Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Belgian Congo became an independent country in 1960, named Republic of the Congo. By 1963, the country was organised into 21 provinces (informally called "provincettes") plus the capital city of Léopoldville, similar to the original 22 districts under colonial rule. In 1966, the 21 "provincettes" were grouped into eight provinces, and the capital city was renamed Kinshasa.
Timeline of early HIV/AIDS cases
Human blood samples from 1959 and 1960 from Kinshasa, the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Congo River, led scientists to extrapolate the virus back to the early 1900s, likely around 1908 in Africa. Around that time the virus may have been transmitted from another species. Paralleling the HIV discoveries, primate researchers found Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which was widespread among many populations of chimpanzees.