First Congolese Republic
| 1960–1965 | |||||||||
| Motto: Justice – Paix – Travail ("Justice – Peace – Work") | |||||||||
| Anthem: Debout Congolais ("Arise, Congolese") | |||||||||
| Capital | Léopoldville (now "Kinshasa") | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Demonym | Léopoldville-Congolese | ||||||||
| Government | Federal parliamentary republic (1960–1964) Unitary parliamentary republic (1964–1965) | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1960–1965 | Joseph Kasa-Vubu | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1960 | Patrice Lumumba | ||||||||
• 1960, 1961 | Joseph Iléo | ||||||||
• 1961–1964 | Cyrille Adoula | ||||||||
• 1964–1965 | Moïse Tshombe | ||||||||
• 1965 | Évariste Kimba | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
| 30 June 1960 | |||||||||
| 30 December 1961 | |||||||||
| 16 January 1962 | |||||||||
| 15 January 1963 | |||||||||
| 1 August 1964 | |||||||||
| 25 November 1965 | |||||||||
| Currency | Congolese franc | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Democratic Republic of the Congo | ||||||||
| History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | ||||||||||||||||
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| See also: Years | ||||||||||||||||
| DRC Portal | ||||||||||||||||
The Republic of the Congo (French: République du Congo) or First Congolese Republic, formerly the Belgian Congo and now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was a state in Central Africa that gained independence in 1960 and continued until a 1965 coup d'état by General Joseph Mobutu.
The country had been a colony of Belgium since 1908 and was granted independence in 1960 as a result of pressure from the Congolese nationalist movement led by Patrice Lumumba. Almost immediately after independence, the country was plunged into the Congo Crisis, a series of civil wars and secessionist conflicts, notably with the break-away State of Katanga, which lasted until 1965. The democratic government of Lumumba was overthrown in an army coup led by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu and Lumumba was killed by Katangan forces in 1961. A UN peace-keeping mission operated in the country from 1960 to 1964 during which a multi-national force of 20,000 troops was deployed. In 1965 Mobutu seized absolute power in a second coup, changing the country's name to Zaire in 1971.