Kongo

or Bakongo

Bantu-speaking peoples living along the Atlantic coast in Congo (Kinshasa), Congo (Brazzaville), and Angola. They engage in subsistence agriculture and raise cash crops (including coffee, cacao, and bananas); many live and work in towns. Descent is matrilineal, and most villages are independent of their neighbours. A Kongo kingdom existed from the 14th century; its wealth came from trade in ivory, hides, slaves, and a shell currency. It broke up into warring chiefdoms in 1665.

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