Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape
| Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape | |
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 Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape
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| Coordinates: 1°24′22″N 22°07′35″E / 1.4061°N 22.1265°ECoordinates: 1°24′22″N 22°07′35″E / 1.4061°N 22.1265°E | |
| Country | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| Province | Tshuapa District |
| Territory | Ikela Territory |
The Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape (MLW) is an ecologically sensitive landscape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the Maringa / Lopori basin. Since 1973 a Japanese team has been researching the bonobo population near the village of Wamba, and the Luo Scientific Reserve was established in 1990. However, research was discontinued after political disorders started in 1991 followed by civil war in 1997, resuming only in the mid-2000s.
The Maringa-Lopori-Wamba (MLW) forest Landscape covers 74,000 square kilometres (29,000 sq mi) in north-central Democratic Republic of the Congo. The human population as of 2007 was estimated to be 586,732 inhabitants with a density of 8 inhabitants/km2. There were 2-4 inhabitants/km2 in the proposed or existing protected areas and 31.8 inhabitants/km2 in the proposed Sylvo-Agro-Pastoral zone.
The local populace in the MLW were yam and cassava farmers who engaged in trade with river fishermen and pygmy hunters. In 1885 a force of the Manyema people, followers of Tippu Tip, the Swahili-Zanzibari slave trader, arrived at the head of the Lopori River from Stanley Falls. They took hostages from nearby villages to ransom in return for ivory. By 1892 they had enrolled local people into their army and controlled the entire eastern half of the basin.
The Belgian administrators of the Congo Free State were concerned by this development, and, in 1889, enacted the Monopoly Act, which declared that all products in the area were to be under their jurisdiction alone. The Free State also began a campaign to drive the slavers, traders and the Manyema from the region, the first stage of which was the establishment of a supply post at Basankusu, in May 1890. The entire basin was under Free State control by 1898. The Free State started to levy taxes, payable in ivory, but which soon switched to wild rubber. By September 1892, the Free State was using its military forces to attack and occupy villages in the Lulonga and Maringa river valleys in order to expand its tax base.
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Wikipedia