Claim: The Democratic Republic of the Congo was known as the Belgian Congo until 1960.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo -LRB- -LSB- ˈkɒŋɡəʊ -RSB- -LSB- kɔ̃ɡo -RSB- ; République démocratique du Congo -RRB- , also known as DR Congo , DRC , DROC , Congo-Kinshasa or simply the Congo , is a country located in Central Africa . The DRC borders the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north ; Uganda , Rwanda , Burundi and Tanzania to the east ; Zambia and Angola to the south ; the Republic of the Congo to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest . It is the second-largest country in Africa by area and eleventh largest in the world . With a population of over 80 million , the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populated officially Francophone country , the fourth most-populated nation in Africa and the eighteenth most populated country in the world .   The territory of the DR Congo was first settled by humans around 90,000 years ago . Bantu peoples began migrating into the region in the 5th century and again in the 10th century . In the West of the region the Kingdom of Kongo ruled from the 14th to 19th centuries , while in the centre and East of the region the kingdoms of Luba and Lunda ruled from the 16th and 17th centuries to the 19th century . In the 1870s , before the onset of the Scramble for Africa , European exploration of the Congo was carried out , first led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium . Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property . He named it the Congo Free State . 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- . Congolese nationalist Patrice Lumumba was elected the first Prime Minister , while Joseph Kasa-Vubu became the first President . Conflict arose over the administration of the territory which became known as the Congo Crisis . The provinces of Katanga , under Moïse Tshombe , and South Kasai attempted to secede from the Congo . On 5 September 1960 , Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba from office , encouraged by the United States and Belgium after Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance in the crisis . On 14 September , with U.S. and Belgian support , Lumumba was arrested by forces loyal to Army Chief of Staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu , who had gained de facto control over the country through a coup d'état the same day , and on 17 January 1961 Lumumba was handed over to Katangan authorities and executed by Belgian-led Katangese troops .   In 1965 Joseph-Désiré Mobutu , who later renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko , officially came into power through a second coup . In 1971 he renamed the country Zaire . The country was run as a one-party state with his Popular Movement of the Revolution as the sole legal party . Mobutu 's government received considerable support from the United States for its anti-communist stance during the Cold War . By the early 1990s Mobutu 's government began to weaken . Disenfranchisement of the eastern Congolese Tutsi population led to a 1996 invasion led by Tutsi-ruled Rwanda , which began the First Congo War . On 17 May 1997 Laurent-Désiré Kabila , a leader of Tutsi forces from the province of South Kivu , became President , bringing about the end of Mobutu 's 32-year rule . Tensions between President Kabila and the Rwandan and Tutsi presence in the country led to the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003 . Ultimately , nine African countries and around twenty armed groups became involved in the war , which resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people . The two wars together devastated the country . President Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards on 16 January 2001 and was succeeded eight days later as President by his son Joseph Kabila .   The Democratic Republic of Congo is extremely rich in natural resources but has had political instability , a lack of infrastructure , issues with corruption and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation with little holistic development . Besides the capital Kinshasa , the two next largest cities Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi are both mining communities . DR Congo 's largest export is raw minerals , with China accepting over 50 % of DRC 's exports in 2012 . , according to the Human Development Index -LRB- HDI -RRB- , DR Congo 's level of human development ranks 176 out of 187 countries .