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The country's core region is the central Congo Basin. [1] Having an average elevation of about 44 metres (144 ft), it measures roughly 800,000 square kilometres (310,000 sq mi), constituting about a third of the DRC's territory. [1] Much of the forest within the basin is swamp, and still more of it consists of a mixture of marshes and firm land ...
The DRC is the second-largest diamond-producing nation in the world, [c] and artisanal and small-scale miners account for most of its production. At independence in 1960, DRC was the second-most-industrialized country in Africa after South Africa; it boasted a thriving mining sector and a relatively productive agriculture sector. [210]
Currently, there are 44 landlocked countries, two of them doubly landlocked (Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan), and three landlocked de facto states in the world. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country, Kyrgyzstan is the furthest landlocked country from any ocean, while Ethiopia is the world's most populous landlocked country. [1] [2]
The DRC's largest export is raw minerals, with China having accepted over 50% of its exports in 2019. In 2025, DR Congo's level of human development was ranked 180th out of 193 countries by the Human Development Index and is classified as being one of the least developed countries by the United Nations (UN).
Lubumbashi (UK: / ˌ l uː b ʊ m ˈ b æ ʃ i / LOO-buum-BASH-ee, US: / ˌ l uː b uː m ˈ b ɑː ʃ i / LOO-boom-BAH-shee; former French: Élisabethville [elizabɛtvil]; former Flemish: Elisabethstad [eːˈlisaːbɛtstɑt] ⓘ) is the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia.
Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, after five years of political upheaval following independence from Belgium known as the Congo Crisis. Zaire had a strongly centralist constitution, and foreign assets were nationalized. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second Congolese Republic.
When Belgium annexed the Belgian Congo as a colony in November 1908, it was initially organised into 22 districts. Ten western districts were administered directly by the main colonial government, while the eastern part of the colony was administered under two vice-governments: eight northeastern districts formed Orientale Province, and four southeastern districts formed Katanga.
This was put into effect in 2015, when the six largest provinces were split into twenty-one new provinces. Together with the four unsplit provinces— Bas-Congo (renamed Kongo Central), Maniema , Nord-Kivu , and Sud-Kivu —they make up the twenty-five provinces listed in Article 2 of the Constitution.