About the Democratic Republic of Congo

History of DRC

DRC Map

Beginnings to 1965

Populated as early as 10,000 years ago and settled in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE by Bantus from present-day Nigeria, the area that is currently considered the DRC has undergone momentous changes since the fifteenth century. In 1482, Diago Cio, a Portuguese seaman "discovered" and landed at the mouth of the Congo River where he encountered a highly developed Kongo Kingdom. Interactions between the Portuguese and the Kongo were one of mutual understanding and respect but subsequent historical events quickly led to a situation of exploitation that has been relentless even into the 21st century.



The area was officially colonized when King Leopold II was able to convince the rest of the leaders at the Berlin Conference of 1885 to give him the area as his personal fiefdom which he called the Congo Free State. The brutality of King Leopold's state is legendary and is best documented in the book King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. In 1907, the Belgian Government finally intervened by taking the administration of the colony away from Leopold and re-naming it the Belgian Congo.


DRC FlagIt was not until June 30, 1960 that the DRC received independence from Belgium and the Congolese people voted for the first time in Parliamentary elections. Patrice Lumumba became the first "democratically" elected Prime Minister of the DRC with Joseph Kasavubu elected as President. The Belgian Congo became the Democratic Republic of Congo but Belgian policies towards education and development in the DRC deliberately undermined its capacity for self-rule.

DRC under Mobutu

Lumumba's government was overthrown by a coup, organized by Joseph Mobutu and supported by Western countries, in September 1960 and he was murdered in January 1961. Unrest and rebellion plagued the DRC until 1965, when Mobutu, then commander in chief of the national army, seized control of the country and declared himself president for 5 years. Those 5 years extended to over 30 as Mobutu increasingly centralized power into his own hands and proceeded to strip the DRC of its untold wealth for his own benefit. Once again, the country was renamed as Zaire. This is a tragic story of Cold War intrigue while the ordinary Congolese' quality of life declined steadily with the deterioration of local infrastructure such as roads, education, and health care. A fascinating account of the Mobutu years is chronicled in Michela Wrong's recent book In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz.

By 1996, the war and genocide in neighboring Rwanda shifted towards eastern DRC creating a situation of chaos as Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe), fleeing Rwanda following the ascension of a Tutsi-led government, used Hutu refugee camps in eastern DRC as bases for incursions against Rwanda.