[6] North Kivu's administrative history traces back to the colonial era when it was initially part of the Stanley Falls District within the Congo Free State.

[9][10] The province's eastern border is home to the Rwenzori Mountains, part of the Albertine Rift, which serves as a key freshwater source and supports a diverse ecosystem.

The steep Kabasha escarpment rises from Lake Edward's western bank, extending toward the Rwindi-Rutshuru plain, which is flanked by the massive Ruwenzori range (5,119 meters) to the east.

[33][34] Some notable chiefdoms and sectors in North Kivu include: The frontiers of the Congo Free State were defined by the Neutrality Act during the 1885 Berlin Conference, in which the European powers staked out their territorial claims in Africa.

The war marked the beginning of a campaign by the newly formed Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), under Paul Kagame, to depose Mobutu Sese Seko's regime in Zaire (present-day DRC).

[45] Over 194,000 survivors fled toward Mugunga, while simultaneous assaults decimated Katale Camp despite initial resistance from Forces Armées Zairoises (FAZ)/CZSC personnel, ex-FAR combatants, and Interahamwe militias.

NGOs such as the Équipe d'urgence de la biodiversité (EUB), the Association des Volontaires du Zaïre (ASVOZA), and the Zairean Red Cross documented the mass burials of victims to prevent outbreaks of epidemics.

[46] These columns of escapees, slowed by exhaustion and the harsh terrain, established temporary camps in villages across Masisi Territory, including Osso, Kinigi, Katoyi, Kilolirwe, Ngandjo, Nyamitaba, Miandja, Nyaruba, Kirumbu, and Kahira.

Around November 18, these forces stormed a makeshift camp at Rukwi, killing an indeterminate number of refugees in a protracted series of raids that spanned weeks and months.

[47] Refugees arrived in the area via three routes: one from Bukavu through Bunyakiri; another through the dense forests of Kahuzi-Biéga National Park and Nyabibwe; and a third from North Kivu, passing through southern Masisi Territory and the towns of Busurungi and Biriko.

[51] The Second Congo War profoundly affected North Kivu, as conflict erupted due to deteriorating relations between President Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Rwanda, and Tutsi soldiers within the AFDL.

[52] Other reports suggested that the United States provided military assistance to Rwanda in the lead-up to the war, ostensibly motivated by access to Congo's vast natural resources.

American photojournalist and war correspondent Keith Harmon Snow asserted that Roger Winter, a key figure in the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, orchestrated U.S.-endorsed insurgencies in Congo and neighboring states, including Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda.

[57] Efforts by the RCD-ML (Rally for Congolese Democracy–Liberation Movement) to incorporate these groups into its armed wing, the Armée Patriotique Congolaise (APC), failed, leading to intensified violence.

[63] Similarly, on November 9, 2000, UPDF soldiers attacked the village of Kikere, close to Butuhe, killing 36 civilians with rifles and rocket launchers and systematically destroying homes and livestock.

In March 2003, RCD-Goma forces gang-raped numerous Twa women in Mubambiro, near the Virunga National Park, an atrocity echoed in September 2003 in the nearby village of Mudja.

[68] In 2001, the Beni and Lubero regions in North Kivu became entrenched battlegrounds as various factions, including RCD-ML, Mayi-Mayi groups, UPDF, and elements of the FDLR, fought for territorial control.

[73] Checkpoints were established to monitor and restrict civilian access to mining areas, while major towns and airstrips became stockpiling sites for coltan awaiting air or road transport.

[73] Civilians in military-controlled mining areas were frequently coerced into forced labor, and even paid miners had to sell their output to army officials at considerably reduced rates.

[73] RCD-Goma also capitalized on its authority by selling coltan concessions, even those under the legal ownership of the Canadian-based gold exploration and development company Banro Corp or the DRC government.

Mining sites at Mumba and Rugeshe in the Lwundje groupement of the Osso Sector in Masisi Territory became scenes of forced labor, with soldiers using violence to compel local populations to work.

Between April and October 2001, thousands of people were forcibly displaced in the Osso Sector around Mahanga when RCD-Goma and Rwandan forces sought control of mining areas.

But Wibasira was suspected of complicity with the soldiers in Goma who had triggered a mutiny in Bukavu in February 2004, and on January 23, 2005, he was switched with Gabriel Amisi Kumba, at the time commander of the Fifth Military Region in Kasaï-Oriental.

[77] The former RCD-K/ML also has fighters in the province; at the beginning of the transition [2002-3] the RCD-Mouvement de Libération president declared he had 8-10,000 Armée Patriotic Congolaise (APC) troops in the Beni-Lubero area of North Kivu.'

[81] The province's agricultural activities extend into livestock, particularly in cattle, sheep, goat, pig, and poultry farming, as well as to the fishing industry, with abundant fish-filled rivers in Walikale and the western parts of Beni and Lubero territories.

[79] The province contains a variety of deposits, such as gold, silver, monazite, cassiterite, columbo-tantalite (coltan), wolframite (tungsten oxide), diamonds, pyrochlore, zirconium, quartz, tourmaline, platinum, and phosphate, spread across different territories.

[84] The Masisi Territory, notable for coltan extraction, also engages in semi-industrial mining led by the Congolese company Société Minière de Bisunzu SARL (SMB).

[79] Key state-owned enterprises (SOEs) like SNEL (Société Nationale d'Électricité) and REGIDESO provide electricity and water services, primarily to Goma, with limited supply extending to other urban centers.

[91] The central government maintains a presence in North Kivu through provincial branches of various state-owned enterprises, including SNEL, REGIDESO, SONAS, SNCC, FPI, RVA, LAC, OCC, SONAHYDROC, OR, DVDA, and others.

[91] Demographically, North Kivu is ethnically diverse, predominantly inhabited by Bantu-speaking people, including the Nande, Mbuba, Hunde, Lese, Talinga, Hutu, Tutsi, and Batwa (pygmies).