OpenCage 👉🌍This time in #geoweirdness we return to Africa to consider the confusing case of "Congo", specifically the 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo (aka "DRC" or "Congo-Kinshasa") and 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo (aka "Congo-Brazzaville"
1/
2/ Both the Democratic Republic of the Congo 🇨🇩 and the Republic of the Congo 🇨🇬 draw their names from the powerful Kingdom of Kongo, a centralized state established around 1390.
The Kingdom historically spanned both banks of the Congo River, politically and culturally uniting the Bakongo people—an identity that was subsequently divided by colonial borders.
3/ The political division of the Congo began during the 1880s "Scramble for Africa".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa
The Congo River became the contested border: 🇫🇷 France’s Pierre de Brazza claimed the north bank (future RC), while King Leopold II of Belgium 🇧🇪, secured the immense south bank, which was named the Congo Free State (future DRC)
4/ The Congo Free State was owned personally by King Leopold and was not part of Belgium 🇧🇪
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State
and was brutally exploited for resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State#
in 1908 it was annexed by Belgium due to public outcry.
Meanwhile to the north "Congo français" 🇫🇷 became part of French Equatorial Africa which also included modern Gabon 🇬🇦, Central African Republic 🇨🇫, Cameroon 🇨🇲, and Chad 🇹🇩
5/ Both Congos gained independence in 1960, but the paths taken highlighted their colonial differences.
The Belgian Congo (DRC 🇨🇩) was given hasty independence on June 30 with virtually no preparation for self-rule, resulting in the immediate Congo Crisis, civil war, and chaos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Crisis
The French Congo (RC 🇨🇬), achieved a comparatively smoother independence six weeks later, on August 15.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Republic_of_the_Congo#Road_to_independence
Mab_813I'm not okay with the fact that you write about the independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo without mentioning the assassination of Patrice Lumumba with the help of Europeans.
You claim the country's problems were due to "no preparation for self-rule" (as if Africans can't govern themselves...). That's the European view of that time and there really is no reason to repeat that colonialist stance.
Seriously, we have had so many bloody conflicts in Europe and yet I haven't seen anyone making an argument in 2026 like "Well Bosnia / Kosovo etc. got virtually no preparation for self-rule, resulting in civil war and chaos"
After the outrageous atrocities by the Belgians, the Belgish King Baudouin actually had the audacity to praise Leopold II and offer advice to the newly independent country...