Democratic Republic of Congo Map

Located in central Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is bordered by the Republic of Congo to the west, the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi to the east, Tanzania to the southeast across Lake Tanganyika, Zambia to the south, and Angola to the southwest. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a short length of coastline along the South Atlantic Ocean.

Covering an area of 2,345,409 square kilometers (905,355 square miles), the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the eleventh largest country in size worldwide. Its population of about 71 million makes the Democratic Republic of the Congo the fourth most populous country in Africa.

There are around 200 ethnic communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the major ones include the Mongo, Luba, and Kongo people.

The capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Kinshasa, a city of about 9 million people along the Congo River.

European colonization of the region took place from the 1870s through the 1920s, and King Leopold II of Belgium ruled it, calling if the Congo Free State. Under his rule, the people of the Congo were brutally exploited and many died. The Belgian parliament took over the Free State in 1908, making it the Belgian Congo. The early twentieth century was marked by tension and chaos in the Congo, as the country fought in many wars and began the journey to independence. Peace was restored when the Republic of the Congo, as it was called, was declared an independent state by Belgium on June 30, 1960. From 1971 to 1997, the region became the nation of Zaire until the country became the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997.

Today, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a semi-presidential republic with a president and a prime minister.

The economy of the DRC is primarily centered on mining the land's rich natural resources, which include cobalt ore, copper, and diamonds.

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Last Updated On : March 14, 2013