Democratic Republic of the Congo

DR Congo is a very big country in Africa.

The Equator runs across it. A huge river called the Congo flows through it. Thick rainforest covers much of the land. The capital city is Kinshasa.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo sits in the middle of Africa, and the Equator runs across it. It is the second-largest country in Africa; only Algeria is bigger. People often call it DR Congo or the DRC, so it is not mixed up with its neighbor, the Republic of the Congo.

Most of the country is a huge, low basin drained by the Congo River, and thick rainforest covers its heart. Its capital, Kinshasa, stands on the Congo River. Its name comes from the river, which Europeans long ago linked with the kingdom of the Kongo people near its mouth.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the second-largest country in Africa after Algeria, about 2,345,000 square kilometers. Apart from a coastline of about 40 km on the Atlantic it is landlocked. Britannica describes most of it as the central Congo basin, a vast rolling plain averaging about 520 m above sea level, bordered on almost every other side by high plateaus, with mountains along the Western Rift Valley in the east.

The name refers to the Congo River, which drains a basin lying mostly within the country; Europeans of the colonial period linked the river with the kingdom of the Kongo people near its mouth. From 1971 to 1997 the country was officially called Zaire, a variation of a local term meaning "great river." The World Bank estimated the population at 112,832,473 in 2025.

Kinshasa is the capital and the biggest city.

It stands beside the Congo River. It is a big center of music. Lubumbashi is a big city in the southeast. Some parks in DR Congo protect rainforests and volcanoes.

Kinshasa, the capital, stands on the Congo River about 515 kilometers from the sea. It is the largest city in central Africa and a center of music, fashion and popular culture. Until 1966 it was called Léopoldville. It grew from about 5,000 people in 1889 to about 4.7 million in the mid-1990s.

Lubumbashi in the southeast is the capital of the copper-mining region, and Mbuji-Mayi is the country's diamond center. Kisangani is as far up the river as boats can travel from Kinshasa. Parks such as Virunga, Salonga and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve are World Heritage Sites.

Kinshasa, on the Congo River about 515 km from its mouth, is the largest city in central Africa and the country's administrative, economic and cultural center. Britannica traces its growth from 5,000 people in 1889 to 250,000 in 1950, 1.5 million in 1971 and about 4.7 million in the mid-1990s, an increase of nearly a thousandfold in little more than a century; Wikidata gives about 14.6 million for 2020. It was called Léopoldville until 1966.

Lubumbashi (formerly Élisabethville) is the industrial capital of the copper-mining zone, Mbuji-Mayi the diamond center, Kisangani the terminal point of navigation upriver from Kinshasa, and Matadi the main port. UNESCO lists several national parks as World Heritage: Virunga (1979; on its List of World Heritage in Danger since 1994), Salonga (1984), the largest protected area of dense rainforest in Africa when both of its sectors are counted, and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (1996; in danger since 1997).

The middle of DR Congo is warm and rainy.

Tall trees grow close together there. The Congo River is the second-longest river in Africa. In the east there are mountains and volcanoes. One volcano has a lake of hot, glowing lava.

Most of DR Congo has an equatorial climate: hot, humid and rainy all year. In the rainforest at the heart of the Congo basin, trees grow 40 to 50 meters tall. The Congo River, 4,700 kilometers long, is Africa's second-longest river after the Nile. It flows in a giant arc, crossing the Equator twice before it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.

In the east, a long valley holds a chain of big lakes, including Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganyika. The snowy Rwenzori Range on the border with Uganda reaches 5,109 meters at Margherita Peak. Farther south rise the Virunga volcanoes. The crater of one of them, Nyiragongo, holds a lake of lava.

Most of the country lies in the equatorial climatic zone within five degrees of the Equator, where average monthly temperatures rarely fall below the low to mid-20s °C and rain falls throughout the year (about 1,800 mm a year at Eala). The rainforest of the central basin has trees 40 to 50 m tall; mangroves dominate the coastal swamps and the river's mouth, and mountain forest, bamboo and Afro-alpine plants grow on the highest peaks. The Congo, Africa's second-longest river at 4,700 km, drains a basin of about 3,460,000 km²; Britannica's river article traces it to the highlands of northeastern Zambia, where it rises as the Chambeshi, and it crosses the Equator twice before emptying into the Atlantic below Matadi.

The Western Rift Valley, the western arm of the East African Rift System, forms the eastern border and holds Lakes Albert, Edward, Kivu, Tanganyika and Mweru. Margherita Peak in the Rwenzori Range (5,109 m) is the highest point. UNESCO notes that Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are Africa's two most active volcanoes, together responsible for two-fifths of the continent's historic eruptions, and that Nyiragongo's crater holds an almost permanent lava lake.

The okapi has stripes on its legs.

It is a close cousin of the giraffe. Bonobos and chimpanzees live in the forests. Gorillas live in the mountains in the east. Hippos live in the rivers and lakes.

The okapi has white-and-black striped legs, but it is not a zebra: it is the only close living relative of the giraffe, with big ears and a long, dark tongue for stripping leaves. Wild okapis live only in DR Congo, in the northern forests.

Great apes live here too. Chimpanzees live mostly in the equatorial forest, gorillas in the eastern mountains around Lake Kivu, and bonobos only in the lowland rainforests south of the Congo River. Forest elephants, hippopotamuses and crocodiles live here too, along with hundreds of kinds of butterflies.

Britannica describes rich, diverse wildlife: chimpanzees mostly in the equatorial forest, gorillas in the eastern mountains around Lake Kivu, bonobos only in lowland rainforest along the south bank of the Congo River, and African forest elephants, a smaller, distinct species, limited to the forest. The okapi (Okapia johnstoni), endemic to the country and the giraffe's only close living relative, lives in the primary forests of Uele, Aruwimi and Ituri.

UNESCO's descriptions give a sense of scale. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve protects one-fifth of the Ituri forest, an estimated 5,000 okapis (one-sixth of all okapis) and 17 primate species. Virunga National Park ranges from 680 m to 5,109 m, has recorded 218 mammal and 706 bird species, shelters about a third of the world's mountain gorillas and has Africa's largest concentration of hippopotamuses, along Lake Edward and nearby rivers. Britannica notes that animal life has diminished in spite of efforts to limit hunting.

Many different groups of people live in DR Congo.

They speak more than 200 languages. French is used in schools and offices. Lingala, Swahili, Kongo and Tshiluba are spoken widely too. Congolese rumba is a kind of music and dance.

More than 200 ethnic groups live in DR Congo, and most belong to the large family of Bantu peoples. People speak more than 200 languages. French is the official language, used in schools, business and government, and four national languages, Swahili, Tshiluba, Lingala and Kongo, help people from different groups talk to each other. Lingala is widely spoken in Kinshasa and in its popular music.

Kinshasa is a center of music, fashion and popular culture. Congolese rumba, usually danced by a couple, was added to UNESCO's heritage lists in 2021. Traditional crafts include pottery, raffia weaving and carving.

More than 200 ethnic groups live in the country; Bantu peoples, who entered the region between the 10th and 14th centuries, form a large majority, with major cultural clusters such as the Mongo, Kongo, Luba, Lunda and Bemba. Forest peoples such as the Mbuti and Twa are thought to have been the earliest inhabitants of the Congo basin. About half the population is rural, and Britannica notes that more than two-fifths are younger than 15.

French is the official language of instruction and administration; Swahili, Tshiluba, Lingala and Kongo are national languages used in regional trade and on the radio. Britannica describes a very sizable Christian population, the largest share Roman Catholic; others follow traditional African beliefs or Islam. In 1950s Kinshasa, musicians forged a style called African jazz, and rumba and soukous became popular in the 1960s; Congolese music's influence is felt especially throughout sub-Saharan Africa. UNESCO inscribed Congolese rumba, shared with the Republic of the Congo, in 2021; its roots lie in an old dance called nkumba ("waist" in Kikongo). In the visual arts, the Kuba are known for ndop statues made in the likeness of their kings, and Luba art for statuettes depicting motherhood.