Place:Banana, Democratic Republic of the Congo

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Banana is a small seaport in the Kongo Central province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Atlantic coast. The port is situated in Banana Creek, an inlet about 1 km wide on the north bank of the Congo River's mouth, separated from the ocean by a spit of land 3 km long and 100 to 400 m wide. The port is located on the creek side of the spit, which shelters it from the ocean. It is about 8 km south-east of Muanda to which it is connected by a paved road running along the coast.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The town was developed as a port in the 19th century, largely as part of the slave trade. Henry Morton Stanley arrived at Banana in 1879 at the start of an exploratory expedition funded by Leopold II of Belgium. Following the Conference of Berlin (1884–85) the European powers recognised Léopold's claim to the Congo Basin, and the establishment of the Congo Free State, headed by himself, beginning the period of European colonization.

The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) article on the folkloric belief in werewolves noted that "The people of Banana are said to change themselves by magical means, composed of human embryos and other ingredients, but in their leopard form they may do no hurt to mankind under pain of retaining for ever the beast shape."

Banana was the main Belgian naval base of the Congo until independence in 1960.

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