Kasongo, also known as Piani Kasongo, is a town and
territory
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
in the
Maniema
Maniema Province (''Jimbo la Maniema'', in Swahili) is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Its capital is Kindu. The 2020 population was estimated to be 2,856,300.
Toponymy
Henry Morton Stanley explored the area ...
Province in the east of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
.
Geography
Kasongo lies east of the
Lualaba River
The Lualaba River (, , ) flows entirely within the eastern part of Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provides the greatest streamflow to the Congo River, while the River source, source of the Congo is recognized as the Chambeshi River, Chambeshi ...
, northwest of where it meets the
Luama River, at an altitude of . Its population is approximately 63,000.
The town is served by
Kasongo Airport. Kasongo is connected to the provincial capital
Kindu by the Kasongo Road (a section of National Road 31 (N31)), but the journey takes two days due to the road's poor state.
The City also lies on
National Road 2 (N2) and Regional Road 629 (R629).
[.]
Kasongo is part of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Kasongo.
History
The town was founded around 1850 to 1860. A few years later it became the capital of the newly founded and short-lived
Sultanate of Utetera, established and initially ruled by the
Swahili–
Arab
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
slave and ivory trader
Tippu Tip. His small sultanate was a key trading partner and ally of the
Sultanate of Zanzibar in the east.
The area was visited by
Henry Morton Stanley in the early 1880s, on his third expedition.
The territory was at the centre of the
Congo Arab war and the
Batetela rebellion in the 1890s. A century later, Kasongo and its inhabitants were severely affected by the
Second Congo War (1998–2003).
See also
*
Congolian rainforests
*
*
Nyangwe
References
External links
WorldStatesmen.org: Congo (Kinshasa) Traditional States(including details on states from the Kasongo area and their rulers)
{{Authority control
Populated places in Maniema