Democratic Republic of Congo-République Démocratique du Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (French: République Démocratique du Congo, abbreviated DR Congo), from 1971 to 1997 Zaire (French: Zaïre), also known as Congo-Kinshasa or simply Congo, is a republic in Central Africa. It borders (clockwise from north) the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Republic of Congo. DR Congo is the second largest state in Africa in terms of area (behind Algeria) and the fourth largest in terms of population.

The country is crossed by the equator; it has a tropical climate. Large parts of the national territory are covered by tropical rainforest. The nearly 100 million inhabitants can be divided into more than 200 ethnic groups. There is a great variety of languages, the lingua franca is French. About half of the inhabitants belong to the Catholic Church, the other half are Kimbanguists, other Christian churches, traditional religions and Islam. The capital, Kinshasa, is Africa's third-largest city, with a population of more than 13 million.

Cities with populations over one million are Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi, Mbandaka, Kananga and Kisangani. The territory of the present state came under Belgian colonial rule in 1885. The rule of the Belgian King Leopold II is considered one of the cruelest colonial regimes. After independence in 1960, the country was ruled dictatorially for 32 years by Mobutu Sese Seko after several years of internal political conflict. In 1997, Mobutu was overthrown by rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

The change of power was followed by another civil war, which became known as the African World War because of the involvement of numerous African states. A peace agreement was signed in 2002. However, fighting continues to take place in the east of the country to this day. Free elections were held in 2006 for the first time since 1965. Despite its wealth of raw materials, the state is now one of the poorest countries in the world due to decades of exploitation, corruption, years of war and constant population growth.