Wikijunior:Africa/Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (previously known as Zaire) is a very large country in Central Africa. It is the 11th biggest country in the world and the 2nd biggest in Africa (after Algeria). Most of the country is landlocked (meaning without a sea coast), but there is a small 40km strip of coastline in the western side of the country.

Geography
The DR of Congo has an area of 2,345,408 square kilometres and is the 11th biggest country in the world. The DR of Congo shares borders with Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in the east; Zambia, Angola, the Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.

People
The official language of the DR of Congo is French, but other languages are commonly spoken, including Lingala, Kikongo, Swahili and Tshiluba.