Congo definition

(place) Country in WC Africa, west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: 132,047 sq mi (342,000 sq km); cap. Brazzaville: formerly People's Republic of the Congo (1970-90)

A country of central Africa astride the equator. Inhabited originally by Pygmy peoples and later by migrating Bantu and Nilotic groups, the region came under the control of Leopold II of Belgium in the late 1870s and was annexed outright in 1908. Full independence was achieved in 1960. Army general Mobutu Sese Seko took control of the country in 1965, ruling until his ouster by rebel forces in 1997. Kinshasa is the capital and the largest city.

A country of west-central Africa with a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. It was part of French Equatorial Africa before becoming independent in 1960. A Marxist state was established in 1970, but in the early 1990s Marxism was abandoned in favor of a multiparty system, and a new constitution was adopted. Brazzaville is the capital and the largest city.

(place) River in central Africa, flowing through the Democratic Republic of the Congo into the Atlantic: 2,718 mi (4,374 km)

(place) Country in central Africa, on the equator: 905,568 sq mi (2,345,410 sq km); cap. Kinshasa: formerly Belgian Congo (1908-60); Congo (1960-71); Zaire (1971-97)