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Jan 1, 1480
First contact with Europeans
with arrival of Portuguese explorer Diogo Cam -
British explorer Henry Morton Stanley explores length of Congo River, returning to Europe with reports of vast untapped wealth
British explorer Henry Morton Stanley explores length of Congo River, returning to Europe with reports of vast untapped wealth -
Major European powers carve up Africa at Berlin conference
Major European powers carve up Africa at Berlin conference, which approves creating Congo Free State (CFS) under direct rule of Leopold II. CFS becomes one of most brutal and exploitative of all African colonial regimes -
Public outrage
Public Outrage at treatment of native Africans leads Belgian parliament to annex CFS and rename it Belgian Congo. -
Region gains independence from Belgium
Region gains independence from Belgium (June 30) and is renamed Republic of Congo with Lumumba as prime minister and Kasavubu as president. Almost immediately country collapses into disorder as army mutinies, Katanga province secedes and Lumumba and Kasavubu fall out. Army Chief of Staff Col. Joseph Desire Mobutu seizes power (September 14). -
U.N. and Congolese government forces struggle to prevent country descending into anarchy.
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Country renamed Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Mobutu stages second military coup, naming himself president for five years.
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Mobutu establishes Popular Movement of the Revolution as sole political party
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Changes country's name to Zaire
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Mobutu announces creation of multiparty system as Western powers reign back support as Cold War ends
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Coalition government formed with Etienne Tshisekedi as premier.
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Some 1.3 million ethnic Hutus flee to camps in eastern Zaire after conflict in neighbouring Rwanda
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Ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire revolt. Uprising develops into wider anti-Mobutu rebellion led by Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo under Laurent-Desire Kabila.
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Country's name changed back to Democratic Republic of Congo
With Kabila's army about to enter Kinshasa, Mobutu -- suffering from prostate cancer -- steps down and flees to Morocco, where he dies Kabila declares himself head of state and changes country's name back to Democratic Republic of Congo.
