CENTRAL Africa’s history and culture have been influenced by native traditions and European colonizers. The region has many different ethnic groups and most groups have their own languages, regional varieties of a language or dialects. In the 13th century, there was a Kongo Kingdom formed near the Congo River which benefitted greatly from trades. European explorers arrived in the 14th century looking for timber, ivory and other products to trade. They also wanted slaves to build their colonies. That caused the decline of African kingdoms.
Eventually the European colonizers divided up Central Africa among themselves. They drew borders without regards to homelands of different ethnic groups. African people from different ethnic groups were forced to live together. That led to constant conflicts within and among the colonies. The ethnic conflicts continued even after the colonies gained independence after WW II.
Central Africa is heavily influenced by Europeans in its culture. It shows in that is official languages in many countries are European; e.g. Portuguese is the official language of Angola.