Flavio,
I was just reading in the catalogue on the Mongo culture and remembered your question on the Mongo people.
There is a section in this catalogue written by a cultural anthropologist. He wrote the following text (I will try to translate it as accurate as possible) :
The Mongo live in the equatorial forest between the Zaire river in the north and the west, the Kasai in the southand the Lualaba in the east. The climate is moist and warm. In the west, 330 metre above sea-level, the average temperature in the warm season is between 26° and 34°, in the dry season between 23° and 30°. To the east, on the plateaus 500 metre above sea-level, the temperature is lower.
Anno 1984 the Mongo population counts about 3,5 million souls. De Mongo are divided into approx. 40 groups (tribes), amongst them : the Ntomba, The (E)konda, the Bolia, the Mbole, the Bongando, the Bankutsu, etc....
Each of these groups has their own language and customs. But these 40 groups have certain linguistic and cultural points in common. That is the reason they are part of the Mongo culture.
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