Congo

Look up Congo or Kongo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Congo (or Kongo or Kongō) is the name of a major river in central Africa, the Congo River.

The term Congo may refer to two countries that border the Congo river:

the larger Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southeast (capital: Kinshasa), formerly known as Zaire
the smaller Republic of the Congo to the northwest (capital: Brazzaville)

The name may also refer to:

Places

Africa

Historical states

on the territory of the current Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) or Congo-Léopoldville (1960–1971)
- Belgian Congo (1908–1960)
- Congo Free State (1885–1908)
on the territory of the current Republic of the Congo
- People's Republic of the Congo (1970–1991)
- French Congo (1880–1960)
Portuguese Congo, now the Angolan exclave of Cabinda Province

Rivers

Historical kingdoms

Kingdom of Kongo (1400–1914), covering parts of present-day Angola and the two Congo states
Kongo dia Nlaza (until late in the 16th century), a former kingdom absorbed by the Kingdom of Kongo

Administrative regions

Kongo Central, former Bas-Congo province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Other places

Congo, Paraíba, Brazil
Congo, Alabama, United States
Congo, New South Wales, Australia
Congo, West Virginia, United States

Languages and ethnic groups

Kongo people or Congolese, an ethnic group in the two Congo states and Angola
Kongo language

Entertainment

Acting

Kongō, one of the five schools of Noh acting

Film

Kongo (1932 film), a film starring Walter Huston, Lupe Velez, and Conrad Nagel
Congo (film), a 1995 film based on Michael Crichton's novel

Music

"Congo" (song), a 1997 song by Genesis from Calling All Stations
Kongos (band), a South African rock band
The Congos, a reggae vocal group from Jamaica

Print

Congo (novel), a 1980 novel by Michael Crichton

Television

Congo (BBC TV series), a 2001 BBC documentary series

Warships

HMS Congo (1816), a steamship for the Royal Navy, United Kingdom
Japanese corvette Kongō, launched 1877
Japanese battleship Kongō, launched 1912 as a battlecruiser
- Kongō-class battlecruiser
JDS Kongō (DDG-173), a Japanese destroyer launched in 1991
- Kongō-class destroyer

Other uses

Congo (loa), a spirit in Haitian voodoo mythology
Congo (chimpanzee)
The Conference of NGOs or CONGO, a worldwide group of charity and aid organizations
Vajra or Kongō, a Buddhist concept
Congo (chess variant), a chess variant invented by Demian Freeling

People

Kongō Masahiro (born 1948), former Japanese sumo wrestler
John Kongos (born 1945), South African musician, leader of the band Johnny Kongos and the G-Men
Kid Congo Powers (born 1960), American rock guitarist and singer
Louis Congo (fl. 1725), emancipated slave appointed public executioner of the French colony Louisiana
Cheick Kongo (born 1975), a.k.a. Cheick Guillaume Ouedraogo, French mixed martial arts fighter and kickboxer