This is a list of place names of towns and cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which were subsequently changed after the end of Belgian colonial rule. Place names of the colonial era tended to have two versions, one in French and one in Dutch, reflecting the two main languages of Belgium. Many of these place names were chosen after local geography or eponymous colonial figures.
Many of the place name changes occurred under the authenticité programme in the 1960s and 1970s during the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko. In some cases, the names had genuine pre-colonial usage or had already been used unofficially during the colonial period. Mobutu also changed the country's name from Congo to Zaire. Today, European speakers of both French and Dutch use the modern Congolese place names.
Kinshasa, formerly known as Léopoldville or Leopoldstad Lubumbashi, formerly known as Élisabethville or ElisabethstadKisangani, formerly known as Stanleyville or StanleystadMbandaka, formerly Coquilhatville or Cocquilhatstad
Named after William Lever, British businessman and co-founder of Lever Brothers which owned a local subsidiary, Huileries du Congo Belge (HCB), which produced palm kernels.
