Claim: The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been independent since it was settled.
Evidence: The territory of the DR Congo was first settled by humans around 90,000 years ago.
Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property.
During the Free State the colonial military unit , the Force Publique , forced the local population into producing rubber , and from 1885 to 1908 millions of Congolese died as a consequence of disease and exploitation.
In 1908 Belgium , despite initial reluctance , formally annexed the Free State from Leopold , which became the Belgian Congo.
The Belgian Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960 under the name Republic of the Congo -LRB- Léopoldville -RRB-.