing is not just something to put on before leaving the house. The combination of colours, brands, tailoring and accessories is part of the performance. The movement has been associated with elegance, creativity, identity and social status. For some sapeurs, dressing well is also connected to dignity and the desire to present oneself differently from the circumstances around them. For some sapeurs, the clothing itself is the focus. Carefully chosen suits, shoes, hats and accessories are used to express personal taste, creativity and attention to appearance. For others, dressing well can also carry ideas about dignity, identity, status or how they want to be seen in society. ## Why Congolese Music Travels So Far Congolese musicians have influenced popular music across Africa for decades, and a lot of that influence came through the music industry that developed in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. By the middle of the 20th century, these cities had become important centres for recording, live performance and dance music. Musicians travelled to perform in other African countries, and their records circulated well beyond the two Congos. The sound itself also made Congolese music easy to recognise. Guitars became one of its defining features, with musicians using several guitars at the same time rather than relying on one guitar to do everything. The bass could keep the underlying rhythm while rhythm and lead guitars played different patterns over it. During the **sebene**, the instrumental section that often comes after the sung part of a rumba song, the guitars could become more prominent and give dancers a longer section to move to. Language helped the music travel as well. **Lingala** became one of the main languages of Congolese popular music, particularly in Kinshasa, and songs in Lingala reached listeners in other parts of Africa who did not necessarily speak French. The music could therefore cross linguistic and national borders through records, radio, concerts and later other forms of media. The sound also kept changing. Congolese musicians developed new styles from rumba, including **soukous**, and later generations brought in electric instruments, new recording techniques and influences from other parts of Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the United States. Some musicians stayed close to older rumba traditions, while others pushed the music in new directions. That is why Congolese popular music cannot be tied to one particular period. The music that filled dance halls in the middle of the 20th century was already different from the music that came before it, and musicians continued changing the sound as new audiences, technologies and musical influences appeared. ## A Country Whose History Is Still Being Made It is easy to encounter the DRC through one part of its history at a time: the Congo Free State, Lumumba, Mobutu, the Congo wars, M23, its mineral resources or its forests. Those histories are part of the country, but they are not the whole of everyday life. Someone living in Kinshasa today might go to church on Sunday, speak Lingala with friends, eat pondu at home, listen to rumba, follow music from other parts of the world online, work in an office and have family connections to another part of the country. Someone living in eastern Congo may have a very different daily experience, shaped by the history and conflicts of the region. In Kasai, Tshiluba is widely spoken, while communities in the west have their own connections to Kongo history and traditions. Forest communities have developed their own relationships with the forests and the resources around them. These experiences sit alongside one another within the same country, and culture is one of the places where different parts of that history can be seen. Congolese rumba is a good example. Its history reaches back to Central African traditions associated with **nkumba**, a dance whose name means “waist” in Kikongo. Central Africans were then forcibly taken across the Atlantic during the slave trade, carrying their music and other cultural traditions with them. In Cuba, those traditions developed alongside European and Caribbean influences, contributing to musical forms such as son. Cuban recordings later reached Central African cities, where Congolese musicians adapted what they heard to their own languages, instruments, rhythms and audiences. The result was the music now known as Congolese rumba, which developed in the two Congos and became one of the most influential forms of popular music in Africa. It is still performed at weddings, parties, concerts and other gatherings, while new musicians continue to record and reinterpret it. UNESCO added Congolese rumba to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. The same process can be seen in other parts of Congolese culture. Older languages are still spoken, religious traditions have continued to develop, food traditions have moved between regions, and artistic practices have been passed between generations. People have inherited these things, adapted them to their own lives and created new forms from them. That is what makes the history of the DRC so broad. The country carries the marks of many different periods, communities and places, and those histories continue to appear in the way people speak, eat, worship, dress, make music and live today.

September 22, 2026

The DRC: How Congolese Rumba Carries a Country’s History

Explore the history of Congolese rumba, from Central African traditions and Cuba to Kinshasa, and discover how music connects to the DRC’s wider history and culture.

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A group of Aka people gathered in a lush Central African rainforest, with several people singing and moving together in a traditional community performance surrounded by dense green vegetation.

September 22, 2026

Central African Republic: People, Culture, History and Life

Explore the Central African Republic’s history, people, languages, food, music, archaeology and cultural traditions, including the Aka and Bouar megaliths.

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Chad's landscape transitioning from the dry Sahara and rocky mountains in the north through the Sahel to greener savanna and farmland in the south, illustrating the country's distinct ecological regions.

September 21, 2026

Chad: A Country of Sahara, Sahel, Kingdoms and Many Cultures

Explore Chad’s history and culture, from the Sahara and Lake Chad to Kanem-Bornu, colonial rule, languages, religions, food and life today.

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September 21, 2026

Seychelles: The Dance That Survived Colonial Restrictions

Discover the history of Moutya, Seychelles’ traditional dance shaped by slavery, colonial restrictions, community life and generations of cultural transmission.

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African Christian history represented through ancient Ethiopian and Egyptian Christian architecture, manuscripts, and a contemporary African church community, symbolizing Christianity's nearly two-thousand-year history on the continent.

September 20, 2026

Christianity in Africa: A History That Began Long Before Colonialism

Christianity in Africa began nearly 2,000 years ago. Explore its early communities, Aksum, Nubia, Egypt, Kongo and the later missionary expansion.

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A Comorian Grand Marriage ceremony on Grande Comore, with a man in ornate traditional clothing being dressed by an elder, surrounded by guests, musicians and ceremonial decorations overlooking the Indian Ocean and volcanic mountains.

September 18, 2026

Comoros: The Marriage a Man Cannot Avoid

Discover the Grand Marriage in Comoros, a powerful tradition on Grande Comore that shapes family, social status, wealth, culture and community life.

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A young South Sudanese herder sits beside a large long-horned cattle bull at sunset, with a herd gathered around a seasonal floodplain in the background.

September 18, 2026

South Sudan: The Country Sung to Its Cattle

Explore South Sudan’s culture and history through its cattle traditions, ethnic groups, languages, religion, food, music, marriage customs and long road to independence.

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An Eritrean woman performs a traditional coffee ceremony at sunset, pouring coffee from a jebena into small cups, with roasted coffee beans, incense and woven baskets in the foreground and a city and mountains in the background.

September 18, 2026

Eritrea: The Country That Fought Thirty Years for a Line on a Map

Explore Eritrea’s history, independence struggle, cultures, languages, religions, food, music and Asmara’s remarkable Italian-era architecture.

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Panoramic view of Djibouti’s coastline with a mosque and palm-lined city in the foreground, cargo ships crossing the bay, a busy container port, and rugged mountains in the background.

September 18, 2026

Djibouti: The Country the Suez Canal Made Strategic

Discover Djibouti’s history, culture, people, food, languages and strategic importance, and how the Suez Canal transformed its place in the world.

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A Somali woman in a flowing purple headscarf sits on coastal ruins overlooking a historic seaside town and the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean at sunset.

September 18, 2026

Somalia Culture and History: The Nation of Poets

Explore Somalia’s history, culture, poetry, religion, clans, food, music, colonial past and modern identity through the traditions that shaped the nation.

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Photorealistic scene of Burundian royal drummers performing outdoors, with dancers moving around traditional drums against a hillside landscape and Lake Tanganyika in the distance.

September 17, 2026

Burundi: The Country Where the Drum Was King

Explore Burundi’s history, culture, royal drum tradition, Gishora, monarchy, languages, food, religion and the story of a country shaped by its past.

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Photorealistic ceremonial scene in Uganda showing a traditional African king seated beneath a large ceremonial parasol, surrounded by attendants, royal regalia, traditional buildings and a gathered crowd.

September 17, 2026

Uganda: The Kingdom That Refused to Stay Abolished

Explore Uganda’s kingdoms, the history of Buganda, the 1966 crisis, the restoration of traditional rulers in 1993, and the culture that still shapes Uganda today.

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Cinematic collage representing Tanzania’s cultural and historical diversity, featuring Stone Town and traditional dhows, Mount Kilimanjaro, rural farming, Tanzanian communities, Julius Nyerere, Kiswahili, students and a modern city skyline.

September 17, 2026

Tanzania: The Country That Turned Familyhood Into a National Idea

Discover Tanzania’s culture and history, from Swahili and ujamaa to its diverse ethnic communities, religions, food, music, art, clothing and traditions.

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Vibrant collage representing Kenya’s diverse culture, featuring Maasai warriors, Kenyan landscapes, Swahili coastal architecture, traditional crafts, food, music, distance running, Nairobi’s skyline and the Kenyan flag.

September 17, 2026

Kenya: The Country Measured in Age-Sets, Not Just Years

Explore Kenya’s culture, history, languages, religions, food, music, traditions and the Maasai age-set system that continues to shape cultural life.

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Cinematic collage representing Sudan’s cultural and historical diversity, featuring Nubian pyramids and ancient ruins, Sufi worship, Nuba wrestling, the Nile, traditional crafts, Sudanese communities, Khartoum’s skyline and the Sudanese flag.

September 17, 2026

Sudan: The Country of Two Fridays

Explore Sudan’s history, cultures, religions, ancient kingdoms, traditions, food and heritage, from Kush and Nubia to the communities shaping Sudan today.

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Photorealistic riverside scene in Douala, Cameroon, showing a Sawa cultural ceremony on the Wouri River. A traditionally dressed participant stands in the water wearing cowrie shells, beads, feathers and leafy adornments, while boats, performers, palm trees and a large crowd gather along the river with the Douala skyline in the background.

September 16, 2026

Cameroon: Africa’s Miniature, in Every Direction

Explore Cameroon’s history, cultures, languages, food, traditions, music, festivals and landscapes, and discover why it is known as Africa in miniature.

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Photorealistic golden-morning scene in a Moroccan medina, showing a traditional communal wood-fired bakery with a baker tending the oven while women carry trays of dough, surrounded by freshly baked bread, old buildings, blue doors and a historic minaret.

September 16, 2026

Morocco: The Country That Never Replaced Anything

Explore Moroccan culture through its Amazigh, Arab, Andalusian, Jewish and African influences, from language and food to music, crafts, religion and traditions.

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Photorealistic golden-hour scene in Algeria showing a traditionally dressed woman playing a long-necked string instrument above a mountainous valley, surrounded by woven textiles, cushions, and a tea tray, with rugged hills fading into the distance.

September 16, 2026

Algeria: The Country That Sang Its Way Through Fire

Explore Algeria’s history, culture, languages, music, colonial past, civil war, and national identity, from Amazigh heritage and raï to the Hirak movement.

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Photorealistic golden-hour view of a blue-and-white Tunisian coastal town, with a woman in traditional-inspired clothing overlooking the sea from a terrace framed by bougainvillea, a blue doorway, and a mosaic table with Tunisian tea.

September 16, 2026

Tunisia: The Country That Lit the Match

Explore Tunisia’s history, from ancient Carthage and Kairouan to the 2011 revolution, alongside its people, languages, religion, food, music and culture.

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Ancient rock art depicting animals and human figures on a sandstone wall overlooking a rugged desert landscape in Libya, with a person in indigo desert clothing seated in the foreground.

September 16, 2026

Libya: The Country Written Twice, on Rock and in Silence

Explore Libya’s culture and history, from ancient Tadrart Acacus rock art to Amazigh, Tuareg and Tebu traditions, food, music, religion and heritage.

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Egyptian family enjoying a springtime picnic beside the Nile with colorful eggs, greens and fish, with palm trees, boats and the pyramids in the background.

September 15, 2026

Egypt: The Country That Never Fully Let Go of Its Gods

Explore Egyptian culture, history, traditions, food, religion, language, music and heritage, from ancient Egypt to the traditions still shaping life today.

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Mauritanian tea ceremony with three glasses of mint tea being poured from a traditional teapot beside a charcoal brazier, with desert scenery and an oasis in the background.

September 15, 2026

Mauritania: Where Tea, Memory and Culture Meet

Explore Mauritania’s culture through its three-glass tea ritual, food, languages, religion, music, clothing, history, and the legacy of slavery.

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Rwandan woman holding a white flower at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, with candles, visitors, the Rwandan flag and Kigali’s hills in the background.

September 15, 2026

Rwanda: The Culture, History and Traditions of a Country Remembering Together

Explore Rwanda's culture, history and traditions, from Kinyarwanda and Intore dance to food, crafts, religion and how the country remembers the 1994 genocide.

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Cape Verdean woman sitting by a coastal waterfront at sunset, looking out over the Atlantic as musicians play nearby, with colorful buildings, volcanic mountains, small boats and a distant ship evoking morna, migration and sodade.

September 14, 2026

Cape Verde: The Country Built From a Feeling

Explore Cape Verde culture through its history, Kriolu language, morna music, food, Carnival, migration, diaspora and the meaning of sodade.

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Bijagó man wearing a carved ox mask and raffia ceremonial attire beside a mangrove shoreline in Guinea-Bissau’s Bijagós Archipelago at sunset.

September 14, 2026

Guinea-Bissau: The Islands Where Masks Still Rule

Explore Guinea-Bissau’s culture, from Bijagós initiation masks and matrilineal traditions to Kriol, Amílcar Cabral, rice farming and independence.

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Visitors travel by boat along the Gambia River toward the historic ruins of Kunta Kinteh Island at sunset.

September 14, 2026

The Gambia: The River That Became a Pilgrimage

Explore The Gambia’s history and culture through the Gambia River, Kunta Kinteh Island, Roots, Mandinka traditions, stone circles, food, music and Kankurang.

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Wodaabe men in traditional Gerewol dress and face paint standing in the Nigerien Sahel at sunset, wearing feathered headdresses, beads and ceremonial jewellery.

September 13, 2026

Niger: Where Men Compete for Beauty

Explore Gerewol in Niger, the Wodaabe courtship tradition where men dance and women choose, alongside Cure Salée, Niger’s history, culture and pastoral life.

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A golden-hour view of Liberia showing historic Americo-Liberian-style architecture, palm trees, the coast, and Liberian women gathered beside woven crafts and market goods.

September 12, 2026

Liberia: The Republic Two Different Africas Built

Explore Liberia’s history and culture, from Americo-Liberian rule and indigenous communities to civil war, food, languages, religion and life today.

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Two young Kabye men wrestling during an Evala ceremony in northern Togo, surrounded by spectators and drummers with the rocky Kara landscape in the background.

September 11, 2026

Togo: Where Evala Wrestling Still Marks the Passage into Manhood

Explore Togo culture and traditions, from Evala wrestling and Kabye initiation to Vodun, food, languages, music, history and festivals.

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A young Black woman with a suitcase walks through historic Freetown toward the coast at sunset, passing a traditional Krio wooden house as the city, harbour and green hills stretch out in the distance.

September 11, 2026

Sierra Leone: The Country Built for People Coming Home

Explore Sierra Leone’s history, cultures, people, food, music and the story of Freetown, from Indigenous societies to the country’s postwar rebuilding.

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Malagasy families in traditional clothing carrying wrapped ancestral remains during a famadihana ceremony in Madagascar’s highlands, with terraced fields and mountains in the background.

September 11, 2026

Madagascar: The Island That Sailed in From Somewhere Else

Explore Madagascar's history, people, language, food, traditions, music and biodiversity, and discover how African and Southeast Asian influences shaped the island.

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Young African professionals using laptops, tablets and smartphones for online learning, with a digital map of Africa and growth graphics in the background.

September 11, 2026

South Africa: The Country With Twelve Ways to Say Hello

Explore South Africa’s 12 official languages, history, food, music, traditions and cultural identity, from apartheid to amapiano and Heritage Day.

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Woman in traditional white clothing dancing during a Vodun ceremony in Ouidah, Benin, with drummers, worshippers, coastal scenery and the Door of No Return in the background.

September 9, 2026

Benin: History, Culture, Vodun and the Kingdom of Dahomey

Explore Benin's history and culture, from the Kingdom of Dahomey and the Atlantic slave trade to Vodun, royal traditions, food, music, art and life in Benin today.

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A Guinean musician playing a djembe in traditional clothing, with Guinea’s red, yellow and green flag flying behind him in a warm, sunlit public square, symbolising the country’s cultural heritage and its historic 1958 decision to choose immediate independence from France.

September 9, 2026

Guinea History: Independence, Culture, Music and the Story of a Country That Said No First

Explore Guinea's history, from the Fouta Djallon and French colonial rule to its 1958 independence, Guinean music, culture, traditions and politics today.

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Attiéké with grilled fish, cocoa pods and beans in the foreground, with Ivorian drummers, a masked dancer and the Abidjan skyline beside the lagoon at sunset.

September 7, 2026

Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast): Culture, History, Food, Music and Cocoa

Explore Côte d’Ivoire’s culture, ethnic groups, history, food, music, festivals, religion, textiles and cocoa economy, from Dipri to attiéké and zouglou.

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The Moro Naba sits in red ceremonial dress as attendants present a saddled horse during Burkina Faso’s traditional Friday “false departure” ceremony in Ouagadougou.

September 7, 2026

Burkina Faso: The Land of Upright People

Discover Burkina Faso's culture, history and traditions, from Mossi kingdoms and the Moro Naba ceremony to Sankara, FESPACO, Faso dan fani, food and music.

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A Senegalese family and friends share a communal meal as a host pours attaya tea on a rooftop in Dakar at sunset, capturing the spirit of teranga through food, hospitality, and togetherness

September 7, 2026

Senegal: The Culture of Teranga, History, Food and Life

Explore Senegal's culture through teranga, its history, ethnic groups, religion, food, music, fashion, festivals, wrestling and the traditions shaping Senegal today.

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The Asantehene sits beneath a ceremonial umbrella in Kumasi, surrounded by chiefs, drummers, kente cloth, gold regalia, and the Golden Stool during an Akwasidae-style royal gathering in Ghana.

September 6, 2026

Ghana: History, Culture, Traditions and the Story of Independence

Discover Ghana's history, culture, traditions and people, from the Asante and Golden Stool to independence, festivals, food, music, and life today.

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An elderly Malian jeli plays a traditional kora beside historic manuscripts, with sunlit Sahelian architecture in the background, symbolising Mali’s oral traditions, music, history, and preservation of cultural memory.

September 6, 2026

Mali Culture: The Country That Remembers Out Loud

Explore Mali culture through its history, jeli traditions, music, food, religion, textiles, festivals, and the living traditions that connect the country to its past.

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A vibrant Nigerian cultural scene blending an Osun-Osogbo procession, Kano Durbar horsemen, an Igbo masquerade, drummers, market life, and the modern Lagos skyline, representing Nigeria’s diverse ethnic groups, traditions, and contemporary culture.

September 6, 2026

Nigeria: Culture, History, Ethnic Groups & Traditions

Explore Nigeria’s rich cultural diversity, from its 250+ ethnic groups and languages to its history, religion, food, music, festivals, fashion, and traditions.

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Ethiopia: The Country That Kept Its Own Time

August 31, 2026

Ethiopia: The Country That Kept Its Own Time

Explore Ethiopia's unique culture, history, traditional time system, Ethiopian calendar, coffee ceremony, food, religion, languages, music, festivals and ancient heritage, from Aksum and Lalibela to modern Ethiopian life.

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