Languages of The Democratic Republic of The Congo - Lingala

Lingala

Lingala is a language which gained its modern form in the colonial period, with the push of missionaries to uniformize and teach a local vehicular language. It was originally spoken in the upper Congo river area but rapidly spread to the middle Congo area and eventually became the major Bantu language in Kinshasa for many reasons.

Lingala was made the official language of the army under Mobutu, but since the rebellions the army has also used Swahili in the east. With the transition period and the consolidation of different armed groups into the Congolese Army, the linguistic policy has returned to its previous form and Lingala is again the official language of the Army.