Ngoyo in the context of "Republic of the Congo"

The Kingdom of Kongo (Kongo: Kongo Dya Ntotila or Wene wa Kongo; Portuguese: Reino do Congo; Latin: Regnum Congo) was a kingdom in Central Africa. It was located in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. At its greatest extent it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The kingdom consisted of several core provinces ruled by the Manikongo, the Portuguese version of the Kongo title Mwene Kongo, meaning "lord or ruler of the Kongo kingdom", and its sphere of influence extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Loango, Ndongo, and Matamba, the latter two located in what became Angola.

From c. 1390 to 1862, it was an independent state. From 1862 to 1914, it functioned intermittently as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal. In 1914, following the Portuguese suppression of a Kongo revolt, Portugal abolished the titular monarchy. The title of King of Kongo was restored from 1915 until 1975, as an honorific without real power. The remaining territories of the kingdom were assimilated into the colony of Portuguese Angola and the Independent State of the Congo respectively. The modern-day Bundu dia Kongo sect favours reviving the kingdom through secession from Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The kingdom of Vungu or Bungu was a historic state located in Mayombe (between the present-day Republic of Congo and the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo). In the 13th century it led a confederation of itself, Ngoyo, and Kakongo. It neighboured the confederations of Mpemba and Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza. It is thought to be the origin of the Kingdom of Kongo.

Kakongo was a small kingdom located on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, in the modern-day Republic of the Congo and Cabinda Province, Angola. In the 13th century, it formed part of a confederation led by Vungu. Along with its neighboring kingdoms of Ngoyo and Loango, Kakongo became an important political commercial center during the 17th through 19th centuries. The people speak a dialect of the Kikongo language and thus may be considered a part of the Bakongo ethnicity. Kakongo was a vassal of the Kingdom of Kongo for a part of its history.

The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (its name from 1971 to 1997; the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central Africa to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered to the west by Gabon, to the northwest by Cameroon, to the northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and to the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean.

The region was dominated by Bantu-speaking tribes at least 3,000 years ago, who built trade links leading into the Congo River basin. From the 13th century, the present-day territory was dominated by a confederation led by Vungu which included Kakongo and Ngoyo. The Tio Kingdom emerged in the 14th century, and Loango in the 16th century. In the late 19th century France colonised the region and incorporated it into French Equatorial Africa. The Republic of the Congo was established on 28 November 1958 and gained independence from France in 1960. It was a Marxist–Leninist state from 1969 to 1992, under the name People's Republic of the Congo (PRC). After the introduction of multi-party elections in 1992, the democratically elected government was overthrown during the civil war, after which Denis Sassou Nguesso, who had previously served as president from 1979 to 1992, returned to office in 1997. He has remained president since then.