Congo River and "Congo" is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to "Zahir" or "Zaire" as the name used by the inhabitants remained common. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo are named after it, as was the previous Republic of the Congo which had gained independence in 1960 from the Belgian Congo. The Republic of Zaire during 1971–1997 was also named after the river, after its name in French and Portuguese. The Congo's drainage basin covers , an area larger than India. The Congo's discharge at its mouth ranges from , with an
27th Field Artillery Regiment allotted to the Regular Army, assigned to the 198th Infantry Brigade, and activated at Fort Hood, Texas Inactivated 12 May 1967 at Fort Hood, Texas, and relieved from assignment to the 198th Infantry Brigade Redesignated 1 September 1971 as the 3d Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Activated 1 March 1988 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina Redesignated 1 October 2005 as the 3d Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment World War II Southwest Asia War on Terrorism 27th Field Artillery Regiment The 27th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army, first Constituted in 1918 in the National