7 ATLASES
History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in maps
The Democratic Republic of the Congo as it appears in 7 interactive history atlases, from 1890 to 2015: Congo, Belgian Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo / Zaïre. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was the Democratic Republic of the Congo before it was Democratic Republic of the Congo? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Congo (Congo Free State 1885–1908, then Belgian) · Industrial Revolution
In 1885 King Leopold II of the Belgians claimed the Congo basin as his personal Congo Free State. His agents forced villagers to collect rubber for industrial Europe, using the threat of hostage-taking, mutilation and death. Estimates of the resulting population losses are disputed, ranging from about one million to perhaps ten million people. International protest led Belgium to take over the colony in 1908.
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Congo · Haiti and Kenya independence
The Congo was King Leopold II’s private state from 1885, then a Belgian colony from 1908. It became independent on 30 June 1960, but within weeks the country had collapsed into mutiny, secession and Cold War intervention. Observers in Nairobi and London watched the crisis as a warning of what a hasty or mismanaged handover could bring.
| Under colonial rule — the opening position | |
| Other states and societies |
HAITI AND KENYA INDEPENDENCE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Belgian Congo · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position | |
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories |
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Road to WW2
| Colonial empires & possessions — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Congo (Zaïre) · Cold War
The Congo’s independence in 1960 quickly became a cautionary tale: within weeks came secession and superpower bidding. Lumumba, its elected premier, was murdered with CIA and Belgian complicity (Ch. 8). Mobutu’s Western-backed kleptocracy then ruled for thirty-two years, hollowing out the country. The bill came due in the wars of the 1990s.
| Non-aligned & neutral — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Congo / Zaïre · Decolonization of Africa
Belgium had left the enormous, mineral-rich Congo without trained administrators or officers. Within days of independence on 30 June 1960, the country collapsed. Lumumba’s murder, Katanga’s copper secession, the UN’s first war and Mobutu’s thirty-two-year kleptocracy followed. The Congo became a cautionary tale of the power of colonial misrule and Cold War intervention to strangle a new nation at birth. It was renamed Zaïre, then Congo again.
| Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish & Italian-ruled — the opening position | |
| Independent Africa |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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