Kasaï-Occidental was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Kasaï-Central and the Kasaï provinces.
The Second Congo War, also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues. Eventually involving belligerents from across the African continent, the war officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, violence has continued in many regions of the country, especially in the east. Hostilities have continued since in the ongoing Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts. Nine African countries and around twenty-five armed groups became involved in the war.
This is a history of the Kasai region in the Democratic Republic of Congo and of the political divisions which have occupied it since human settlement began.
Sankuru is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Sankuru, Kasaï-Oriental, and Lomami provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Kasaï-Oriental province. Sankuru was formed from the Sankuru District whose town of Lusambo was elevated to capital city of the new province.
Lulua District was a district of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city of Kananga was at the center of the district, but had a separate administration. In 2015 Lulua District became the province of Kasaï-Central.
Kasai District was a district of the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, named after the Kasai River. It was formed around 1885 and went through several large changes in extent in the years that followed. The 1933 version of the district roughly corresponded to the former Kasai-Occidental province and the present Kasaï and Kasaï-Central provinces.
The Zappo Zap were a group of Songye people from the eastern Kasaï region in what today is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They acted as allies of the Congo Free State authorities, while trading in ivory, rubber and slaves. In 1899 they were sent out by the colonial administration to collect taxes. They massacred many villagers, causing an international outcry.
Paul-Amédée Le Marinel (1858–1912) was an American-born officer in the Belgian army who became an explorer and administrator in the Congo Free State. He was best known for his expedition to Katanga in 1891.
Bunkeya is a community in the Lualaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on a huge plain near the Lufira River. Before the Belgian colonial conquest, Bunkeya was the center of a major trading state under the ruler Msiri.
Lusambo is a territory of Sankuru province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Cyriaque Cyprien Victor Gillain was a Belgian officer who served in World War I and was chief of the Belgian general staff between April 1918 and February 1920.
Sankuru District was a district of the Belgian Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. It went through various changes in extent, but roughly corresponded to the modern Sankuru Province.
Joseph Okito was a Congolese politician and close political ally to Patrice Lumumba who briefly served as Second Vice-President of the Senate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was executed alongside Lumumba in Katanga in 1961.
Congo-Kasaï was one of the four large provinces of the Belgian Congo defined in 1914. It was formally established in 1919, and in 1933 was divided into the new provinces of Léopoldville and Lusambo.
Kasaï was a province of the Belgian Congo and the successor Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville).
Léon A. Hofkens was a Belgian colonial administrator. He was governor of Lusambo / Kasaï in the Belgian Congo from 1945 to 1948.
François Wenner was a Belgian colonial administrator. He was commissioner / governor of Lusambo Province in the Belgian Congo from 1940 to 1944.
The Districts of the Belgian Congo were the primary administrative divisions when Belgium annexed the Congo Free State in 1908, each administered by a district commissioner. In 1914 they were distributed among four large provinces, with some boundary changes. In 1933 the provinces were restructured into six, again with boundary changes. The number of districts fluctuated between 12 and 26 through splits and consolidations, first rising, then falling, then rising again.
Georges-Edouard le Marinel was a Belgian soldier, engineer, explorer and colonial administrator. He is known for leading explorations of the country around the Ubangi River and Mbomou River, which later became the boundaries between French and Belgian territory.
DR Congo 
