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The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely diverse, reflecting the great diversity and different customs which exist in the country. Congolese culture combines the influence of tradition to the region, but also combines influences from abroad which arrived during the era of colonization and has continued to have a strong influence, without destroying the individuality of many tribal' customs. ==People, language and background== Like many African countries, the borders were drawn up by colonial powers, and bore little relation to the actual spread of ethno-linguistic groups. There are 242 languages spoken in the country, with perhaps a similar number of ethnic groups. Broadly speaking, there are four main population groups: * Pygmies, the earliest inhabitants of the Congo, are generally hunter-gatherers. Expert in the ways of the forest, where they have resided for thousands of years, they live by trading meat with their taller farming neighbors in exchange for agricultural products. Increasingly, they are assimilating into non-Pygmy society and adopting the latter's languages and customs. * Bantus arrived in the Congo in several waves from 2000 BC to 500 AD, mainly from the area in what is now southern Nigeria. They are by far the largest group, and the majority live as subsistence-farmers. They are present in almost every part of the country, and their languages make up three of the DRC's five officially-recognized languages. Among these are Kikongo, Lingala and Tshiluba. Kikongo is spoken by the Kongo people in the far west of the country, both on the coast and inland, and was promoted by the Belgian colonial administration. Elements of Kikongo have survived amongst the descendants of slaves in the Americas—for instance, the language of the Gullah people of South Carolina contains elements of Kikongo. Lingala, spoken in the capital Kinshasa, is increasingly understood throughout the country, as the lingua franca of trade, spoken along the vast Congo river and its many tributaries. Lingala's status as the language of the national army, as well its use in the lyrics of popular Congolese music, has encouraged its adoption, and it is now the most prominent language in the country. Tshiluba (also known as Chiluba and Luba-Kasai) is spoken in the southeastern Kasai regions. * Bantus also brought in the fourth of the DRC's official languages, Kingwana — a Congolese dialect of Swahili. Note that the fifth language, French, is the official language of government, a result of Congo's colonial relationship with Belgium. These Swahili-speaking Bantus are related to the other Bantus mentioned above, but tend to differ in their way of life, in that they practice herding as well as farming. They came from the various countries to the east of Congo: Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania, bringing with them many of the ethnic rivalries that have inflamed recent conflicts. * The northeastern part of the country is inhabited by groups who are believed to have originally come from the southern Sudan region. In general, these are cattle herders and include the Tutsi, possibly the tallest people in the world. These migrants also entered Rwanda and Burundi around the same time, often mixing with the settled groups. The above descriptions are by necessity simplified. Many Congolese are multilingual, and the language used depends on the context. For instance, a government official might use French to set a tone of formality and authority with another official, use Lingala when buying goods at a market, and the local language when in his home village. English is also spoken, especially in the east where eastern and southern African influences have spread in the post-Mobutu era. Among the slangs spoken in Congo, Indubil has been noted since around the 1960s, and continues to evolve nowadays. Mixed marriages between ethnic groups are common, particularly in urban areas where many different groups live side by side. Europeans appear in small numbers throughout the country, as missionaries in the countryside, and as businessmen and traders in the cities. Also acting as merchants are small numbers of Lebanese and Pakistanis. More information on the various peoples in Congo can be found in the Early Congolese History article.
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