Sanga Pumbo

Sanga Pumbo lies on a forested plateau in the Sangha country of the western Congo basin, where a network of rivers drains toward the Congo. The Sangha River and its tributaries cut through the woodland, and their floodplains offered fish, game and fertile land for cassava and plantains. Dry patches of grass on the high ground allowed herders to keep small livestock and cattle, which were valued for bridewealth and exchange.

Communities along these rivers joined by canoe routes, marriage ties and trade in forest products, salt and iron. From the sixteenth century, goods from the Atlantic coast passed inland through a chain of intermediaries, though the Congo forest kept most of the region beyond direct European reach until the nineteenth century.