Kinshasa is the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is situated alongside the Congo River.
The Belgian Congo
was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present-day name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as DR Congo, the DRC, DROC, Congo-Kinshasa, East Congo, or simply the Congo, is a country located in Central Africa. It is sometimes anachronistically referred to by its former name of Zaire, which was its official name between 1971 and 1997. It is, by area, the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, the second-largest in all of Africa, and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of over 78 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populated officially Francophone country, the fourth-most-populated country in Africa, and the 16th-most-populated country in the world. Currently, eastern DR Congo is the scene of ongoing military conflict in Kivu, since 2015.
Kongo Central, formerly Bas-Congo, is one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Matadi.
Bandundu is one of eleven former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It bordered the provinces of Kinshasa and Bas-Congo to the west, Équateur to the north, and Kasai-Occidental to the east. The provincial capital is also called Bandundu.
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.
Orientale is one of the eleven former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The province lay in the northeast of the country. It bordered Équateur to the west, Kasaï-Oriental province to the southwest, Maniema to the south, and North Kivu to the southeast. It also bordered the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north, and Uganda to the east. The provincial capital is Kisangani.
The subdivisions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the administrative divisions of the country, such as the provinces, districts and territories.
The Republic of the Congo is divided into twelve departments. These departments replaced former regions in 2002:
Cuvette-Ouest is a department of the Republic of the Congo in the western part of the country. It borders the departments of Cuvette and Sangha, and Gabon. The capital is Ewo. Principal cities and towns include Kelle.
Pool is a department of the Republic of the Congo in the southeastern part of the country. It borders the departments of Bouenza, Lékoumou, and Plateaux, and internationally, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also surrounds the commune district of the national capital, Brazzaville. The regional capital is Kinkala. Principal towns include Boko, Kindamba and Mindouli. In the early 2000s, the Pool region was the home of a low-level insurgency led by Pasteur Ntumi. The region is named after the Pool Malebo, which is a particularly wide stretch of the Congo River.
Pointe-Noire is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before this date it was the capital of the Kouilou region. It is situated on a headland between Pointe-Noire Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Pointe-Noire is the main commercial centre of the country and has a population of 715,334 (2007), expanding to well over 1 million when the entire metropolitan area is taken into account.
There are currently twenty-five provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital, Kinshasa city, is administratively equivalent to a province.
The Departments of the Republic of the Congo are divided into 86 districts and 6 communes. Note the departments of Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire are made of 1 commune each, then divided in urban districts (arrondissements).
A parliamentary election was held in the Republic of the Congo on 24 June 2007, with a second round initially planned for 22 July 2007, but then postponed to 5 August 2007. According to the National Commission of the Organization of the Elections (CONEL), 1,807 candidates stood in the first round for 137 seats in the National Assembly. The ruling Congolese Labour Party and parties and independent candidates allied with it won 125 seats, while two opposition parties won a combined 12 seats.
Odzala-Kokoua National Park is a national park in the Republic of the Congo. The park was first protected in 1935, declared a biosphere reserve in 1977, and granted official designation by presidential decree in 2001. Odzala-Kokoua has approximately 100 mammals species, and one of the continent's most diverse primate populations. The nonprofit conservation organization African Parks began managing the park in collaboration with the Ministry of Forest Economy, Sustainable Development and Environment of the Republic of the Congo in 2010.
The Gollo are an ethnic group living in the South Sudanese state of Western Bahr el Ghazal. The area occupied by the Gollo lies to the west of the town of Wau and is delimited by Deil Zubier (North), the source of the Mbomo river (East), the confluence of the Wara river (West) and the Kpango river (south). The most important settlements are Kayango, Abushakka, Manga.
