Description of the Democratic Republic of Congo

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Identification / Description of the Country
Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly called Zaire) is a country that is located in Central Africa. This is a country that has a deep root in violence and bloodshed, yet at the same time it is rich in natural resources and minerals. It shares a common border with the following countries: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Democratic Republic of Congo was established as a Belgian colony in 1908 during the scramble for Africa by the European powers. This country was under the influence and dictatorship of the Belgian’s for fifty-two years, as it was not until 1960 did the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo achieve independence. This country is the fourth largest country in Africa in terms of population, there are seventy-five million people residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo according to a census that was gathered in July 2013. It is not only the fourth largest country in Africa, but it is also the twelfth largest country in the world by square kilometers, encompassing 2,344,858 square kilometers. Kinshasa is the capital city and the largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo; 8.798 million people inhabit this city. The official languages spoken are French and Kingwana (a blend of Kiswahili or Swahili).
Product Description
A mineral that the Democratic Republic of Congo has vast wealth in is Columbite – tantalite, which is commonly referred to as coltan. Coltan is mined for the use in electronic devices. Some of these devices that coltan can be found in include: cellular phones, computers, jet engines, missiles, ships, and weapon systems. This mineral has an impact on our daily liv...

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...e top 100 expensive countries to live in and with individuals living off of $2 a day, they can’t get much.
There is a mix of both the wealthy and non wealthy in each area but between rural and urban areas of Congo, majority of those who are in poverty live in the rural areas and the rich lives in the urban. As well, there are different regions in this country that majority of the poor and rich are located. The North currently has the most amounts of those who are in poverty living in this region with 50.1%. BZV appears to have the most amount of the rich living in this region with 41.4%Only about 30% of the population has access to healthcare and with HIV/AIDs and other infectious diseases being common, over 120, 000 individuals cannot seek health care. As little as 14%, those are the ones living in what would be considered as “healthier” environments in Congo.

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