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Democratic Republic of the Congo (official, English), Zaire (former official name, 1971 to 1997; still occasionally used to distinguish it from Republic of the Congo), DRC (initialism), Congo Kinshasa (used in contrast to "Congo Brazzaville"), Belgian Congo (former name during Belgian colonization, 1908 to 1960, English), Congo belge (former ...
The Belgian Congo (French: Congo belge, pronounced [kɔ̃ɡo bɛlʒ]; Dutch: Belgisch-Congo) [a] was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
The Republic of the Congo, or simply Congo, [3] is a distinct country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as DR Congo. [18] Brazzaville's name derives from the colony's founder, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazzà, an Italian nobleman whose title referred to the town of Brazzacco, in the Italian comune of Moruzzo in Friuli Venezia ...
The country's name, Zaïre, was derived from the name of the Congo River, sometimes called Zaire in Portuguese, which in turn was derived from the Kikongo word nzere or nzadi ('river that swallows all rivers'). [7] The use of Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century and Congo was the preferred ...
The Republic of the Congo (French: République du Congo) was a sovereign state in Central Africa, created with the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. From 1960 to 1966, the country was also known as Congo-Léopoldville (after its capital) to distinguish it from its northwestern neighbor, which is also called the Republic of the Congo ...
[23] [24] [25] The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries; Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and Congo is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to Zaire as the name used by the natives (i.e., derived from Portuguese usage) remained common.
Many of the place name changes occurred under the authenticité programme in the 1960s and 1970s during the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko. In some cases, the names had genuine pre-colonial usage or had already been used unofficially during the colonial period. Mobutu also changed the country's name from Congo to Zaire. Today, European ...
People's Republic of the Congo: Congo, Democratic Republic of the: 1964 1965 Kasongo: Sultanate of Utetera: Congo, Democratic Republic of the: 1860 1887 Bakwanga South Kasai: Congo, Democratic Republic of the: 1960 1962 Élisabethville State of Katanga: Congo, Democratic Republic of the: 1960 1963 Njimi: Kanem: Chad: fl. 11th century c. 1396