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People’s Republic of the Congo

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Marxist Governments

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Abstract

Congo occupies an irregularly shaped territory of 342,000 sq. km. that straddles the equator, with a narrow 160 km. Atlantic littoral and 1000 km. of its long border with Zaire delineated by the Congo River. The territory rises from a narrow sandy plain to the forested Mayombe escarpment (altitude 500–600 metres), which is notable for its hydroelectric potential.1 In the foothills are found large potash deposits2 and valuable, though dwindling, timber resources. Further to the east is the fertile Niari valley (approximately 245,000 hectares), the centre of Congolese agriculture. The valley slopes northwards to the Chaillu massif (near the Gabon border), to the east of which is the poorly settled and infertile Bateke plateau. The north-eastern part of the country is part of the Congo basin, a region of dense equatorial forests, swamps and rivers, virtually uninhabited except for small population centres at its rim.

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Authors
  1. Samuel Decalo
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University College, Cardiff, UK

    Bogdan Szajkowski (Lecturer in Politics and Comparative Communism) (Lecturer in Politics and Comparative Communism)

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© 1981 Bogdan Szajkowski

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Decalo, S. (1981). People’s Republic of the Congo. In: Szajkowski, B. (eds) Marxist Governments. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04329-3_8

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