"mentioned in 1535. Abraham Ortelius in his world map of 1564 labeled as ""Manicongo"" the city at the mouth of the river. The tribal names in ""Kongo"" possibly derive from a word for a public gathering or tribal assembly. The modern name of the Kongo people or ""Bakongo"" was introduced in the early 20th century. The name ""Zaire"" is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word, (""river""), a truncation of (""river swallowing rivers""). The river was known as ""Zaire"" during the 16th and 17th centuries; ""Congo"" seems to have replaced ""Zaire"" gradually in English usage during the 18th century,"
"President Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire in 1971 and required citizens to adopt African names and drop their French-language ones. The name comes from Portuguese, adapted from the Kongo word nzere or nzadi (""river that swallows all rivers""). Among other changes, Leopoldville became Kinshasa and Katanga Shaba. Relative peace and stability prevailed until 1977 and 1978 when Katangan Front for Congolese National Liberation rebels, based in Angola, launched the Shaba I and II invasions into the southeast Shaba region. These rebels were driven out with the aid of French and Belgian paratroopers plus Moroccan troops. An Inter-African"
"allowed national infrastructure such as roads to deteriorate to as little as one-quarter of what had existed in 1960. Zaire became a kleptocracy as Mobutu and his associates embezzled government funds. In a campaign to identify himself with African nationalism, starting on 1 June 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities: Léopoldville became Kinshasa [the country was now Democratic Republic of The Congo – Kinshasa], Stanleyville became Kisangani, Elisabethville became Lubumbashi, and Coquilhatville became Mbandaka. This renaming campaign was completed in the 1970s. In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country the ""Republic of Zaire"", its fourth name change in 11 years and"
"1971, he renamed the country as the Republic of Zaire. He ordered the people to change their European names to African ones, and priests were warned that they would face five years' imprisonment if they were caught baptizing a Zairean child with a European name. Western attire and ties were banned, and men were forced to wear a Mao-style tunic known as an ""abacost"" (shorthand for ""à bas le costume""--""down with the suit""). In 1972, in accordance with his own decree of a year earlier, Mobutu renamed himself ""Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga"" (in Congolese, meaning ""The"
"swallows all the other rivers"", another name of the Congo river). General Mobutu became Mobutu Sésé Seko and forced all his citizens to adopt African names and many cities were also renamed. Some of the conversions are as follows: Additionally, the zaïre was introduced to replace the franc as the new national currency. 100 makuta (singular likuta) equaled one zaïre. The likuta was also divided into 100 sengi. However this unit was worth very little, so the smallest coin was for 10 sengi. Many other geographic name changes had already taken place, between 1966 and 1971. The adoption of Zairian,"
"ethnic leaders. On 16 May 1968 a parachute brigade of two regiments (each of three battalions) was formed which eventually was to grow in size to a full division. The country was renamed Zaire in 1971 and the army was consequently designated the (FAZ). In 1971 the army's force consisted of the 1st Groupement at Kananga, with one guard battalion, two infantry battalions, and a gendarmerie battalion attached, and the 2nd Groupement (Kinshasa), the 3rd Groupement (Kisangani), the 4th Groupement (Lubumbashi), the 5th Groupement (Bukavu), the 6th Groupement (Mbandaka), and the 7th Groupement (Boma). Each was about the size of"
"1971, the state's name changed to Zaire. The first stamps of Zaire were issued on 18 December 1971. In 1997 the country's name reverted to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The State of Katanga seceded from the Republic of the Congo and, during its three years of independence, produced its own stamps and issues overprinted on earlier stamps of the Belgian Congo and the Republic of the Congo. For a short period in 1960–61, South Kasai was a secessionist region in the south central area of the country that issued overprinted Belgian Congo stamps. Postage stamps and postal history"
"name changed to Zaire. The period between 1960 and 1965 is referred to as the First Congolese Republic, and the current Democratic Republic of the Congo is the Third Republic. Unrest and rebellion continued to plague the government until 1965, when Lieutenant General Joseph Désiré Mobutu, commander-in-chief of the national army, seized control of the country. Mobutu changed the country's name to the Republic of Zaire in 1971 and remained its president until 1997. Conditions in the Congo improved following the Belgian government's takeover in 1908 of the Congo Free State, which had been a personal possession of the Belgian"
"truncation of ""nzadi o nzere"" (""river swallowing rivers""). The river was known as ""Zaire"" during the 16th and 17th centuries; ""Congo"" seems to have replaced ""Zaire"" gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and ""Congo"" is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to ""Zaire"" as the name used by the natives (i.e. derived from Portuguese usage) remained common. In 1992, the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the ""Democratic Republic of the Congo"", but the change was not made. The country's name was restored by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila following the"
"After Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance in the crisis, the U.S. and Belgium became wary and oversaw his removal from office by Kasa-Vubu on 5 September and ultimate execution by Belgian-led Katangese troops on 17 January 1961. On 25 November 1965, Army Chief of Staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, who later renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko, officially came into power through a coup d'état. In 1971, he renamed the country Zaire. The country was run as a dictatorial one-party state, with his Popular Movement of the Revolution as the sole legal party. Mobutu's government received considerable support from the"
"the Zambian Copperbelt from Lubumbashi and take the Pedicle or the Samfya-Serenje road to Kasenga. Apart from the Luapula occasionally bursting its banks at Chembe in the rainy season and halting the Chembe Ferry for a few days, this happy state of affairs continued until the Congo Crisis of 1961 when travel on the pedicle stopped for security reasons and had to be routed by air or via Kasama. Although the interruption did not last long, it highlighted the vulnerability of the route. The Congo became independent in 1960 and changed its name to Zaire in 1971, and Northern Rhodesia"
"party under Mobutu's new constitution. In 1971, the state was renamed Zaire and efforts were made to remove all colonial influences. He also nationalised the remaining foreign-owned economic assets in the country, including the UMHK which became ""Gécamines"". Despite initial successes, by the time of its disestablishment Mobutu's rule was characterised by widespread cronyism, corruption and economic mismanagement. In the years after the Congo Crisis, Mobutu was able to remove many opposition figures from the crisis who might threaten his control. Tshombe was sent into a second exile in 1965 after being accused of treason. Between 1966 and 1967, two"
"it was renamed the ""Democratic Republic of the Congo"", and in 1971 it was changed again to ""Republic of Zaïre"". Shortly after independence, the provinces of Katanga (with Moise Tshombe) and South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership. Subsequent events led to a crisis between President Kasa-Vubu and Prime Minister Lumumba. On 5 September 1960, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba from office. Lumumba declared Kasa-Vubu's action ""unconstitutional"" and a crisis between the two leaders developed. Lumumba had previously appointed Joseph Mobutu chief of staff of the new Congolese army, the Armee Nationale Congolaise (ANC). Taking advantage of the leadership"
"establishment of Zaire in 1971, and the official beginning of the transition towards democracy, on 24 April 1990. This was true at the regular people's level as everywhere else. People were ordered by law to drop their Western Christian names; the titles Mr. and Mrs. were abandoned for the male and female versions of the French word for ""citizen""; Men were forbidden to wear suits, and women to wear pants. At the institutional level, many of the institutions also changed denominations, but the end result was a system that borrowed from both systems: Every corporation, whether financial or union, as"
"its sixth overall. The Congo River was renamed the Zaire River. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was invited to visit the United States on several occasions, meeting with U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union U.S. relations with Mobutu cooled, as he was no longer deemed necessary as a Cold War ally. Opponents within Zaire stepped up demands for reform. This atmosphere contributed to Mobutu's declaring the Third Republic in 1990, whose constitution was supposed to pave the way for democratic reform. The reforms turned out to be"
"the region were divided into ethnic and tribal groups. Congolese nationalism first erupted in 1959 during riots against Belgian colonial rule. Attempts to solidify the country quickly collapsed after independence when Mobutu Sese Seko rebelled against the government of Patrice Lumumba in 1960. After several years in power Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and sought to define and forge a united Zairian nation through his policy of authenticity, that included efforts to purge Christianity from Zaire - for it was deemed as colonial. There have been critics of Zairian/Congolese nationalism who believe that it was a manipulative ploy"
"provinces. Initially they were named after their capital cities, but in 1947 regional names were adopted. The Belgian Congo became an independent country in 1960, named Republic of the Congo. By 1963, the country was organised into 21 provinces (informally called ""provincettes"") plus the capital city of Léopoldville, similar to the original 22 districts under colonial rule. In 1966, the 21 ""provincettes"" were grouped into eight provinces, and the capital city was renamed Kinshasa. In 1971, the country was renamed Zaire, and three provinces were also renamed. In 1975, the capital city of Kinshasa obtained the status of a province."
"and Zaire (DRC) renamed it Lake Idi Amin or Lake Idi Amin Dada after Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. After his overthrow in 1979, it recovered its former name. In 2014, the lake was the center of an oil dispute. SOCO international entered the premises of the Virunga National Park wherethe lake is situated to prospect for oil. However villagers and workers who attempted to stop the oil company from entering the area were beaten up and even kidnapped and tortured. Plans to redraw the lines of Virunga’s boundaries and exclude the lake were taken into consideration. However, since the Park"
"independence. As they were rich in copper, cobalt and diamonds, they believed that they would be better off without the rest of Congo. A violent clash between pro-secession and pro-unity movements soon broke out. In 1965, Colonel Mobutu became president and from then on Belgium started protecting his regime against rebellion. Mobutu immediately began to arrest the former government ministers of Congo. In 1971, he changed the name of the country to ""Zaire"". On June 30, 1967, president Moise Tshombe of Katanga's jet aircraft was hijacked to Algiers, before he could return to Congo after his exile in Spain. He"
"same yellow star, now made smaller, situated in the top corner of the hoist side, with a red, yellow-lined band running diagonally across the center. The red symbolized the people's blood; the yellow symbolized prosperity; the blue symbolized hope; and the star represented unity. This flag was changed when the country was renamed Zaire in 1971. The Zaire flag was created as part of Mobutu's attempted re-Africanization of the nation and was used officially until Mobutu's overthrow in the First Congo War. The flag of Zaire was also used as the party flag of the Popular Movement of the Revolution."
"in 1970 two Douglas DC-8s were bought from Pan Am. On 27 October 1971 the country changed its name from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Republic of Zaire, and Air Congo changed its name to Air Zaïre. In the same year, the airline placed an order for three Boeing 737-200s, and occasionally operated Lockheed L-100 Hercules on lease from the Zairean government for cargo operations. The airline ordered two McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and five Boeing 737s on 3 January 1973. The DC-10s were delivered to the airline in 1973, and in February 1973, the airline announced that"
"his soldiers privately. The aversion of Western powers to communism and leftist ideology influenced their decision to finance Mobutu's quest to neutralize Kasavubu and Lumumba in a coup by proxy. A constitutional referendum after Mobutu's coup of 1965 resulted in the country's official name being changed to the ""Democratic Republic of the Congo."" In 1971 Mobutu changed the name again, this time to ""Republic of Zaire"". The new president had the staunch support of the United States because of his opposition to Communism; the US believed that his administration would serve as an effective counter to communist movements in Africa."
"and purposes, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had effectively come to an end, but it would be another year before Mobutu officially changed the country's name to Zaire. Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) The Republic of the Congo () was a sovereign state in Central Africa that was created with the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. From 1960 to 1966, the country was often known as Congo-Léopoldville (after its capital) in order to distinguish it from its north-western neighbour, also called the Republic of the Congo or Congo-Brazzaville. With the renaming of Léopoldville as Kinshasa on 1"
"its name from the Kagera River, which flows from Rwanda through northern Tanzania before it enters Lake Victoria, to emerge as the Nile, the longest river in the world. For a period of about five centuries Kagera Region were split into nine different kingdoms with a highly hierarchical society. Before European colonialism, coffee was a traditional crop in the area, used for its stimulant properties and in local cultural rituals. It was during colonial times time that coffee was transformed into a cash crop. Bananas were used as a staple food in the region. Although there was a gender based"
"time, a third team introduced the name ""Ebola virus"", derived from the Ebola River where the 1976 outbreak occurred. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) identifies Ebola virus as species ""Zaire ebolavirus"", which is included into the genus ""Ebolavirus"", family ""Filoviridae"", order ""Mononegavirales"". The name ""Ebola virus"" is derived from the Ebola River—a river that was at first thought to be in close proximity to the area in Democratic Republic of Congo, previously called Zaire, where the 1976 Zaire Ebola virus outbreak occurred—and the taxonomic suffix ""virus"". In 2000, the virus name was changed to Zaire Ebola virus,"
"supposedly said: ""Some countries go to war to get their names out there, and wars cost a lot more than $10 million."" Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was the military dictator and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which he renamed Zaire in 1971) from 1965 to 1997. He also served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity in 1967–1968. During the Congo Crisis, Mobutu, serving as chief of staff of the army and supported by Belgium and the United"
"resistance. On 16 May 1997, following failed peace talks held in Pointe-Noire on board the South African Navy ship SAS ""Outeniqua"" with Kabila and President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (who chaired the talks), Mobutu fled into exile. Kabila's forces, known as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL), proclaimed victory the next day. The AFDL would have completely overrun the country far sooner if not for the country's decrepit infrastructure. In several areas, no paved roads existed; the only vehicle paths were irregularly used dirt roads. Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo."
"on 11 November 1965, and proclaimed the Republic of Rhodesia in 1970. Subsequently, the nation became the short-lived state of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, it was not until 18 April 1980 that the country was internationally recognised as independent as the Republic of Zimbabwe. The name of the city was changed to Harare on 18 April 1982, the second anniversary of Zimbabwean independence, taking its name from the village near Harare Kopje of the Shona chief Neharawa, whose nickname was ""he who does not sleep"". Prior to independence, ""Harare"" was the name of the black residential area now known as Mbare. In"
"1961. Mobutu continued to lead the country's armed forces until he took power directly in a second coup in 1965. As part of his program of ""national authenticity"", he changed the Congo's name to ""Zaire"" in 1971, and his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972. Mobutu developed a totalitarian regime, amassed vast personal wealth, and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence. At the same time, he was given considerable support by the West and China, owing to his strong anti-Soviet stance. He was the object of a pervasive cult of personality. During his reign,"
"was called Zaire. Although what was known as Africas World War had ended in 2003 the Eastern part of the country still has on-going skirmishes between rebel groups and government forces. No other method has reduced species population so dramatically than conflict, when a militia reached the Garamba National Park in 1997 with in 3 months, half of the parks elephants two thirds of the buffalos and three quarters of its hippos vanished. The reason conflict is so damaging to wildlife is the increased use of bushmeat to feed soldiers, the prevalence of weapons, the lucrative industry of selling exotic"
"now known as ""Gécamines"". In 1971, Katanga was renamed Shaba, from the Swahili word for 'brass' (a borrowing from Arabic ""shabah""). Throughout the 1970s, further insurrections like the 1977 Shaba I were put down by the government with help from foreign nations. On May 12, 1978, for example, rebels occupied the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province. Zaire asked the United States, France, and Belgium to restore order. This resulted in 700 African and 170 European victims. In 1995, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights considered a complaint entered by the Katanga People's Congress against"
"country's name change from Congo to Zaire. Under Mobutu's leadership the FAZ was used to put down various rebellions but was deliberately kept weak to prevent any possible coup, resulting in its collapse in the face of Laurent Kabila's AFDL rebel movement during the First Congo War (1996–1997). After Kabila's overthrow of Mobutu the former FAZ troops and various rebels that supported him were in no condition to fight the invasion by Rwandan-backed militant groups during the Second Congo War (1998–2003) and largely collapsed. The peace agreement signed in 2002 initiated the process of uniting former rebel groups in a"
"wrongdoing during his time as ruler of his private colony. The entire archive of the Congo Free State was burned and he told his aide that even though the Congo had been taken from him, ""they have no right to know what I did there"". After gaining its independence in the mid-20th century, it was renamed three times: first, as the Republic of the Congo; second as Zaire, the name it retained under Mobutu Sese Seko's dictatorship; and third as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC. (This is not to be confused with the neighboring Republic of the"