Our series on Administrative Divisions takes us to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a nation that has been independent since 1960 and has had several name and administrative makeovers.
The fromer Belgian Congo reached independence from Belgium in 1960, and became known as the Republic of the Congo. Incidentally, the former French Congo on the other side of the mighty river also gave itself the name Republic of the Congo, which led to much confusion. They were then known by the names of their capitals: Congo-Brazzaville (former French Congo) and Congo-Leopoldville (former Belgian Congo). In 1964, it became the Democratic Republic of the Congo, only to be renamed Republic of Zaire in 1971 and revert to DR Congo in 1997. Meanwhile, Leopoldville had become Kinshasa in 1966.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is divided into provinces, a structure inherited from colonial times. While there were 6 provinces at the time of independence, their number grew to 26 by 2022. Kinshasa, the Capital, is a single municipality province, and its population is over 17 million.
More on DR Congo
The DR of Congo in 2022
