The Democratic Republic of Congo is the third-largest country in Africa and is bordered to the north by the Central African Republic and Sudan, to the east by Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, to the south by Zambia and Angola, and to the west by the Republic of Congo and the Angolan enclave, Cabinda.

The country has a coastline of only 27km (17 miles), at the outlet of the Congo River, which flows into the Atlantic.
The country straddles the Equator and has widely differing geographical features, including mountain ranges in the north and west, a vast central plain through which the Congo River flows, and the volcanoes and lakes of the Kivu region.

Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With a population of about 7.5 million, it vies with Johannesburg for the status of the second largest city in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Lagos.

Today Kinshasa is still a major cultural and intellectual center in Central Africa, with a flourishing community of musicians and artists, a university and several other important academic institutions, including a research centre for tropical medicine, some worthy historic buildings, monuments and museums. It is also the country's major industrial center, processing many of the natural products brought from the interior.