Assan

Assan belongs to the wider Niari country of west-central Africa. The Niari flows toward the Atlantic through the Sounda gorges, below which it is known as the Kouilou. Rapids and falls interrupt the river route between the interior and the coast.

In the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries the Niari basin lay between several political centres, including the coastal kingdom of Loango and Kongo to the south. Copper was produced in the basin, and exchange routes connected the interior with Loango. These connections form the regional setting for Assan, whose precise local history remains uncertain.