When Mobutu seized power, he instituted a program of "authenticity"- removing the so called "mental colonialism." This involved changing French names to Congan languages, a new national dress, and renaming towns. For reasons that are unknown, Mobutu renamed his country currency , and the Congo river after a Portuguese corruption of "nZair", a name of the river. This was Zaire. By the 1980s authenticity has lost credence and so the name was changed back.