Sankuru Province
Encyclopedia
Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
There are currently ten provinces and one city-province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:* An Ituri Interim Administration also exists in the Ituri region of Orientale province- Proposed provinces :...
of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
specified in the country's 2005 Constitution (effective 18 February 2006), under Article 2. It was to be created from country's the existing 10 provinces
ISO 3166-2:CD
ISO 3166-2:CD is the entry for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.Currently for the...
within 36 months (18 February 2009), according to Article 226. As of October 2010, this had not taken place. It is currently part of the Kasai-Oriental
Kasai-Oriental
Kasai-Oriental is one of the ten provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It borders the provinces of Kasai-Occidental to the west, Équateur to the northwest, Orientale to the northeast, Maniema to the east, and Katanga to the south. Kasai-Oriental is one of the richest diamond producing...
province.
The capital
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the province is Lodja
Lodja
Lodja is a town in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the administrative center of the Sankuru District. It is located at around .Lodja is home to the Lodja Airport....
.
The major geographical feature of this area is the Sankuru River
Sankuru River
Sankuru River is a major river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its approximate length of 1,230 km makes it the longest tributary of Kasai River....
, Lomami River
Lomami River
The Lomami River is a major tributary of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The river is approximately long. It flows north, west of and parallel to the upper Congo....
, Lubefu River and Lukenie River
Lukenie River
The Lukenie River is a river in the central Congo basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo .River barges from Kinshasa journey up the Congo, Kwah , and Fimi Rivers to the Lukenie as far as the landing at Kole, a journey of 6 to 12 weeks. This is not done during the low water season , however,...
.
Economy
The Sankuru province is mainly an agricultural province from north to south and from east to west. Its main staples are rice, banana, pineapple, potatoes, sugar cane, sorghum and various local agricultural produce.The Sankuru has diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
and cassiterite
Cassiterite
Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem...
as well as various other mineral resources. To an important extent, the province depends on imports of primary supplies from large Congolese cities such as Kinshasa
Kinshasa
Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River....
, Mbuji Mayi, Lubumbashi
Lubumbashi
Lubumbashi is the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, second only to the nation's capital Kinshasa, and the hub of the southeastern part of the country. The copper-mining city serves as the capital of the relatively prosperous Katanga Province, lying near the Zambian border...
and Kindu
Kindu
Kindu is a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the capital of Maniema province. It has a population of about 200,000 and is situated on the Congo River at an altitude of about 500 metres, and is about 400 km west of Bukavu....
.
Sankuru is an agricultural and rural province in the centre of Congo - Kinshasa. Its industry is poor and limited to traditional wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
production, fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
and construction brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
for local consumption.
The lack of developed roads, electricity and other transportation infrastructure represent a real challenge to the development of the Sankuru.
People
Former prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba and Congolese Music SuperstarsSuperstars
Superstars is an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a decathlon....
such as Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba was born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in 1949 in Lubefu . He is a Congolese rumba musician, one of Africa's most popular musicians, and prominent in World music.-Zaiko Langa Langa:...
(Shungu Wembadio Pene Kekumba), Koffi Olomide
Koffi Olomide
Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba, also known as Koffi Olomide , is a DR Congolese soukous singer, dancer, producer, and composer. He is also known by a multitude of other names and aliases.-Background:...
, Pepe Kalle
Pepe Kalle
Pepe Kalle was a soukous singer, musician and bandleader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
and Franco Luambo Makiadi (Lokanga La Ndju Pene) are from The Sankuru Province. The first Congolese Army General Victor Lundula, General Otshudi and General Olenga are all from Sankuru.
The Sankuru province has a long history as an important Congolese feeder area. The province has produced many professionals in the medical, pharmacist and health related fields, such as doctors, nurses, university lecturers, teachers and engineers who usually left Sankuru never to come back.
Land
There are typically three natural environments in the Sankuru province: forestForest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
, savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
and bush
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
. There are numerous mountains, valleys, and striking natural obstacles.
Fauna
This province some of the richest Congolese fauna with its various species of animal including from lionLion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, zebra
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
s, antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
, kudu
Kudu
The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus Tragelaphus:*Lesser Kudu, Tragelaphus imberbis*Greater Kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros- Etymology :...
, hippopotami, various species of tropical snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
s, turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s, various species of monkeys, an array of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
species, various birds, and chimpanzees. Sankuru has very rich biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
.
Government
While Sankuru's territories are governed by Territorial Administrators and his Deputy, including various Counselors, cities in Sankuru are governed by Mayors. Townships or collectivities have always Mayors with Council and villages are mainly governed by traditional KingdomsMonarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
according to succession legacy.
Education
Sankuru remains fundamentally focused on education. It has many primary and secondarySecondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
schools on its territory. Schools are mainly organised by the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and Protestant or Methodist Churches. However, The Congolese Government also organises schools via its Education Department.
Sankuru have several universities: University Patrice Lumbumba with a campus in Lodja
Lodja
Lodja is a town in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the administrative center of the Sankuru District. It is located at around .Lodja is home to the Lodja Airport....
and Tshume-Ste-Marie, University Sainte Anne with a campus in Tshumbe-Ste-Marie and Lusambo
Lusambo
Lusambo is a town and territory in Sankuru District, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town lies north of the confluence of the Sankuru River and the Lubi River. Lusambo is served by Lusambo Airport. In 1999 there were claims that U.S. mercenaries were operating rebel artillery and...
. The sankuru province has several colleges called Institut Supérieur.
Political divisions
Administered from 1966-2009 as the District of Sankuru, the province is now divided into 6 territories:- Katako Kombe - with the town of Katako-Kombe
- Kole - with the town of KoleKole, Democratic Republic of the CongoKole is a rather remote town in central Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Lukenie River. It is the administrative center of the Kole Territory, which in turn is part of the Sankuru District of the Kasai-Oriental Province....
- Lodja - with the City of LodjaLodjaLodja is a town in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the administrative center of the Sankuru District. It is located at around .Lodja is home to the Lodja Airport....
- Lomela - with the town of Lomela
- Lubefu - with the city of Lubefu
- Lusambo - with the City of LusamboLusamboLusambo is a town and territory in Sankuru District, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town lies north of the confluence of the Sankuru River and the Lubi River. Lusambo is served by Lusambo Airport. In 1999 there were claims that U.S. mercenaries were operating rebel artillery and...