evidence: In the late 15th Century the Congo River delta was a major commercial hub for trade. That is the period when the inhabitants of the Congo River delta first came into contact with Europeans. Leopold II of Belgium acquired rights to the Congo territory (Zaire region) at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property and named it the Congo Free State. In 1908 the Belgian government took it over and then it was called Belgian Congo. On 30 June 1960 it got its independence under the name "Democratic Republic of the Congo". [...] The two countries are neighbors, with the DRC being the larger of the two countries and Republic of Congo to its west. DRC shares borders with Angola, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Republic of Congo, theCentral African Republic, the Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika, and Zambia. [...] The Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly known as (in chronological order) the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo-Léopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire (Zaïre in French). These former names are sometimes referred to, as unofficial names, with the exception of Mobutu's discredited Zaire, along with various abbreviations, such as, Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo and DRC.