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 Punjabis the Second World War, the battalion served in British Somaliland, Aden, Persia, Iraq, Syria and Italy. It was converted into a Machine-Gun Battalion in 1946. In 1947, the 15th Punjab Regiment was allocated to Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was merged with the 1st, 14th and 16th Punjab Regiments to form one large Punjab Regiment, and 3/15th Punjab was redesignated as 11 Punjab. During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War, it was deployed in the Sylhet Sector of East Pakistan, while in 1971, it served in the Shakargarh Sector. 27th Punjabis The 27th Punjabis were an infantry regiment of the British Indian