Portal:Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo Portal

P:DRCP:DRC

Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo	Coat of Arms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo or less often Zaire, is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is the second-largest country in Africa and the eleventh-largest in the world. With a population of around 124 million people, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the fourth-most populous country in Africa and the most populous Francophone country in the world. French is the official and most widely spoken language. There are over 200 indigenous languages, of which Lingala is the most widely spoken. The capital, largest city, and economic center is Kinshasa. The DRC is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, the Cabinda exclave of Angola, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west; the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika) to the east; and Zambia and Angola to the south. Centered on the Congo Basin, most of the DRC's terrain is covered by dense rainforests and is crossed by many rivers. The east and southeast are mountainous.

The territory of the Congo was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was settled in the Bantu expansion about 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to the 19th century. In the center and east, the empires of Mwene Muji, Luba, and Lunda ruled between the 15th and 19th centuries. These kingdoms were broken up by Europeans during the colonization of the Congo Basin. King Leopold II of Belgium acquired rights to the Congo territory in 1885 and called it the Congo Free State. In 1908, Leopold ceded the territory after international pressure in response to widespread atrocities, and it became a Belgian colony. Congo achieved independence from Belgium in 1960 and was immediately confronted by secessionist movements, the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, and the seizure of power by Mobutu Sese Seko in 1965. Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and imposed a personalist dictatorship.

Instability caused by the influx of refugees from the Rwandan Civil War into the east of the country led to the First Congo War between 1996 and 1997, ending in Mobutu's overthrow. Its name was changed, and it was confronted by the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003, which resulted in an estimated several million deaths and the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila. The war ended under President Joseph Kabila, who restored relative stability, though fighting continued in the east. Human rights remained poor, and there were frequent abuses, such as forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment and restrictions on civil liberties. Kabila stepped down in 2019, the country's first peaceful transition of power since independence, after Félix Tshisekedi won the contentious 2018 election. Over 120 armed groups remain active, concentrated in the east. One of the region's largest cities, Goma, was occupied by the M23 rebels in 2012 and since 2025. The M23 uprising escalated in early 2025, with military support from Rwanda, which has caused a conflict between the two countries.

Despite being incredibly rich in natural resources, the DRC is one of the world's poorest and least developed countries, having suffered from political instability, lack of infrastructure, rampant corruption, centuries of commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation, with little widespread development. The nation is a prominent example of the "resource curse". Aside from Kinshasa, the next largest cities, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi, are mining communities. DR Congo's main exports are raw minerals and metal, which were 80% of exports in 2023, with China being its largest trade partner. The DRC's level of human development was ranked 171 out of 193 countries by the Human Development Index in 2023. As of 2022^[update], following two decades of civil wars and internal conflicts, around one million Congolese refugees were still living in neighbouring countries. Two million children are at risk of starvation, and the fighting has displaced 7 million people. The DRC is a member of the UN, Non-Aligned Movement, African Union, COMESA, Southern African Development Community, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and Economic Community of Central African States. (Full article...)

More about the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

The Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo was tasked with moving from the state riven by the Second Congo War (1998–2003) to a government based upon a constitution agreed on by consensus. It was established by the Global and All-Inclusive (AGI) agreement signed in December 2002. Joseph Kabila was sworn in as transitional president on 7 April 2003; the cabinet took office on 30 June 2003, inaugurating the transitional government; and four vice presidents were sworn in on 17 July 2003. The Transitional Government remained in place until after the new constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was promulgated in February 2006 and a general election was held in December 2006. The transition ended when the new cabinet was installed on 5 February 2007. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images - show another

The following are images from various Democratic Republic of the Congo-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A woman carrying bananas. (from Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 2Masque féminin Ngaady a mwaash, XIX-XXe siècles (from Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 3Brahmanist worshippers in Kinshasa (from Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 4States of the western Congo Basin, c. 1350 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 5President Joseph Kabila with U.S. President Barack Obama in August 2014 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 6A classroom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 7Found in the Congolian rainforests, the okapi was unknown to science until 1901. (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 8The Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Lubumbashi (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 9Children mutilated during King Leopold II's rule (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 101908 photograph of a married Christian couple (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 11A map of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 12The Matadi railway station, part of the Matadi–Kinshasa Railway (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 13Changes in life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1950 to 2021 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 14A satellite image of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 15Belligerents of the Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War. (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 16Kasaï-Central province, where the Kamwina Nsapu militia clashes with security forces began. (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 17A mining site in the Haut-Katanga Province (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 18Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 19Congolese soldiers being trained by UN personnel (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 20The Democratic Republic of the Congo speaks a variant of Belgian French (dark red), compared to other French speaking parts of Africa. (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 21A Congolese Christian. (from Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 22States of the western Congo Basin, c. 1350 (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 23Ugandan President Idi Amin Visits Zaire and Meets Mobutu during The Shaba I Conflict (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 24People fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebel groups, North Kivu, 2012 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 25Major states of the western Congo Basin, c. 1550 (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 26Flag of CNDP (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 27The Democratic Republic of the Congo's population between 1960 and 2017 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 28A Hemba male statue (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 29Per capita GDP in the DRC, 1950–2018. Figures are inflation-adjusted to 2011 international dollars. (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 30Ituri Rainforest (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 31A Köppen climate classification map of the DRC (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 32President Félix Tshisekedi with the president of neighbouring Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso in 2020; both wear face masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 33Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo-Léopoldville, was murdered by Belgian-supported Katangan separatists in 1961. (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 34Memory Board (lukasa) - Luba Kingdom (from Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 35Ndeemba Mask (from Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 36Mobutu with the Dutch Prince Bernhard in Kinshasa in 1973 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 37Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C., 1973 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 38Rough diamonds ≈1 to 1.5 mm in size from the DR Congo (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 39The DRC's Human Development Index score, 1970–2010 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 40Government troops near Goma during the M23 rebellion in May 2013 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 41Lake Kivu in North Kivu province (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 42Mobutu Sese Seko (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 43Abeti Masikini in 1978 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 44The endangered mountain gorilla; half of its population live in the DRC's Virunga National Park, making the park a critical habitat for those animals. (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 45Our Lady of Peace Cathedral in Bukavu (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 46The largest ethnic groups in the DRC (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 47A group of demobilized child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 48A Roman Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 49The four Bantu languages with elevated "national" status (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 50A section of National Road 1 between Boma and Moanda, Kongo Central (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 51Force Publique soldiers in the Belgian Congo in 1918. At its peak, the Force Publique had around 19,000 Congolese soldiers, led by 420 Belgian officers. (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 52Franco Luambo and his OK Jazz orchestra performing live at Zaire 74 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 53Patrice Lumumba, founding member and leader of the MNC (from History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 54Refugees in the Congo (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 55A map of the major Bantu languages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 56People fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebels groups, Sake, North Kivu, April 2012 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 57Electricity generation in Congo (DRC) in terawatt-hours, 2026 (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Image 58The leader of ABAKO, Joseph Kasa-Vubu, the first democratically elected President of Congo-Léopoldville (from Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Good article - show another

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

Logo used under the name Compagnie Du Congo Belge

The Abir Congo Company (founded as the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company and later known as the Compagnie du Congo Belge) was a company that exploited natural rubber in the Congo Free State, the private property of King Leopold II of Belgium. The company was founded with British and Belgian capital and was based in Belgium. By 1898 there were no longer any British shareholders and the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company changed its name to the Abir Congo Company and changed its residence for tax purposes to the Free State. The company was granted a large concession in the north of the country and the rights to tax the inhabitants. This tax was taken in the form of rubber obtained from a relatively rare rubber vine. The collection system revolved around a series of trade posts along the two main rivers in the concession. Each post was commanded by a European agent and manned with armed sentries to enforce taxation and punish any rebels.

Abir enjoyed a boom through the late 1890s, by selling a kilogram of rubber in Europe for up to 10 fr which had cost them just 1.35 fr. However, this came at a cost to the human rights of those who could not pay the tax with imprisonment, flogging and other corporal punishment recorded. Abir's failure to suppress destructive harvesting methods and to maintain rubber plantations meant that the vines became increasingly scarce and by 1904 profits began to fall. During the early 1900s famine and disease spread across the concession, a natural disaster judged by some to have been exacerbated by Abir's operations, further hindering rubber collection. The 1900s also saw widespread rebellions against Abir's rule in the concession and attempts at mass migration to the French Congo or southwards. These events typically resulted in Abir dispatching an armed force to restore order. (Full article...)

List of Good articles

Featured article - show another

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia..

Bolikango in 1960

Jean Bolikango, later Bolikango Akpolokaka Gbukulu Nzete Nzube (4 February 1909 – 17 February 1982), was a Congolese educator, writer, and politician. He served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in September 1960 and from February to August 1962. Enjoying substantial popularity among the Bangala people, he headed the Parti de l'Unité Nationale and worked as a key opposition member in Parliament in the early 1960s.

Bolikango began his career in the Belgian Congo as a teacher in Catholic schools, and became a prominent member of Congolese society as the leader of a cultural association. He wrote an award-winning novel and worked as a journalist before turning to politics in the late 1950s. Though he held a top communications post in the colonial administration, he became a leader in the push for independence, making him one of the "fathers of independence" in the Congo. The Republic of the Congo became independent in 1960 and Bolikango attempted to organise a national political base that would support his bid for a prestigious office in the new government. He succeeded in establishing the Parti de l'Unité Nationale and promoted both a united Congo and strong ties with Belgium. Older than most of his contemporaries and commanding significant respect—especially among his Bangala peers, he was seen as the Congo's "elder statesman". Regardless, his attempts to secure a position in the government failed and he became a leading member of the opposition in Parliament. (Full article...)

List of Featured articles