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This article is about the various names applied to a region of central Africa; for other uses, see Congo (disambiguation).

Congo is a name shared by two neighbouring countries in Central Africa, drained by Congo River, and usually distinguished by their full official names and occasionally by adding their capital cities:

• The Republic of the Congo (ROC), also known as "Congo-Brazzaville" (and locally as "Braza"), is the smaller of the two countries and lies to the west. It was once a French colony, originally part of French Congo and later of French Equatorial Africa. Between 1971 and 1997 (and also in some recent publications^[1]) it was simply refered to as "Congo".

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (known as Zaire 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 Zaire, the other Congo was known simply as "Congo".

"The Congos" may be used to refer to both countries. The adjective "Congolese" (as in "Congolese music" or "Congolese culture") can refer to either or both countries.

Historical usage of Congo and the alternate spelling "Kongo"

These include:

• Belgian Congo, former colony of Belgium in the present-day area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
• French Congo, former French colony in the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo (ROC).
• Middle Congo, one of the four territories of French Equatorial Africa.
• Kongo Kingdom, which comprised of a large area in Central Africa, and was formerly a Portuguese protectorate.
• Portuguese Congo, the presently Angolan Cabinda enclave

Notes

1. ^  The 2005 UN Human Development Index refers to the Republic of the Congo as "Congo", and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as "Congo, Dem. Rep. of the" [2].

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