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Updates: 

I have updated the populations to show the results of the 2007 census. The government of the Congo Republic has invalidated the results of the 1996 census, because some files and surveys were destroyed by civil war in 1997-99.

The Statistical Yearbook of the Congo 2004 (source [2]) says that under Law No. 10-2003 (2003-02-06), the Congo Republic consists of six communes and twelve departments. The table which follows makes it clear that the six communes are subdivisions of some of the departments. In two cases, Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, the communes are co-extensive with their departments. The difference between this and the prior situation is that Pointe-Noire commune and department were split from Kouilou department. The French Wikipedia article (source [3]) was updated on 2007-10-02, changing the number of subdivisions from 10 regions to 12 departments, and reclassifying Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire from urban communes to departments. The more specific article "Subdivisions de la République du Congo" hasn't been updated yet (2009). With Pointe-Noire no longer in Kouilo department, the capital of the latter is now Loango, in Hinda district. Source [2] says that the capital is Hinda; perhaps it's referring to the district. The administration was actually located in Pointe-Noire until a headquarters could be opened in Loango. The new building was dedicated on 2009-07-28.

Cuvette-Ouest department was created by Law 002/95 of 1995-02-18. It is divided into Etoumbi, Ewo, Kéllé, Mbama, Mbomo, and Okoyo districts. It is said to have a population of over 60,000 as of 2004, and an area of about 26,000 km.². A different source says that the area of Cuvette is 41,800 km.², and of Cuvette-Ouest, 27,200 km.²; this disagrees with the figure formerly given for the combined region, 74,850 km.².

Cuvette-Ouest was listed in both versions of international standard ISO 3166-2, starting with the draft standard which was distributed in late 1996. FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns a new FIPS code to Cuvette-Ouest and changes the code for Cuvette, from which it was split.

Country overview: 

Short name	REPUBLIC OF CONGO
ISO code	CG
FIPS code	CF
Languages	French (fr), Lingala (ln), Monokutuba
Time zone	+1
Capital	Brazzaville

 

Congo was one of the territories of French Equatorial Africa until 1960, under the name Moyen Congo. (For further details, see Central African Republic.) It gained independence on 1960-08-15 and took the name République du Congo (Republic of Congo). There was already a République du Congo across the river from it. Most people distinguished the two countries by calling them Congo-Léopoldville and Congo-Brazzaville, according to their capitals. In 1970-01, this country's name was changed to People's Republic of Congo, but the change was later reversed.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Congo brazzaville, Republikken Congo
2. Dutch: Kongo, Congo-Brazzaville, Republiek Congo (formal)
3. English: Congo-Brazzaville (informal), Middle Congo (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Kongo, Brazzavillen Kongo, Kongon tasavalta
5. French: Congo, République f du Congo m, Moyen Congo (obsolete)
6. German: Kongo, Republik f Kongo m
7. Icelandic: Kongó
8. Italian: Repubblica f del Congo m
9. Norwegian: Kongo, Kongo-Brazzaville, Republikken Kongo (formal)
10. Portuguese: República f do Congo m
11. Russian: Конго (Браззавиль), Республика Конго (formal)
12. Spanish: Congo, República f del Congo m (formal)
13. Swedish: Kongo (Brazzaville)
14. Turkish: Kongo Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

from the Congo river, which came from the ethnic name Kikongo

Primary subdivisions: 

Republic of Congo is divided into twelve départements (formerly called régions), of which two are also communes: Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.

Department	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Bouenza	CG.BO	11	CF01	309,073	12,265	4,736	Madingou
Brazzaville	CG.BR	BZV	CF12	1,373,382	100	39	Brazzaville
Cuvette	CG.CU	8	CF13	156,044	48,250	18,629	Owando
Cuvette-Ouest	CG.CO	15	CF14	72,999	26,600	10,270	Ewo
Kouilou	CG.KL	5	CF04	91,955	13,650	5,270	Loango
Lékoumou	CG.LE	2	CF05	96,393	20,950	8,089	Sibiti
Likouala	CG.LI	7	CF06	154,115	66,044	25,500	Impfondo
Niari	CG.NI	9	CF07	231,271	25,942	10,016	Dolisie
Plateaux	CG.PL	14	CF08	174,591	38,400	14,826	Djambala
Pointe-Noire	CG.PN			715,334	44	17	Pointe-Noire
Pool	CG.PO	12	CF11	236,595	33,955	13,110	Kinkala
Sangha	CG.SA	13	CF10	85,738	55,800	21,545	Ouesso
12 divisions				3,697,490	342,000	132,047
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO standard 3166-2, issued December 15, 1998. For full identification in a global context, prefix "CG-" to the code (ex: CG-12 represents Pool). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, including changes published in Change Notice 2, dated 1999-03-01. Population: 2007-04-28 census. Area: Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire are estimates.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of the Republic of Congo page.

The departments are subdivided into districts, which are further subdivided into communes.

Origins of names: 

1. Brazzaville: Named for Count Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazza (1852-1905), the city's founder
2. Cuvette: French cuvette: basin (in either the hydrological or utensil sense)
3. Plateaux: French for plateaus
4. Pool: For Stanley Pool, an enlargement in the Congo River

Change history: 

According to source [4], the divisions of the Congo Republic were twelve prefectures and one autonomous sub-prefecture, as shown in this table. This probably represents the divisions when the country gained its independence.

Prefecture	Population	Capital
Alima	53,218	Boundji
Bouenza-Louessé	52,065	Sibiti
Djoué	168,336	Brazzaville
Kouilou	97,061	Pointe-Noire
Léfini	59,165	Djanbala
Likouala	27,578	Impfondo
Likouala-Mossaka	48,457	Fort-Rousset
Mossaka	20,080
Niari	40,025	Dolisie
Niari-Bouenza	88,598	Madingou
Nyanga-Louessé	59,326	Mossendjo
Pool	117,957	Kinkala
Sangha	32,818	Ouesso
13 divisions	864,679
Prefecture: except Mossaka, which is an autonomous sub-prefecture Population: 1962 estimate

1. 1967: Congo (Brazzaville) reorganized from fifteen prefectures into 9 regions and one capital district. The old prefectures included Alima, Équateur, and Likouala-Mossaka, which merged to form Cuvette region, according to source [5].
2. 1975: Capital of Niari renamed from Dolisie to Loubomo.
3. 1977: Capital of Cuvette renamed from Fort-Rousset to Owando.
4. 1980: Brazzaville commune split from Pool (former FIPS code: CF09).
5. 1991: Capital of Niari renamed from Loubomo to Dolisie.
6. 1995-02-18: Cuvette-Ouest region split from Cuvette (former FIPS code: CF03).
7. 2002-01-20: New constitution (source [1]) declares that the local collectivities are départements (departments) and communes. Apparently Brazzaville is both a department and a commune.
8. 2003-02-06: Pointe-Noire department split from Kouilou department (former HASC code: CG.KO; former capital Pointe-Noire).
9. 2011-05-17: Loango, already the unofficial capital of Kouilou department, became the official capital by virtue of Law 20-2011. Law 21-2011, of the same date, adjusted the boundaries of Kouilou and stated its new area as "12.516,8 km², soit 125.168 ha." (source [10]). This is a mistake, because 125,168 hectares would only be 1,251.68 km². The larger figure is probably correct.

Population history:

Department	1960	1974-02-07	1984-12-22	1996-06-06	2007-04-28
Bouenza	111,908	132,515	194,977	236,566	309,073
Brazzaville			595,102	856,410	1,373,382
Cuvette	74,484	82,036	133,144	112,946	156,044
Cuvette-Ouest	34,345	37,827		49,422	72,999
Kouilou	55,547	65,776	373,608	532,179	91,955
Lékoumou	51,120	60,534	68,301	75,734	96,393
Likouala	36,669	43,421	48,993	66,252	154,115
Niari	92,401	109,416	159,084	199,988	231,271
Plateaux	81,434	96,429	108,802	139,371	174,591
Pointe-Noire					715,334
Pool	134,760	159,575	180,051	265,180	236,595
Sangha	34,704	41,094	46,367	57,223	85,738
Total	707,372	828,623	1,912,429	2,591,271	3,697,490

 

Population sources: [7] - 1960, 1974 (proleptic); [8] - 1984; [9] - 1996; [6] - 2007.

Sources: 

1. [1] Constitution  of 2002, Title XVI, Article 174 (in French; retrieved 2009-06-06).
2. [2] Annuaire statistique du Congo 2004 , dated 2006-11, describes the administrative divisions at all levels (pp. 17-20, in French, retrieved 2009-06-06).
3. [3] Wikipedia article  (retrieved 2009-06-06).
4. [4] Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition.
5. [5] Thesis by Raoul Goyendzi (retrieved 2004-06-30 from http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/Theses2001/goyendzi_r/these_body.html)
6. [6] Hervé Mamboueni-Mboumba. Social Opportunity versus Urban Bias Prefinancing : Community Health-Care in Rural Congo. Its source is "CNSEE and UNFPA, RGPH_2007". Retrieved 2011-04-24.
7. [7] Aimé D. Mianzenza. La population congolaise: évolution à long terme et impact sur les régimes sociaux . Le Centre d'études stratégiques du bassin du Congo (Cesbc). Retrieved 2011-04-24. Its sources are Ministère du Plan, Recensement général de la population et de l’habitat, 1974 et 1984; PNUD, Rapport national sur le développement humain 2002, Guerres et après? Développement humain en situation de conflit, Brazzaville, janvier 2002; United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 1996 Revision, New York, 1997; World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision, Highlights, New York, 2003. Note: This document contains internal contradictions, suggesting that either the rural population or the urban population may have been omitted from the figures.
8. [8] John Paxton, ed. The Statesman's Yearbook 1988-89. St. Martin's Press, New York 1988.
9. [9] Barry Turner, ed. The Statesman's Yearbook 2006. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire 2005.
10. [10] Journal Officiel de la République du Congo , 2011-05-26 (retrieved 2011-09-03).