History UsefulNotes / DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone [[CrapsackWorld from suck]] to suck. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium . He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He essentially owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and... well, let's just say there were no picnics to be had. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population essentially became slaves to provide enough rubber to finance whatever Leopold wanted at the time. [[YouHaveFailedMe If they failed to meet the quota]], the Congolese [[AnArmAndALeg had their hands chopped off]], among other things. It created an international scandal (which inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based) that forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. While this was agreed to be better than Leopold, it was still very harsh--Belgian colonial officials were not known for their sympathy to the locals. While they did govern with a somewhat lighter hand and had a fair bit of success turning the Congo into a "model colony" with proper infrastructure and education, they were also probably the most blatant racists of all the various colonial powers short of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany the]] [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly genocidal]] [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan ones]]. They made a point of distinguishing between groups of their colonial subjects even when the distinctions did not previously exist or meant something else entirely (the worst example being the changes to the differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi in neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}}, but this happened in the Congo, as well).

After the takeover by Joseph Mobutu, the country would remain intact and Mobutu would later take control of the country for life in 1965. He renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and began Africanizing everything--including himself, changing his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. The name change was supposedly part of the Africanization, despite "Congo" already being a perfectly African name in its own right (deriving from the above-mentioned Kongo Kingdom). During his rule, Zaire's economy went into the toilet due to his unparalleled corruption. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also, he paid Muhammad Ali and George Foreman $5 million each to host the Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa.]] Mobutu remained in power until 1997 when troops from Rwanda and Uganda backed rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and overthrew him. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. The [[UsefulNotes/TheCongoWars First and Second Congo War]] took place during this time. Also known as the Great War of Africa, it was the second-bloodiest conflict since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with around four million deaths (mostly from disease and starvation). Kabila was killed in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. The conflict ended in 2002, but the country's eastern region still sees much bloodshed on a daily basis. In 2006, the country held their first elections since gaining independence.

* ''[[VideoGame/SOCOMUSNavySeals SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs]]'' has several missions in the Congolese jungle.

* ''[[VideoGame/SOCOMUSNavySeals SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs]]'' has a mission in the Congolese jungle.

* ''VideoGame/SOCOMUSNavySeals'' has a mission in the Congolese jungle.

A Central African country right in the middle of Africa, the DR Congo is the second largest country in Africa and has the most natural resources. The Congo River is home to a vast ecosystem of fish. The Kivu region has diamonds. Katanga is home to large supplies of copper and provided the uranium for the bombs dropped in Japan. The troubled eastern region has gold and metals used in electronics. It is home to several unique species including the okapi and bonobo. It has the second largest rain forest in the world.

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Double Agent'' Version 1 has its 9th mission take place in Kinshasa.

The DR Congo is the second largest country in Africa and has the most natural resources. The Congo River is home to a vast ecosystem of fish. The Kivu region has diamonds. Katanga is home to large supplies of copper and provided the uranium for the bombs dropped in Japan. The troubled eastern region has gold and metals used in electronics. It is home to several unique species including the okapi and bonobo. It has the second largest rain forest in the world.

%%!!Tropes as portrayed in fiction:

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone [[CrapsackWorld from suck]] to suck. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium . He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He essentially owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and... well, let's just say there were no picnics to be had. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population essentially became slaves to provide enough rubber to finance whatever Leopold wanted at the time. [[YouHaveFailedMe If they failed to meet the quota]], the Congolese [[AnArmAndALeg had their hands chopped off]], among other things. It created an international scandal (which inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based) that forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. While this was agreed to be better than Leopold, it was still very harsh--Belgian colonial officials were not known for their sympathy to the locals. While they did govern with a somewhat lighter hand and had a fair bit of success turning the Congo into a "model colony" with proper infrastructure and education, they were also probably the most blatant racists of all the various colonial powers short of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany the]] [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly genocidal.]] They made a point of distinguishing between groups of their colonial subjects even when the distinctions did not previously exist or meant something else entirely (the worst example being the changes to the differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi in neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}}, but this happened in the Congo, as well).

* Non-documentary film ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Witch War Witch]]'' is entirely filmed in the DRC and tells the story of child soldiers.

After the takeover by Joseph Mobutu, the country would remain intact and Mobutu would later take control of the country for life in 1965. He renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and began Africanizing everything--including himself, changing his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. The name change was supposedly part of the Africanization, despite "Congo" already being a perfectly African name in its own right (deriving from the above-mentioned Kongo Kingdom). During his rule, Zaire's economy went into the toilet due to his unparalleled corruption. Mobutu remained in power until 1997 when troops from Rwanda and Uganda backed rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and overthrew him. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. The [[UsefulNotes/TheCongoWars First and Second Congo War]] took place during this time. Also known as the Great War of Africa, it was the second-bloodiest conflict since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with around four million deaths (mostly from disease and starvation). Kabila was killed in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. The conflict ended in 2002, but the country's eastern region still sees much bloodshed on a daily basis. In 2006, the country held their first elections since gaining independence.

After the takeover by Joseph Mobutu, the country would remain intact and Mobutu would later take control of the country for life in 1965. He renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and began Africanizing everything--including himself, changing his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. The name change was supposedly part of the Africanization, despite "Congo" already being a perfectly African name in its own right (deriving from the above-mentioned Kongo Kingdom). During his rule, Zaire's economy went into the toilet due to his unparalleled corruption. Mobutu remained in power until 1997 when troops from Rwanda and Uganda backed rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and overthrew him. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. The [[UsefulNotes/TheCongoWars First and Second Congo War]] took place during this time. Also known as the Great War of Africa, it was [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the second-bloodiest conflict]] since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with [[AMillionIsAStatistic around four million deaths]] (mostly from disease and starvation). Kabila was killed in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. The conflict ended in 2002, but the country's eastern region still sees much bloodshed on a daily basis. In 2006, the country held their first elections since gaining independence.

* In ''Literature/TarzanOfTheApes'' (first published in 1912) a group of African tribesmen escape the Congo Free State and establish a new village in the jungle where Tarzan lives. The 2016 film ''Film/TheLegendOfTarzan'' moved Tarzan himself to the Belgian Congo, with colonial politics driving the action.

* ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'s second adventure ''Recap/{{Tintin Tintin in the Congo}}'' is a pro-colonialist comic book. It was incredibly racist and showed disregard for wildlife, showing a scene of a rhino being blown up with dynamite. Since Tintin is a Belgian comic, you can see the [[StrawHypocrite conflict of interest]]. Considered an OldShame by its author, who later redrew the worst pages.

* In ''Literature/TarzanOfTheApes'' (first published in 1912) a group of African tribesmen escape the Congo Free State and establish a new village in the jungle where Tarzan lives.

* ''Film/{{Ali}}'' ends with Muhammad Ali going to Zaire and engaging in the Rumble in the Jungle with George Foreman, at the behest of President Mobutu.

After the takeover by Joseph Mobutu, the country would remain intact and Mobutu would later take control of the country for life in 1965. He renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and began Africanizing everything--including himself, changing his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. The name change was supposedly part of the Africanization, despite "Congo" already being a perfectly African name in its own right (deriving from the above-mentioned Kongo Kingdom). During his rule, Zaire's economy went into the toilet due to his unparalleled corruption. Mobutu remained in power until 1997 when troops from Rwanda and Uganda backed rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and overthrew him. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. The [[UsefulNotes/TheCongoWars First and Second Congo War]] took place during this time. Also known as the Great War of Africa, it was [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the second-bloodiest conflict]] since WorldWarTwo with [[AMillionIsAStatistic around four million deaths]] (mostly from disease and starvation). Kabila was killed in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. The conflict ended in 2002, but the country's eastern region still sees much bloodshed on a daily basis. In 2006, the country held their first elections since gaining independence.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/congo-flag_7520.gif

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone [[CrapsackWorld from suck]] to suck. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium . He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He essentially owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and... well, let's just say there were no picnics to be had. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population essentially became slaves to provide enough rubber to finance whatever Leopold wanted at the time. [[YouHaveFailedMe If they failed to meet the quota]], the Congolese [[AnArmAndALeg had their hands chopped off]], among other things. It created an international scandal (which inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based) that forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. While this was agreed to be better than Leopold, it was still very harsh--Belgian colonial officials were not known for their sympathy to the locals. While they did govern with a somewhat lighter hand and had a fair bit of success turning the Congo into a "model colony" with proper infrastructure and education, they were also probably the most blatant racists of all the various colonial powers short of [[ImperialGermany the]] [[FascistItaly genocidal.]] They made a point of distinguishing between groups of their colonial subjects even when the distinctions did not previously exist or meant something else entirely (the worst example being the changes to the differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi in neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}}, but this happened in the Congo, as well).

If you've read this far and somehow still aren't convinced the DRC is a CrapsackWorld, try Googling descriptions of the civil war there, including war rape.

After the takeover by Joseph Mobutu, the country would remain intact and Mobutu would later take control of the country for life in 1965. He renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and began Africanizing everything--including himself, changing his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. During his rule, Zaire's economy went into the toilet due to his unparalleled corruption. Mobutu remained in power until 1997 when troops from Rwanda and Uganda backed rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and overthrew him. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. The [[UsefulNotes/TheCongoWars First and Second Congo War]] took place during this time. Also known as the Great War of Africa, it was [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the second-bloodiest conflict]] since WorldWarTwo with [[AMillionIsAStatistic around four million deaths]] (mostly from disease and starvation). Kabila was killed in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. The conflict ended in 2002, but the country's eastern region still sees much bloodshed on a daily basis. In 2006, the country held their first elections since gaining independence.

If you've read this far and somehow still aren't convinced the DRC is a CrapsackWorld, try Googling descriptions of the civil war there, including war rape. It really is a terrifying shithole of rape and AIDS.

After the takeover by Joseph Mobutu, the country would remain intact and Mobutu would later take control of the country for life in 1965. He renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and began Africanizing everything--including himself, changing his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. During his rule, Zaire's economy went into the toilet due to his unparalleled corruption. Mobutu remained in power until 1997 when troops from Rwanda and Uganda backed rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and overthrew him. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. The [[UsefulNotes/TheCongoWars First and Second Congo War]] took place during this time. Also known as the Great War of Africa, it was the bloodiest conflict since WorldWarTwo with [[AMillionIsAStatistic around four million deaths]] (mostly from disease and starvation). Kabila was killed in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. The conflict ended in 2002, but the country's eastern region still sees much bloodshed on a daily basis. In 2006, the country held their first elections since gaining independence.