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 The Sangha River has been a commercial
and cultural highway since prehistoric times; its watershed constitutes
a distinct social and ecological region. One of the last regions of
Africa "discovered" and claimed by European explorers at the
turn of the century, the Sangha River region shifted back and forth
from French to German administrative control in the early 1900s. The
vast forests of this region have undergone a wide array of resource
exploitation and management strategies. Remarkably rich in wildlife,
timber, and mineral resources (Carroll 1986, Fimbel 1996, Telesis 1991),
yet far-removed from the capital cities of Cameroon, Central African
Republic, and Congo, the region has been the object of intense struggles
for territorial control for over a century. It is still a locus of western
political, technical, and economic tensions.
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