Congo River mentioned in 1535. Abraham Ortelius in his world map of 1564 labeled as "Manicongo" the city at the mouth of the river. The tribal names in "Kongo" possibly derive from a word for a public gathering or tribal assembly. The modern name of the Kongo people or "Bakongo" was introduced in the early 20th century. The name "Zaire" is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word, ("river"), a truncation of ("river swallowing rivers"). The river was known as "Zaire" during the 16th and 17th centuries; "Congo" seems to have replaced "Zaire" gradually in English usage during the 18th century,
Zaire Province national language spoken in the province is Kikongo and the predominant ethnic group in the region is Bakongo. According to preliminary data from the General Census of Population and Housing conducted in May 2014, Zaire Province has currently 567,225 inhabitants, corresponding to 2.3 percent of the Angolan population. In this province, reside 285,333 women and 281,892 men, with 26.1% of the population living in rural areas and the majority, 73.9%, living in urban areas. The data also point to a population density of . Zaire Provincial Government consists of Governor José Joana André, and 3 Deputy Governors. Ângela Maria Botelho