Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)
The Republic of the Congo () was a sovereign state in Central Africa that was created with the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. From 1960 to 1966, the country was often known as "Congo-Léopoldville" (after its capital) in order to distinguish it from its north-western neighbour, also called the Republic of the Congo or Congo-Brazzaville. With the renaming of Léopoldville as Kinshasa on 1 June 1966, it was known as "Congo-Kinshasa" until 1971.
White Africans of European ancestry
Thousands of Flemings, along with the Dutch, migrated to South Africa for many years between the 17th century and the 20th century. Immigration into the RSA has slowed down drastically, but the remnants of a huge Flemish population still exist in Southern Africa. Many Flemish colonials, including farmers and mineowners, moved to the Belgian Congo to seek their fortunes during the colonial era, entrenching a system of racial segregation not unlike those practiced in most other European-ruled African territories. The old segregated Belgian neighbourhoods, in fact, are still visible in Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville in French, Leopoldstad in Dutch), the Democratic Republic of the Congo's capital city. Despite the mass emigration of white people to Belgium, the Netherlands, and South Africa during the Congo Crisis, there are still a little under 5,000 Flemings estimated to be living in the Congo.