COQUILHATVILLE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. The name derives from Coquilhat, the founder of the city of C. (Belgian Congo), now the principal center, which has about 25,000 inhabitants, a few hundred of whom are Europeans. It is situated on the equator.
The territory of the vicariate has an area of 185,775 sq. km., is marshy and forested, and is traversed longitudinally by the Tshuapa River, which has a network of tributaries and provides a good means of communication. The inhabitants, in 1948, numbered about 424,000 of the Bantu Nkundo-Mongo race, who engage in agriculture; the Elinga, scattered along the rivers and devoted to fishing; and the Batswa, Pygmies, numbering about 50,000, who live by hunting. They have the idea of a single God called Njakomba or Mombimanda, but they make sacrifices to spirits (elima) and to the souls of the dead (bokali). The evangelization of the territory was begun in 1894 by Belgian Trappists. On 11 Feb. 1924 the upper part of it was erected into an apostolic prefecture under the name of Tshuapa and entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Belgian province. To preserve the work accomplished by the Trappists, who were to return to their homeland by order of their superiors, permission was given them to pass to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and their territory was added to that of the prefecture of Tshuapa, which, on 28 Jan. 1926, had its name changed to that of C. On 27 Apr. 1927 it underwent a boundary adjustment with the apostolic vicariate of Léopoldville; on 3 Jan. 1931 part of it was detached to form the mission *sui iuris* of Bikoro, now an apostolic prefecture; then, after a boundary adjustment on 1 Mar. 1931 with the apostolic prefecture of Basankusu, now an apostolic vicariate, on 22 Mar. 1932 it was elevated to an apostolic vicariate. In 1948 there were 79,155 Catholics, 5,765 catechumens, 58,000 Protestants, 76 Muslims, about 280,000 pagans; 1 indigenous priest, 52 foreign missionary priests, 16 and 5 indigenous lay brothers; 21 seminarians; 97 sisters, of whom 1 was indigenous; 376 catechists, 231 male teachers, 7 female teachers, 1 physician; 6 principal mission stations, 350 secondary ones; 32 churches, 226 chapels; 12 hospitals with 550 beds; 15 dispensaries; 5 leper hospitals with 1,622 inmates; 140 elementary schools with 8,800 pupils, 14 secondary schools with 332 pupils. There are numerous associations of Catholic Action and a printing press that publishes two periodicals, one with a circulation of 1,150 and the other of 475.