Zaire

State · 1973–1995 CE · at its largest around 1973 CE

Mobutu Sese Seko renamed the country Zaire and preached 'authenticity', swapping European names and suits for African ones while looting its mineral wealth. Kinshasa hosted the 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle', and its musicians made soukous famous across Africa.

On its lands while it lasted

• 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.

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