Congo (Kinshasa)

This Belgian Colony in Central Africa became independent in 1960. In 1971 the country was renamed Zaire and later issues were inscribed Republique du Zaire.

Only these four stamps here.

To me, stamps of Congo were mostly confusing.
There is Congo (Brazaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Democratic Republic of Congo, Zaire and Belgian Congo and Peoples republic of Congo, and stamps inscribed Republique du Congo, Republique populaire du congo, Congo and Republique democratique du Congo all making it one big mess to sort, arrange. I figured it all out as follows with help of my catalogues and the internet.

Presently there are these two countries with Congo in their names. These are neighbouring countries
1. Democratic Republic of Congo (the Congo we are talking about here in this post)
2. Peoples Republic of Congo. See also, my post on Congo (Brazaville).

The Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly known as, in chronological order, 

Congo Free State (1885 - 1908), 

Belgian Congo (1908 - 1960), 

Republic of Congo (Leopoldville, the then capital city) (1960 - 1965), 

Democratic Republic of the Congo (1965 - 1971), 

Republic of Zaire (1971 - 1997) and 

Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997 - Present). 

Each entity issued its own stamps. The stamps you see on this post are the stamps from during the period 1960 - 1971, as emboldened above.

Do feel free to add your thoughts, comments or suggestions

NOTE: Please click on the images for a larger view / closer look.