In order to distinguish between the two African countries with "Congo" in their names, the Republic of the Congo is sometimes called Congo-Brazzaville, as opposed to Congo-Kinshasa (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known from 1971 to 1997 as Zaïre, the capital of which is Kinshasa).
While Kinshasa lies to the south, Brazzaville lies to the north of the Congo River.