The country was known as the Belgian Congo until it became independent in 1960 as the Republic of the Congo. In 1964 it became the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its name was changed in 1971 to Zaïre by President Mobuto Sese Seko. The country reverted to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in May 1997 when Mobuto was overthrown by forces led by Laurent Kabila. To distinguish it from its neighbour, the Republic of the Congo, the countries are popularly known as Congo-Kinshasa (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Congo-Brazzaville (the Republic of the Congo).

Except in the upland regions, the climate of the country is equatorial, being extremely hot and humid, with rain throughout the year. The mean annual temperature is about 26.7° C (80° F) in the low central area, with extremes considerably higher in February-April, the hottest months. In areas with altitudes above 1,524 m (5,000 ft), the mean annual temperature is about 18.9° C (66° F). The average annual rainfall is about 1,524 mm (60 in) in the north and 1,270 mm (50 in) in the south. Outside the equatorial areas of year-round rains, there are rainy seasons from April to November north of the equator and from October through May south of the equator. The highest summits of the mountains have considerable snowfall; at slightly lower elevations the climate is temperate alpine.

The country has vast mineral deposits, notably copper, uranium, gold, and diamonds. The wide range of climatic areas permits diversified agricultural production, and timber resources are enormous. The country’s rainforests constitute almost 6 per cent of the world’s total, and nearly 50 per cent of Africa’s remaining woodlands. Exploitation of many known resources that are situated off the main transport routes is difficult, however. The Congo and its tributaries provide a network of navigable waterways and have vast hydroelectric potential.

The population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1984 census, preliminary) was 29,671,407. The estimate for 1996 was 46,498,500, yielding an overall population density of about 20 people per sq km (51 per sq mi). The population is concentrated in the Shaba mining area and along the lower Congo. About 30 per cent of the population lives in urban areas. Ethnic tensions, which played an important role during the civil war of the immediate post-independence era, were generally contained thereafter until the early 1990s. Since 1990 there have been outbreaks of ethnic violence and "cleansing", notably in the Shaba area, which had cost more than 6,000 lives by 1994.

In early 1997 the country was divided into 11 administrative regions: Bandundu, Equateur, Kasai East, Kasai West, Kinshasa, North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema, Shaba, Upper Zaïre, and Lower Zaïre. Each region was administered by an appointed commissioner.

More than 80 per cent of the population is nominally Christian, primarily Roman Catholic (47 per cent of the total population); another 29 per cent is Protestant. There are small Muslim and Jewish communities. Most of the rest of the population adheres to traditional beliefs. Syncretic sects, such as Kimbanguism (16.5 per cent of the population), which combine Christian and traditional elements, are significant.

More than 200 languages are spoken. French is the official language as well as the principal business and social language. Four local languages are widely spoken and recognized as national languages: Swahili in the east, Kikongo in the western regions, Tshiluba in the south, and Lingala in and around Kinshasa, and along the Congo.

Congolese folkways and culture, although influenced by European life in the urban centres, remain largely intact among the different ethnic groups. The country has several museums, the principal ones being located in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. The universities maintain libraries, as do the principal governmental and private organizations.

Congo-Kinshasa’s GNP (World Bank estimate; 1993-1995 average prices) in 1995 was about US$5,300 million, equivalent to about US$120 per capita. The very low general living standards this figure reflects belie the fact that the country has some of Africa’s richest natural resources. However, the civil war of the immediate post-independence era, followed by decades of economic mismanagement and corruption by the government, has played a key role in the sluggishness of an economy with an annual growth rate of only about 1 per cent between 1965 and 1985. The mining industry, after a sharp decline, reached record levels in the early 1970s but was adversely affected by the sharp drop in the world market price of copper after 1974.

Estimated budget figures for 1996 showed about US$479 million in revenues. By the early 1990s the economy was in a state of collapse, with hyperinflation, loss of export earnings through labour unrest, a disintegrating transport infrastructure, US$10,000 million in foreign debts, and a heavy reliance on food imports.

The production of cash crops declined markedly after the nationalization of many small foreign-owned plantations in the mid-1970s, and agriculture in many parts of the country has reverted to subsistence farming. In 1995, livestock included 35 million chickens, 1.48 million cattle, 1.2 million pigs, and 1 million sheep. Cattle-raising is confined to elevated regions that are free of tsetse fly.

The annual production of roundwood in 1994 was 43 million cu m (1.5 billion cu ft) primarily for domestic fuel. The fish catch was about 147,300 tonnes.

Mineral deposits constitute the principal source of wealth in the republic. It is the largest producer of cobalt and industrial diamonds (by volume) in the world, but copper is usually the most valuable exported mineral. Other minerals produced in significant quantities include uranium, tin, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tungsten, and cadmium. Offshore petroleum reserves have been exploited since 1975. Mineral output in 1994 included 9.8 million barrels of crude oil. In 1995, output of copper totalled 34,000 tonnes; cobalt, 4,100 tonnes; and diamonds, 17.3 million carats.

The industrial sector has developed round the processing of mineral products, chiefly copper smelting and refining. Other minerals-based industries include oil refineries, and cement and sulphuric acid production. Other manufactures include refined metals, tyres, shoes, textiles, cigarettes, processed food, and beer. The sector, however, has been hard hit by the general economic collapse since 1990, and especially by rampant hyperinflation, and lack of foreign exchange to import raw materials and spare parts.

It is estimated that Congo-Kinshasa has about one eighth of the world’s total hydroelectric potential. A major hydroelectric project at Inga, on the lower Congo, was opened in 1972 and has an ultimate annual capacity of 39.6 million kilowatts. Almost all the generating plants have been built near the mines to serve mining operations. In 1993 the installed electricity-generating capacity was 2.8 million kilowatts; the annual power output reached more than 6 billion kWh, virtually all of it hydroelectric.

Copper was the republic’s principal export, typically accounting for more than half of the total yearly export revenues. Other leading exports included crude petroleum, cobalt, diamonds, and coffee. Exports in 1994 totalled about US$419 million and imports, US$382 million; the shift to a small surplus on the balance of trade, which had traditionally been heavily in the red, reflected the country’s economic problems, notably its lack of foreign exchange to buy imports. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s principal trading partners are Belgium, China, the United States, Germany, and France.

The 5,254 km (3,265 mi) of railway provides important connections within the country, with the port of Benguela in Angola, and with eastern and southern African points. The total length of the national road system is about 146,500 km (91,030 mi). The road network is in generally poor repair (and has deteriorated further since 1990); this has hindered the transport of crops to markets and thus contributed to the decline of agriculture. Inland waterways are used extensively. There were 94,000 passenger cars in 1996, with a ratio of 236 people per car.

The Congo is navigable from its mouth to Matadi, a distance of 134 km (83 mi). From Matadi to Kinshasa, which are linked by a 401-km (249-mi) railway, the river is unnavigable, but inland from Kinshasa navigation is possible for more than 1,609 km (1,000 mi). Navigable inland waterways, over most of which river steamers are routed, total about 13,500 km (8,390 mi). The principal ports are Matadi and Boma, on the lower Congo, and Banana, at its mouth. The country has five international airports. The state-owned national air carrier provides domestic and international service.

Congo-Kinshasa is heavily dependent on air and telegraph services for internal communications. A national broadcasting system is based at Kinshasa, and a television station was opened in 1966. In the early 1990s the country had approximately 3.7 million radio receivers and 41,000 television sets. The seven daily newspapers had a combined circulation of 45,000.

A national conference on the political future of the country began in July 1991. Its claims of sovereignty led to conflict with Mobutu. The national conference ended in December 1992, having dissolved the National Assembly (legislature) and elected a 435-member High Council of the Republic (HCR) as the transitional legislature. Tension between the opposition-dominated HCR and Mobutu led, by 1993, to the existence of two rival governments, one appointed by each side. The deadlock was broken in January 1994 when a transitional legislature combining the HCR and the former National Assembly was established. The new body set the duration of the transition to democracy at 15 months, during which time a constitutional referendum and elections would be organized. The elections were never held. See History: The Fall of Mobuto, below.

The National Institute of Social Security provides pensions and other social benefits to salaried workers. In the mid-1980s Zaïre had about 1,300 doctors and 64,100 hospital beds. In 1990 there were 15,584 people per doctor and the infant mortality rate was 133 deaths per 1,000 live births; 2.3 per cent of the country’s national budget was spent on health care. AIDS is a growing health problem.

The former Zaïrean forces were disbanded following the fall of Mobutu. The insurgent Congo Liberation Army, equipped mainly with small arms and pre-civil war equipment, includes Tutsi trained in Rwanda and Uganda, recent recruits, paramilitaries returned from Angola, and some 20,000-40,000 fighters from the original liberation force.

In 1489 a Congolese embassy was sent to the Portuguese king, and in 1490 Franciscan missionaries and artisans from Portugal went to the area. The king of the Kongo was a convert to Christianity, but his attempts to impose the religion on his people provoked violent opposition. His son, Alfonso, who succeeded him in 1507, set out to Christianize the country. Able to read and write Portuguese, Alfonso adapted the Portuguese model for his government and built many churches. The kingdom declined, however, and memory of it all but disappeared.

Conflicting claims advanced by various nations, notably Portugal and France, to territorial rights in the Congo region led to the convening in 1884 of the Berlin Conference, which recognized the sovereignty of the African International Association; it also opened the Congo Free State, as the region was named, to trade of all nations and outlawed the slave trade. The new state was placed under the personal sovereignty of King Leopold II in July 1885.

Increasingly oppressive exploitation of the people of the Congo Free State caused continued unrest and finally led, early in the 20th century, to international protest. Public opinion forced Leopold to establish a commission of inquiry in 1904. The report of the commission revealed that the local people were victims of a slave-labour system and of other abuses. These findings compelled the king to institute certain reforms, which were not very effective. As a result, the Belgian parliament in 1908 voted to annex the Congo Free State, making it a colony that became known as the Belgian Congo.

Substantial expansion of the industrial facilities of the Congo took place during World War II. This process was particularly marked in the uranium, copper, palm-oil, and rubber industries. During the post-war years further increases in the industrial productivity of the colony occurred, and a series of reforms, designed to prepare the Congolese for eventual self-government, were initiated.

In elections held prior to independence, some 40 parties presented candidates. Lumumba’s Congolese National Movement showed the greatest strength; the Abako was second. By agreement between the two leading parties, Lumumba became Premier-Designate, and Kasavubu became President. The independent Republic of the Congo was proclaimed in Léopoldville on June 30, 1960, by King Baudouin I of the Belgians.

In September Soviet technicians and advisers were flown into the Congo, causing much tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Tension increased when President Kasavubu announced that he had dismissed Premier Lumumba, replacing him with Joseph (now Sombo Amba) Ileo. Lumumba claimed that his dismissal was illegal and that Kasavubu was no longer the legal president. On September 13 the UN forces gave up control of the airports and Radio Kinshasa to Lumumba. The Congo army, however, led by Colonel Joseph Desiré Mobutu (Mobutu Sese Seko), a supporter of Kasavubu, seized control of the government. Mobutu then ordered the Soviet and Czechoslovak ambassadors out of the country. President Kasavubu, on September 29, transferred executive and administrative authority of the Congo to the College of High Commissioners, the caretaker government sponsored by Mobutu. In November the UN General Assembly voted to seat the Kasavubu delegation.

Shortly afterwards, Lumumba escaped from his UN-guarded villa in Léopoldville. He was captured the same day and was told by Mobutu that he would have to stand trial for inciting the Congolese army to rebellion. On December 13, 1960, Antoine Gizenga, former deputy premier in the Lumumba government, proclaimed himself Premier and designated Stanleyville (now Kisangani) as the capital of the Congo. Within the next few months his government was recognized by most Communist and Arab nations and by Ghana. On January 9, 1961, pro-Lumumba soldiers invaded northern Katanga, and the UN Congo Command sent troops there to prevent the outbreak of civil war.

President Kasavubu replaced the caretaker government of Mobutu in February with a new provisional government including members of the former parliament, with Joseph Ileo as the premier. Lumumba, who had been imprisoned in Katanga, escaped and was killed while in flight (February 12). It was not established clearly who was responsible for his death.

On February 21, 1961, the Security Council authorized the UN to use force to prevent civil war in the Congo, and demanded withdrawal of all foreign military personnel not under UN command. Opposing the council decision and hoping to forestall further UN intervention, 18 leaders of Congolese factions (not including Gizenga) agreed on March 12 to abolish the central government in favour of a confederation of sovereign states. At a follow-up meeting convened in April, Tshombe withdrew his cooperation. Arrested and charged with treason, he secured his release by agreeing to dismiss all foreign advisers and military forces in Katanga, but repudiated his assurances when he returned to Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi).

The UN Congo Command launched limited military action against his forces in September, and again in December. While trying to arrange a ceasefire between the UN forces and the Katangese forces in September, Secretary-General Hammarskjöld was killed under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash at Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

Meanwhile, Gizenga agreed to join the central government after former senate member Cyrille Adoula, named Congolese premier on August 2, promised to follow the policies of Lumumba. Gizenga was made first vice-premier, but was removed from his post and censured by parliament in January 1962 for defying a parliamentary resolution that he come to Léopoldville from Stanleyville to face secession charges.

During the first half of 1962, Tshombe held intermittent talks with Adoula, but the two leaders failed to reach a final agreement. To compel Tshombe to come to terms, acting UN Secretary-General U Thant proposed a three-stage plan for ending Katanga’s secession. Tshombe announced his acceptance of the plan, but made little effort to implement it. Adoula demanded that the UN plan be put into effect, by force if necessary.

In December, UN forces moved decisively against Katanga and gained control of Elisabethville. Tshombe, fleeing before UN troops, established his last stronghold at Kolwezi. On January 15, 1963, he surrendered to integration demands and was promised amnesty for himself and his followers.

A few months later, Premier Adoula formed a new Cabinet, which included Katanga representatives and gave strongest representation to the Lumumbist party. Strikes and rebellions continued to beset the country, however, and in June 1964, Adoula resigned his premiership. A new constitution was adopted, and a government was formed under Tshombe. Then, in August, Stanleyville fell to Lumumbist rebels. After troops of the Congolese National Army, aided by white mercenaries, began a drive to recapture the city, the rebels threatened to kill whites being held hostage in the city; among the hostages were about 60 Americans. On November 24, Belgian paratroopers, carried in US planes, landed in Stanleyville and, together with Congolese troops, recaptured the city. The Belgian troops left after their rescue mission.

A fragile coalition organized by Tshombe won the parliamentary elections of early 1965, but shortly thereafter Kasavubu ousted Tshombe from the premiership. In late 1965 Mobutu again intervened, installing himself as President in place of Kasavubu. In 1966, Mobutu established a presidential form of government; the change was formalized in a new constitution adopted in 1967. In the first years of his presidency, Mobutu brought political stability to the country, although there were a number of short-lived regionally based revolts, and students occasionally protested against his dictatorial rule. Some foreign-owned mining firms were nationalized, and in 1966 the European names of several cities were replaced by African ones (Léopoldville became Kinshasa; Stanleyville, Kisangani).

In 1970 Mobutu was elected to a seven-year term as President, and in the early 1970s he undertook a major programme of Africanization. In 1971 the country’s name was changed to Zaïre. In 1972 the president renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko, at the same time urging other Zaïrians to drop their non-African names.

In 1973 many foreign concerns were taken over by the government. Some economic-development projects were completed, but Zaïre remained dependent on income from copper exports. World copper prices fell sharply in the mid-1970s. Largely as a result of the consequent drop in Zaïre’s export earnings, the country’s foreign debt had risen to nearly US$4,000 million by 1980. At the same time, the domestic economy experienced high rates of unemployment and inflation. In 1977, and again in 1978, Zaïre (with the help of Belgium, France, Morocco, and other countries) repulsed invasions from Angola by former residents of Shaba region (as Katanga had been renamed in 1972).

A sluggish economy remained Zaïre’s greatest problem in the early 1980s. The country’s foreign debt was rescheduled in 1981, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) extended a billion-dollar loan; further aid in 1983-1984 followed a currency devaluation and other austerity measures. In 1986, however, Zaïre abandoned the IMF programme, and the economy took a downturn. The government again embraced economic reform in 1989, and in 1990, following strikes and other widespread popular unrest, Mobutu legalized opposition parties.

Discontent with Mobutu, and with the rampant corruption which had become associated with his regime, intensified in the early 1990s, as the economy deteriorated. Outbreaks of violence and looting led many European and American civilians to flee the country. A national conference on the political future of Zaïre, closed in 1991, was reopened in January 1992, and in December of that year dissolved itself after having elected an opposition-dominated High Council of the Republic (HCR) to act as an interim legislature.

Power struggles between the HCR and Mobutu led to the establishment during 1993 of two competing governments. Meanwhile, the economy had disintegrated to the point of near collapse and hyperinflation had set in. Donor governments, attempting to pressure Mobutu to live up to his promise of a return to democracy, froze aid disbursements.

In January 1994, in a compromise measure, the HCR and the National Assembly, dominated by members of Mobutu’s Popular Movement for the Revolution, formed a joint interim legislature, the High Council of the Republic-Parliament of Transition (HCR-PT). This body set a 15-month deadline for a return to democracy; within this time frame, a new constitution was to be agreed and put to a referendum, and presidential and legislative elections held.

The HCR-PT also adopted the Transitional Constitutional Act, defining relations between the government and Mobutu, strengthening the former’s powers by giving it control over the armed forces and the central bank. Mobutu, however, refused to acknowledge this loss of power, trying until November to install his own candidate in the central bank.

Refugees were expelled from Zaïre in August, after the lifting by the UN Security Council of the arms embargo against neighbouring Rwanda raised fears that refugee camps might be targets for attack, and a formal agreement on repatriation of Rwandan and Burundian refugees was reached with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in September. Humanitarian assistance amounting to US$119 million was announced by the EU in October. In April 1996 a referendum on constitutional reform was announced for the following December, with the country’s first multi-party presidential and legislative election to be held in May 1997.

It was reported in August that President Mobutu was seriously ill with prostate cancer and had been treated in Switzerland. Ethnic Zaïrean Tutsis, the Banyamulenge, in eastern Zaïre, rebelled in October, exacerbating the power vacuum created by Mobutu’s absence.

Allegations of Burundian and Rwandan involvement in the unrest were followed by a state of emergency in the Kivu region. It became apparent in November that Laurent Kabila had emerged as the principal rebel leader and co-ordinator of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaïre (AFDL). International concern for the welfare of refugees prompted international support in November for the deployment of a multilateral force.

Mobutu returned in December, to find the AFDL consolidating its position. A new Chief of General Staff for the army and a new Cabinet under Wa Dondo were appointed in an attempt to forestall rebellion. After rebel infighting in January 1997, the mercenary-led Zaïrean army gained some ground. However its advance was checked in February when the rebels made rapid gains, capturing the north-central city of Kisangani in March. Lubumbashi, the second-largest city, was captured by AFDL troops in early April, amid continuing international concerns for the plight of refugees.

The South African president, Nelson Mandela, provided a neutral venue in early May for President Mobutu and rebel leader Laurent Kabila to meet for the first time, aboard the South African naval vessel Outeniqua, in international waters off the Congolese port of Pointe-Noire. It was hoped that a peaceful resolution could be reached before rebel troops closed on Mobutu’s power base in Kinshasa. When Kabila’s troops entered Kinshasa on May 17, they encountered little resistance from government soldiers. Kabila immediately declared himself President and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A ban was placed on political activities and demonstrations soon afterwards, prompting doubts about the democratic credentials of the new regime. Kabila was sworn in as President on May 29, under a decree he had enacted two days earlier.

In September 1997 Mobutu died of cancer in Morocco. In the same month, the UN team investigating alleged massacres in Congo was withdrawn after the Kabila government had prevented the investigators from travelling outside the capital.