Belgian
Congo became the republic of Congo on June 30, 1960. Later it was renamed Zaire.
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In 1877, Henry M. Stanley was
the first European to travel down the river, and Leopold II, king of the Belgians,
subsequently commissioned Stanley to undertake additional explorations and to establish
stations along the Congo river. In 1884-85, Leopold's claims to the Congo River basin were
recognized at the Conference of Berlin; he established the Congo Free State under his
personal rule. In 1908 the territory became a colony under direct control of the Belgian
government. |
| Former Belgian Congo borders on
the Republic of Congo to the west; the Central African Republic and Sudan to the north;
Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania to the east; Zambia to the south; and Angola and its
enclave of Cabinda to the south and southwest. |
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Belgian
Congo became the republic of Congo on June 30, 1960. Later it was renamed Zaire. |
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