> Between 1971 and 1997, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was known by whichname?And the answer: Zaire. Photo credit: United Nations via Flickr Creative CommonsLocated in centralAfrica, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the second largest country inAfrica. It's often referred to as the DRC, to prevent confusion with aneighboring country, the Republic of the Congo.Whether you're reading some Michael Crichton or perhaps some Tin-Tin comics, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo has been romanticized and embellished in thepages of classical literature for centuries. Referring to "The Congo" usuallyidentifies the DRC, rather than its slightly smaller neighbor – though, as theDRC is the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, that's saying a lot. The capital of the DRC, Kinshasa, borders the capital of the Republic of theCongo, Brazzaville, making them the closest capitals in the world. In fact,residents of each city often identify their nationality by placing the capitalcity in their titles – citizens of the DRC are "Congo Kinshasa" while those ofthe Republic of the Congo are "Congo Brazzaville." Photo credit: Public domain.The borders of the DRC come largely from Europeancolonization: King Leopold II of Belgium designated the largely unexploredregion of the Congo as a "free state" under his name during an 1885 Europeansummit. Without consulting any native Congolese, the DRC opened its borders toopen trade policies and became the personal project of one Belgian king, withtragic and often horrific results. The DRC is one of the most resource-wealthy countries in the world. In fact,it's estimated that the entire country holds about 25 trillion dollars inuntapped minerals and ores – that's nearly twice the GDP of Europe and severaltrillion more than that of the United States. Meanwhile, much of the nation iscovered in dense forest and extensive, untouched swaths of wildlife. While there are over 250 tribes and people groups in the DRC, communicationoccurs most commonly in French. In fact, there are more French speakers in theDRC than in France itself, making the nation the largest Francophone nation inthe world.Learn more about the diversity, colonial history and wealth of the Congo below.