Youth and adults in Kinshasa, the capital and the largest city of DR Congo. *Photo from Wikipedia
June 30 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Democratic Republic of the Congo from Belgium in 1960.
The region that is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo was first settled about 80,000 years ago. Bantu migration arrived in the region from Nigeria in the 7th century AD.
The Kingdom of Kongo remained present in the region between the 14th and the early 19th centuries. Belgian colonization began when King Leopold II founded the Congo Free State, a corporate state run solely by King Leopold. Reports of widespread murder and torture in the rubber plantations led the Belgian government to seize the Congo from Leopold II and establish the Belgian Congo. Under Belgian rule, the colony was run with the presence of numerous Christian organizations that wanted to Westernize the Congolese people.
After an uprising by the Congolese people, Belgium granted the Congo its independence in 1960.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as DR Congo, DRC, DROC, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo, is a country located in Central Africa. It borders the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania to the east; Zambia and Angola to the south; the Republic of the Congo to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest.
*Reference: Wikipedia
