Zaire
Congo's old name
Zaire was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 1997, adopted by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko as part of an Africanization campaign.
The name came from a Portuguese rendering of a local word for river.
Zaire also named the country's currency during this period.
The refugee crisis in Zaire dominated news coverage.
Major Central African waterway
- KinshasaDRC's capital city
- rainforestWet tropical woodland ecosystem
- equatorialOf Earth's central line
- tropicalOf hot, humid regions
savanna · Great Lakes · gorillas · Swahili · Bantu
Cold War-era African autocrat
- KinshasaDRC's capital city
- dictatorshipUnchecked single-ruler government
- Belgian CongoFormer central African colony
- Cold WarProlonged East-West standoff
nationalism · sovereignty · Non-Aligned Movement · cobalt · copper
Major Central African waterway
- tributaryStream entering larger river
- flowUnbroken forward movement
- currentDirected flow of charge
- rapidsTurbulent river section
navigable · basin · watershed · confluence · Stanley · exploration · steamboat · freshwater
Iran's former name
- SiamThailand's former name
- FormosaHistorical Taiwan name
- TanganyikaFormer East African nation
- AbyssiniaFormer Ethiopian name
Ceylon · Burma · Yugoslavia · Czechoslovakia · Rhodesia · Prussia · Bohemia · Ottoman
Congo River
Major Central African waterway
- KinshasaDRC's capital city
- rainforestWet tropical woodland ecosystem
- equatorialOf Earth's central line
tropical · savanna · Great Lakes · gorillas · Swahili · Bantu
Mobutu
Cold War-era African autocrat
- KinshasaDRC's capital city
- dictatorshipUnchecked single-ruler government
- Belgian CongoFormer central African colony
Cold War · nationalism · sovereignty · Non-Aligned Movement · cobalt · copper
Congo River
Major Central African waterway
rapids · navigable · basin · watershed · confluence · Stanley · exploration · steamboat · freshwater · equatorial
Persia
Iran's former name
- SiamThailand's former name
- FormosaHistorical Taiwan name
- TanganyikaFormer East African nation
Abyssinia · Ceylon · Burma · Yugoslavia · Czechoslovakia · Rhodesia · Prussia · Bohemia · Ottoman · USSR
- Former StatesPrussia, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, Soviet Union, Byzantine Empire
- African historyNubia, Dahomey, Oyo Empire, Scramble for Africa, scramble for Africa
- Central AfricaCongo, Belgian Congo, rainforest, tropical rainforest, Chad
- CongoKinshasa, Congo River, DRC, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Basin
- French PlaysTartuffe, Horace, Attila, Berenice, Esther
- French TheatreRacine, Voltaire, Tartuffe, Cyrano de Bergerac, Ionesco
ZaireDemocratic Republic of the Congo
Kinshasa-based central African nation
Zairedeveloped
Grew or advanced
rich · prosperous · wealthy · Luxembourg · industrialized