Democratic Republic of the Congo

State · 1960–2026 CE · at its largest around 1960 CE

A giant of Central Africa, holding the Congo rainforest and river and vast reserves of copper, cobalt and diamonds. The hopes of independence, embodied by Patrice Lumumba, gave way to dictatorship and war, yet Congolese rumba has set much of Africa dancing.

On its lands while it lasted

Patrice Lumumba (1925 CE – 1961 CE): First prime minister of the independent Congo, deposed months after independence and executed in Katanga in January 1961.
Congo Crisis (1960–1965 CE): Period of civil war, secession and foreign intervention in the newly independent Congo, including the killing of Patrice Lumumba, ending with Mobutu's seizure of power.
Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974 CE): Wars of independence fought by nationalist movements in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique against Portugal, ending after the 1974 Carnation Revolution.
Angolan Civil War (1975–2002 CE): Long civil war after independence between the MPLA and UNITA, with Cold War intervention by Cuba, South Africa and others.
Rwandan genocide (1994 CE): Mass slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutu by Hutu extremist militias and soldiers between April and July 1994, in which an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 people were killed in about 100 days.
Second Congo War (1998–2003 CE): War in the Democratic Republic of the Congo involving nine African countries and many armed groups; millions died, mostly from disease and starvation.