Provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo Kinshasa)

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Updates: 

I've added some to the Change history. Andrew Leonard pointed out a duplicate entry, which I have now removed.

Voting on a new constitution for the Democratic Republic of Congo took place on 2005-12-18 and -19. The constitution appears to have been approved. Article 2 specifies that the country is to be subdivided into Kinshasa city and 25 provinces. Kinshasa has equal status to a province. The boundaries of the provinces will be determined by an organic law. The new provinces are intended to be more homogeneous ethnically and culturally than the former ones were. Apparently some of the old provinces will be left intact, while others will be subdivided internally. One site asserts that the new provinces represent a return to the situation in the 1960s, but I believe that is no more than a rough approximation.

The constitution will take effect when it is promulgated by the president, probably in early- or mid-2006. The following table shows the expected new provinces. Jose Gavinha drew this development to my attention.

Earlier, I wrote, "Brigadier General James Kazini created a new province called Kibale-Ituri in 1999-07, taking part of the territory of Orientale. It is doubtful whether this province will be accepted as legitimate by the central government." Recent news reports speak of events in Ituri province, and of Bunia as its capital. The province has probably not been officially recognized, but under the new constitution it will be.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It shows the name and code for a province changed from Haut-Congo (HC) to Orientale (OR), and the status of the regions changed to provinces.

In about 1996, one of the regions of Zaïre, Kivu, was subdivided into three new regions: Maniema, Nord-Kivu, and Sud-Kivu. On May 17, 1997, the victorious Laurent-Désiré Kabila established the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the following year, the status of the divisions changed from regions to provinces, and the names of three provinces were changed. Bas-Zaïre became Bas-Congo; Haut-Zaïre became Haut-Congo, and then changed again to Orientale; and Shaba became Katanga. The following table shows the results of these changes.

Country overview: 

At the start of the 20th century, the État Indépendant du Congo (Congo Free State) was the personal domain of King Léopold II of Belgium. In 1908, Leopold ceded it to Belgium. As a Belgian colony, it was called Belgian Congo. It became independent on 1960-06-30 and took the name République du Congo. A month and a half later, the French colony on the other side of the Congo River, Moyen Congo, gained its independence and likewise took the name République du Congo. Most people distinguished the two countries by calling them Congo-Léopoldville and Congo-Brazzaville, according to their capitals. In 1964, the former Belgian colony changed its official name to République democratique du Congo. On 1971-10-27 it was renamed to Zaire (or Zaïre). On 1997-05-19, it changed back to République democratique du Congo.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Den Demokratiske Republik Congo, Zaire (obsolete)
2. Dutch: Congo-Kinshasa, Democratische Republiek Congo, Belgisch Congo (obsolete)
3. English: Congo-Kinshasa (informal), Belgian Congo (obsolete), Congo Free State (obsolete), Congo-Léopoldville (obsolete), Kongo Free State (obsolete), Zaire (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Kinshasan Kongo, Kongon demokraattinen tasavalta, Zaire (obsolete)
5. French: République f démocratique du Congo m, Congo Belge (obsolete), Zaïre m (obsolete)
6. German: Demokratische Republik f Kongo m, Zaire n (obsolete)
7. Icelandic: Kongó alþýðulýðveldi, Zaír (obsolete)
8. Italian: Repubblica f Democratica del Congo m, Zaire m (obsolete)
9. Norwegian: Kongo-Kinshasa, Den demokratiske republikken Kongo (formal), Zaïre (obsolete)
10. Portuguese: República f Democrática do Congo m, Congo m Belga (obsolete), Zaire m (obsolete)
11. Spanish: República f Democrática del Congo m, Congo Belga (obsolete)
12. Swedish: Kongo (Kinshasa)
13. Turkish: Kongo Demokratik Cumhuriyeti, Kongo Kinşasa (informal), Zaire Cumhuriyeti (obsolete)

Origin of name: 

from the Congo river, which came from the ethnic name Kikongo

Primary subdivisions: 

Democratic Republic of Congo is divided into ten provinces and one ville neutre (neutral city).

Further subdivisions:

See the Administrative Zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo page.

The regions are divided into 41 sous-régions (sub-regions), which are further divided into 216 zones administratives (administrative zones), which are in turn subdivided into collectivités.

A 1930 text says that the Belgian Congo was divided into five provinces (naming Ruanda-Urundi as one of them), subdivided into 21 districts, and then into 179 territoires (territories).

Territorial extent: 

Sud-Kivu includes Île Idjwi, an island in Lake Kivu.

Origins of names: 

1. Bas-Congo: French for lower Congo. Region lies along the lower reaches of the Congo River.
2. Haut-Congo: French for upper Congo
3. Kinshasa: named after a nearby pre-colonial village, Kikongo for salt market
4. Kivu: for Lake Kivu, whose name is Rwandese for large body of water
5. Shaba: Swahili for copper, which is mined there
6. Zaïre: From a native word n'zai: river, a traditional name for the Congo River. It was the river's official name, and the country's, from 1971 to 1997.

Change history: 

1. 1885-02-26: General Act of the Berlin Conference created the Congo Free State as personal property of King Léopold II of Belgium. Initially it contained four districts. More were created over the years.
2. 1908-10-18: Under the Colonial Charter, Congo became a Belgian colony, under the name of Belgian Congo (French: Congo Belge, Flemish: Belgisch Congo).
3. 1910-09-01: Katanga merged with Belgian Congo, and was divided into four districts.
4. 1912: Number of districts had reached 22. According to Roland and E. Duchesne, in Cours Complet de Geographie : Le Congo Belge , Namur, 1914, they were:

1. Note: Lac Leopold II is now known as Lac Mai-Ndombe.
2. 1926-03-01: Ruanda-Urundi became united administratively with Belgian Congo, although it remained autonomous. (The date is the effective date of the law of 1925-08-21.)
3. 1929: National capital moved from Boma to Léopoldville.
4. 1933-10-01: Belgian Congo reorganized from four provinces (Congo Kasai, Équateur, Katanga, and Orientale) into six provinces as shown in the following table:

1. 1952: Name of capital of Kivu province changed from Costermansville to Bukavu.
2. ~1957: Capital of Kasai province moved from Lusambo to Luluabourg.
3. 1960: After independence there were changes of all sorts. New provinces were created repeatedly. By 1963-06-25, when Katanga-Oriental was formed, the list was as shown here.

1. The Rulers Web site has histories of the provinces on its Provinces 1960-66  page. I have yet to validate them against my other sources. Another page with historical changes is on this flags  site.
2. 1966-07-01: Country reorganized into Bandundu, Bas-Zaïre, Équateur, Haut-Zaïre, Kasai-Occidental, Kasai-Oriental, Kinshasa, Kivu, and Shaba regions. National capital renamed from Léopoldville to Kinshasa; Stanleyville renamed to Kisangani; Élisabethville renamed to Lubumbashi; Coquilhatville renamed to Mbandaka; Banningville renamed to Bandundu; Bakwanga renamed to Mbuji-Mayi; Luluabourg renamed to Kananga; Costermansville renamed to Bukavu.
3. 1972: Katanga region renamed to Shaba.
4. ~1975: Kongo-Central region renamed to Bas-Zaïre.
5. ~1980: An area of 7,949 sq. km. transferred from Bas-Zaïre region to Kinshasa.
6. 1997-05-19: Name of Bas-Zaïre changed to Bas-Congo, Haut-Zaïre to Haut-Congo, and Shaba to Katanga.
7. 1997: Name of Haut-Congo changed to Orientale.
8. 1997-10: Status of regions changed to provinces by statutory order. Kivu region (ISO code KV, FIPS code CG07, capital Bukavu) split into Maniema, Nord-Kivu, and Sud-Kivu.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Bas-Congo: Bas-Zaïre, Kongo-Central (obsolete); Lower Zaire (English-obsolete)
2. Équateur: Equator, Equatorial (English)
3. Kasai: Kassai (variant)
4. Kasai-Occidental: Kasai West, West Kasai (English)
5. Kasai-Oriental: East Kasai, Kasai East (English)
6. Katanga: Shaba (obsolete)
7. Kinshasa: Léopoldville (obsolete)
8. Kivu: Kivou (variant)
9. Orientale: Haut-Congo, Haut-Zaïre (obsolete); Upper Zaire (English-obsolete)