Sep 19, 2017 · A short history of colonialism in Congo, 1885-1997. A very short overview of Belgian, and latterly US, imperialism in Congo, written by Marty Jezer in 2001. In recent weeks the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire, and before that the Belgian Congo, has been in the news: A brutal civil war, an horrendous AIDS epidemic, the ...