Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (known as Zaïre from 1971 to 1997) is sometimes also refered to as "Congo-Kinshasa". It is the larger of the two countries and lies to the east. It was once the personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium, when it was known as the Congo Free State, and later a Belgian colony when it was renamed the Belgian Congo. When DRC was called Zaïre, the other Congo was known simply as "Congo".