50 Fun Facts About Democratic Republic of the Congo

What is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

With about 18.5 million people it is the world's most populous city proper outside China and the fourth most populous capital.

Between 1971 and 1997 the country was known by what name?

The name is a Portuguese corruption of the Kikongo nzere, 'river that swallows rivers'.

The DRC gained independence in 1960 from which European country?

It was immediately hit by secessions, the murder of its first prime minister and, in 1965, a coup.

By area, the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa after which?

At 2.35 million square kilometres it is also the eleventh-largest country in the world.

The DRC is the most populous country in the world to have which official language?

About 124 million people live there, and Lingala is the most widely spoken of more than 200 indigenous languages.

Which Belgian king ran the Congo Free State as his personal possession from 1885?

International outrage over atrocities in the rubber trade forced him to hand it to the Belgian state in 1908.

The 1903 report that exposed atrocities in the Congo Free State was written by which British consul?

He went on to found the Congo Reform Association with the journalist E. D. Morel.

Who was the first prime minister of the independent Congo, assassinated in January 1961?

He was captured by Mobutu's forces and sent to secessionist Katanga, where he was killed.

Which mineral-rich southeastern province declared independence within days of the Congo's own in 1960?

South Kasai broke away too; the crisis drew in the UN and helped bring Mobutu to power.

Who seized power in 1965 and ruled the country as a dictator until 1997?

He died in exile in Morocco less than four months after his overthrow.

Under Mobutu's 'authenticité' campaign, men had to wear the abacost, a name abbreviating what?

Western ties were banned; Mobutu himself wore the Mao-style tunic with a Paris-made leopard-skin toque.

Before Mobutu renamed it in 1966, the capital was called what?

The others became Kisangani, Lubumbashi and Mbandaka in the same purge of colonial names.

The 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle' in the Congolese capital saw Muhammad Ali beat which undefeated champion?

Ali went in as a 4-1 underdog; the fight has been called the greatest sporting event of the 20th century.

The okapi, endemic to the northeast DRC, is most closely related to which animal?

Despite its zebra-striped legs, it and the giraffe are the only living members of the family Giraffidae.

The DRC is the only country in the world where which great ape lives in the wild?

The species is confined south of the Congo River, which its ancestors could not swim across.

The word for the DRC's endemic great ape is thought to derive from what?

The first specimens were collected in the 1920s near Bolobo on the Congo River.

Virunga, Africa's oldest national park, was created in which year?

It lies in the Albertine Rift and shelters eastern gorillas and more than 300 species found nowhere else.

Mount Nyiragongo, the volcano above the city of Goma, is known for what feature in its main crater?

In 2002 lava raced out at 64 km/h; the lake has at times been the most voluminous known anywhere.

The DRC possesses roughly what share of the world's cobalt reserves?

The metal's role in electric-vehicle batteries has made the country a focus of geopolitical competition.

The Second Congo War of 1998-2003, which drew in nine African nations, is often called what?

The most widely cited death toll, 5.4 million, would make it the deadliest conflict since World War II.

The most widely reported death toll for the Second Congo War is how many?

Most died of disease and malnutrition rather than fighting; other estimates put the figure at 3 million.

2018 Nobel Peace laureate Denis Mukwege works at a hospital in which Congolese city?

He founded Panzi Hospital to treat women raped in the eastern conflicts, sharing the prize with Nadia Murad.

The Ebola virus is named after what?

The first identified outbreak in 1976 was near the river in what was then northern Zaire.

The DRC's flag is sky blue with a red diagonal stripe and what in the upper left corner?

The red stands for the blood of martyrs, the yellow for wealth and the star for the future.

Under what name did the DRC become the first sub-Saharan side at a World Cup, in 1974?

They had won the Africa Cup of Nations that year and in 1968.

How many times has DR Congo won the Africa Cup of Nations?

The 1968 final in Ethiopia was won 1-0 against Ghana; the 1974 title came as Zaire.

Congolese-born Dikembe Mutombo won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award how many times?

That ties the record with Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert; he entered the Hall of Fame in 2015.

Papa Wemba, dubbed the 'King of Rumba', was also a central figure in which fashion movement?

The Society of Ambiance-Makers and Elegant People flourished in both Congolese capitals and among migrants in Paris.

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness follows a steamer captain working for a company from which country?

Conrad never names the river, but the Congo Free State was Leopold II's private colony when he wrote it in 1899.

Which Congo explorer is best remembered for the greeting 'Dr Livingstone, I presume'?

Born John Rowlands in Wales, his work as Leopold's agent enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin.

The DRC's rainforest is the second largest in the world after which?

The country is one of 17 megadiverse nations and the most biodiverse in Africa.

What is the glaciated range on the DRC-Uganda border linked to Ptolemy's source of the Nile?

Mount Stanley's Margherita Peak reaches 5,109 metres and is permanently snow-capped.

Lake Tanganyika, on the DRC's eastern border, holds which world record among freshwater bodies?

It separates the DRC from Tanzania and is also among the deepest and oldest lakes on Earth.

The Congo River, which the country is named after, is the world's deepest and ranks where by discharge?

Only the Amazon and the Ganges-Brahmaputra carry more water to the sea.

The 2018 election victory of Félix Tshisekedi was notable as the country's first what?

Joseph Kabila stepped down in 2019 after nearly two decades in office.

Kimbanguism, followed by about 2.8% of the population, is what?

Christians of all kinds make up nearly 94% of the population, with Catholics the largest single group.

Which nation was the DRC's largest trading partner, taking 41% of its exports in 2024?

Zambia, South Africa, Singapore and the UAE followed far behind.

The DRC's biggest hydroelectric potential lies in which set of dams on the lower Congo River?

The proposed Grand Inga scheme would be the largest hydroelectric project on Earth.

What was the 1964 Belgian-US rescue of hostages from Simba rebels in Stanleyville code-named?

The Soviet- and Cuban-backed Simbas had proclaimed a 'People's Republic of the Congo' in the city.

The First Congo War of 1996–97 was triggered by refugees from which neighbouring conflict?

Laurent-Désiré Kabila took power and restored the name Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Roughly how many internally displaced people did the DRC have in 2023, mostly in the Kivus and Ituri?

About a million more Congolese refugees were still living in neighbouring countries as of 2022.

How many of the DRC's protected areas are UNESCO World Heritage Sites?

They are Garamba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga and Virunga national parks plus the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.

About how wide is the unbridged stretch of river separating the DRC's capital from its neighbour's?

Kinshasa and Brazzaville form the closest pair of capital cities in the world.

The Congo's currency was first introduced in 1887 at par with which currency?

By April 2024 it took about 2,800 francs to buy one US dollar.

Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi, the DRC's largest cities after Kinshasa, are what kind of communities?

Lubumbashi anchors the copper and cobalt belt of Katanga; Mbuji-Mayi is a diamond town.

The 2002 Nyiragongo eruption sent lava toward Goma at speeds of about how fast?

The three streams of unusually fluid lava were 46 metres wide.

The area of the present-day DRC was inhabited as early as roughly how many years ago?

The Bantu expansion in the first millennium BC then transformed the region's population and technology.

The DRC has a short coastline on which ocean?

It is squeezed between the Republic of the Congo and Angola's Cabinda exclave.

The country's name at independence in 1960, used to distinguish it from its neighbour, was what?

The neighbour was Congo-Brazzaville; the current name was adopted in the mid-1960s and restored in 1997.

In October 2025 Joseph Kabila was sentenced to death in absentia for alleged collaboration with which rebel group?

The group has fought the army in the eastern Kivu provinces for years.