Kongba District is one of five second-level administrative
divisions located in
Gbarpolu County
Gbarpolu is a county in the northern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Bopulu serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring . As ...
,
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
Economy and Society
All towns and villages are involved in mining activities and have large expatriate populations from countries such as
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
,
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
,
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
,
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
, and
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[slash-and-burn
Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...](_blank)
), alluvial mining of diamonds and
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and hunting of bush meat. Over 50% of the villages have fewer than 100 inhabitants. Kungbor has the largest population, followed by Zuie and Nomo. Butter Hill, Nomo, Fula Camp, Camp Israel, Fornor, Kawelahun and Kungbor are of medium size. There are two types of communities: the more permanent and stable communities - which have developed retail services,
palm oil production
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
, cocoa and coffee cultivations and more established houses (with zinc roofs), and the unstable transient towns or camps which are newly established or only inhabited in the dry season when mining activities take place. On this basis, six forest edge villages in Grand Camp area and eleven in Zui clan are classed as permanent settlements. Five communities in Gbarpolu County are classed as not stable.
Language
Both
Mende and
Gola are spoken in Kongba district. Mende is preferred for general usage as it is largely understood both by the indigenous population as well as the expatriate worker community, but for issues regarding land ownership disputes, Gola is preferred as it is generally only understood by the indigenous population and excludes the expatriate community from such discussions.
Surfeit of men
The ratio of men to women throughout the district skews higher than average, due to the overwhelming reliance on mining as an economic activity. District-wide, the ratio of men to women is 3:1, with 70% of the villages having more men than women. In one village, Sonah Creek, the population consisted solely of men. Similarly, gender ratios in Soso camp (17 times more males) and ULC (9 times more males) are highly skewed towards males.
History
Diamond and gold have been the two major mineral resources of the Kongba community since before the founding of the Republic of Liberia. They have continued to serve the people of the community and others from far and near. As early as the 1900s the people of the community could not pay taxes to government in cash but in goods of diamond and gold. This practice continued until the late 1960s.
During inter-ethnic wars, the Gola people were overpowered because of the British influence in neighboring Sierra Leone and many of the Gola people were absorbed into the Mende-speaking community.
Districts of Liberia
Gbarpolu County
{{Liberia-geo-stub