[3] Those who acquire nationality at birth include: Naturalization can be granted to persons who have resided in the territory for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand the customs and traditions of the society.

From the early fifteenth century, a political system evolved where in a single person was elected and began representing multiple kanda rather than his own kin to establish cooperation in trade and taxation, so that goods could safely pass among them.

[22] In 1491, they sent a fleet including priests, soldiers and builders, who after making their way to the capital, baptized king Nzinga a Nkuwu, who took the name João, and five of his leading chieftains.

[24][25] In 1509, Afonso used Portuguese troops to assist in subduing the territories to the north of Nsundi, which included Nsanga and Masinga, two copper producing towns which were aligned with the Tio Kingdom.

[29][30] In the 1620s the Dutch began trading in the region at a time when the economic and political power were shifting from the centralized government to the provinces.

[33] Though Pedro IV of Kongo was able to restore the unified kingdom in 1715, by proposing that succession shift through various kinship groups, the peace was insecure and war reignited in 1730.

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who had been a student at the French Naval Academy of Borda in Brest, volunteered for the project.

When he arrived in the lands of the Teke people, de Brazza signed a treaty with their ruler Makoko securing a large tract of land along the right bank of the Stanley Pool in exchange for protection against the British explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who had made enemies in the region.

[38] De Brazza was entrusted with opening the area and secured the ratification of the agreement in 1882, which officially established the colony of French Congo.

[41][42] De Brazza left the Congo in 1897, but his successors continued using corporate trade concessions to manage affairs in the French possessions licensing forty companies.

[49][50] Non-citizen nationals were governed by traditional laws concerning marriage and inheritance which placed the well-being of the community above individual rights.

[51] These laws prevented a wife from being treated as a slave, required her husband to support her, and entitled her kin to a bride price, to compensate them for the loss of her fertility to their kinship group and secure the legality of the union.

[55] Clarification in the 1897 decree included that bestowing nationality by birth in French territory only applied to children born in France, restoring descent requirements for the colonies.

Under its terms, native persons born in Equatorial Africa were nationals of France but not citizens and were subject to the Indigenous Code.

Only if the spouses were married under French law and the children registered in the Civil Registry could they acquire the status of the husband or father.

24 on 25 March 1915 that allowed subjects or protected persons who were non-citizen nationals and had established domicile in a French territory to acquire full citizenship, including the naturalization of their wives and minor children, by having received the cross of the Legion of Honor, having obtained a university degree, having rendered service to the nation, having attained the rank of an officer or received a medal from the French army, who had married a Frenchwoman and established a one-year residency; or who had resided for more than ten years in a colony other than their country of origin.

[67] It also allowed children born in France to native-born French women married to foreigners to acquire their nationality from their mothers.

[54][69] Under Article 26 of the 1928 decree was the stipulation that it did not apply to natives of the French possessions except in Algeria, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion.

[72] At the end of World War II, a statute issued on 7 March 1944 granted French citizenship to those who had performed services to the nation, such as serving as civil servants or receiving recognitions.

[76] It expressly applied to Algeria, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion and was extended to the Overseas Territories in 1953, but in the case of the latter had distinctions for the rights of those who were naturalized.

[79][87] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country began a transformation to a multi-party democratic republic, restored its former name, and promulgated a new constitution in 1992, based upon the French model.