LOANGO  , a region on the

west coast of Africa, extending from the mouth of the Congo river in 6° S. northwards through about two degrees . At one time included in the " kingdom of Congo " (see ANGOLA, History), Loango became independent about the close of_the 16th century, and was still of considerable importance in the middle of the 18th century . Buali, the capital, was situated on the banks of a small river not far from the port of Loango, where were several European " factories." The country afterwards became divided into a large number of petty states, while Portugal and France exercised an intermittent sovereignty over the coast . Here the slave trade was longer maintained than anywhere else on the West African seaboard; since its extirpation, palm oil and india-rubber have been the main objects of commerce . The Loango coast is now divided between French Congo and the Portuguese district of Kabinda (see those articles) . The natives, mainly members of the Ba-Kongo group of Bantu negroes, and often called Ba-Fiot, are in general well-built, strongly dolichocephalous and very thick of skull, the skin of various shades of warm brown with the faintest suggestion of purple . Baldness is unknown, and many of the men wear beards . Physical deformity is extremely rare . In religious beliefs and in the use of fetishes they resemble the negroes of Upper Guinea .