TheCongo River,[a] formerly also known as theZaire River, is the second-longest river inAfrica, shorter only than theNile, as well as the third largest river in the worldby discharge volume, following theAmazon andGanges–Brahmaputra rivers. It is the world's deepest recorded river, with measured depths of around 220 m (720 ft).[13] The Congo–Lualaba–Luvua–Luapula–Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km (2,900 mi), which makes it the world's ninth-longest river. The Chambeshi is atributary of theLualaba River, andLualaba is the name of the Congo River upstream ofBoyoma Falls, extending for 1,800 km (1,100 mi).
Measured along with the Lualaba, the main tributary, the Congo River has a total length of 4,370 km (2,720 mi). It is the only major river to cross theequator twice.[14] TheCongo Basin has a total area of about 4,000,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi), or 13% of the entire African landmass.
The nameCongo/Kongo originates from theKingdom of Kongo once located on the southern bank of the river. The kingdom in turn was named after the indigenous BantuKongo people, known in the 17th century as "Esikongo".[15] South of the Kingdom of Kongo proper lay the similarly namedKakongo kingdom, mentioned in 1535.Abraham Ortelius labelled "Manicongo" as the city at the mouth of the river in his world map of 1564.[b] The tribal names inKongo possibly derive from a word for a public gathering or tribal assembly. The modern name of the Kongo people orBakongo was introduced in the early 20th century.[citation needed]
The nameZaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of aKikongo word,nzere ("river"), a truncation ofnzadi o nzere ("river swallowing rivers").[16] The river was known asZaire during the 16th and 17th centuries;Congo seems to have replacedZaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, andCongo is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references toZahir orZaire as the name used by the inhabitants remained common.[17] TheDemocratic Republic of the Congo and theRepublic of the Congo are named after it, as was the previousRepublic of the Congo which had gained independence in 1960 from theBelgian Congo. TheRepublic of Zaire during 1971–1997 was also named after the river's name inFrench andPortuguese.
The Congo'sdrainage basin covers 4,014,500 km2 (1,550,000 sq mi),[6] an area nearly equal to that of theEuropean Union. The Congo'sdischarge at its mouth ranges from 23,000 to 75,000 m3/s (810,000 to 2,650,000 cu ft/s), with an average of 41,000 m3/s (1,400,000 cu ft/s).[6] The river transports annually 86 million tonnes ofsuspended sediment to theAtlantic Ocean and an additional 6% ofbedload.[18]
The river and itstributaries flow through theCongo rainforest, the second largest rainforest area in the world, after theAmazon rainforest in South America. The third-largest river in the world by discharge volume (at mouth 41,860 m3/s), following theAmazon (219,530 m3/s) andGanges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (total discharge at delta 43,950 m3/s) rivers;[8] the second-largest drainage basin of any river, behind the Amazon; and is one of the deepest rivers in the world, at depths greater than 220 m (720 ft).[13][19] Because its drainage basin includes areas both north and south of theEquator, its flow is stable, as there is always at least one part of the river experiencing arainy season.[20]
The sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of theEast African Rift, as well asLake Tanganyika andLake Mweru, which feed theLualaba River, which then becomes the Congo belowBoyoma Falls. TheChambeshi River in Zambia is generally taken as the source of the Congo in line with the accepted practice worldwide of using the longest tributary, as with the Nile River.
The Congo flows generally toward the northwest fromKisangani just below the Boyoma Falls, then gradually bends southwestward, passing byMbandaka, joining with theUbangi River and running into thePool Malebo (Stanley Pool).Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) andBrazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool, where the river narrows and falls through a number ofcataracts in deep canyons (collectively known as theLivingstone Falls), running byMatadi andBoma, and into the sea atMuanda.
Lower Congo constitutes the "lower" parts of the great river; that is the section of the river from theriver mouth at theAtlantic coast to the twin capitals of Brazzaville and Kinshasa. In this section of the river, there are two significant tributaries, both on the left or south side. TheKwilu River originates in the hills near theAngolanborder and enters the Congo some 100 km upstream fromMatadi. The other is theInkisi River, that flows in a northerly direction from theUíge Province in Angola to theconfluence with the Congo atZongo some 80 km (50 mi) downstream from the twin capitals. Because of the vast number of rapids, in particular theLivingstone Falls, this section of the river is not operated continuously by riverboats.
The Congo basin covers ten countries and accounts for about 13% ofAfrica. The highest point in the Congo basin is in theRuwenzori Mountains, at an altitude of around 4,340 m (14,240 ft) above sea level.
Distribution of the Congo basin area between countries:[21]
The town ofMbandaka is a busy port on the banks of the Congo River.The Congo River atMaluku.
Although the Livingstone Falls prevent access from the sea, nearly the entire Congo above them is readilynavigable in sections, especially between Kinshasa and Kisangani. Large river steamers worked the river until quite recently.[when?] The Congo River still is a lifeline in a land with few roads or railways.[29] Railways now bypass the three major falls, and much of the trade of Central Africa passes along the river, includingcopper,palm oil (as kernels),sugar,coffee, andcotton.[30]
The Congo River is the most powerful river in Africa. During the rainy season over 50,000 cubic metres (1,800,000 cu ft) of water per second flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Opportunities for the Congo River and its tributaries to generate hydropower are therefore enormous. Scientists have calculated that the entire Congo Basin accounts for 13 percent of globalhydropower potential. This would provide sufficient power for all ofSub-Saharan Africa's electricity needs.[31]
Currently, there are about 40 hydropower plants in the Congo Basin. The largest are theInga dams, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) southwest of Kinshasa. The project was launched in the early 1970s, when the first dam was completed.[32] The plan (as originally conceived) called for the construction of five dams that would have had a total generating capacity of 34,500 megawatts (MW). To date only the Inga I and Inga II dams have been built, generating 1,776 MW.[31]
In February 2005,South Africa's state-owned power company,Eskom, announced a proposal to expand generation through improvements and the construction ofa new hydroelectric dam. The project would bring the maximum output of the facility to 40,000 megawatts (MW).[33] It is feared that these new hydroelectric dams could lead to the extinction of many of the fish species that are native to the river.[34]
The current course of the Congo River formed between 1.5 and 2 million yearsBP, during thePleistocene.[35][36] It is likely that during this period many upper tributaries of the Congowere captured from adjacent river basins, including the Uele and upper Ubangi fromthe Chari system[37] and the Chambeshi River[38] alongside a number of upper Kasai River tributaries fromthe Zambezi system.[39]
In terms of aquatic life, the Congo River Basin has a very highspecies richness and among the highest known densities ofendemics.[43] As of 2009[update], almost 800 fish species have been recorded from the Congo River Basin (not countingLake Tanganyika, which is connected but ecologically very different),[44] and large sections remain virtually unstudied.[45] For example, the section inSalonga National Park, which is about the size of Belgium, had still not been sampled at all in 2006.[46] New fish species are scientifically described with some regularity from the Congo River Basin, and manyundescribed species are known.[47]
The Congo has by far the highest diversity of any African river system; in comparison, the next richest are the Niger,Volta and Nile with about 240, 140 and 130 fish species, respectively.[44][48] Because of the great ecological differences between the regions in the Congo basin—including habitats such as river rapids, deep rivers, swamps, and lakes—it is often divided into multipleecoregions (instead of treating it as a single ecoregion). Among these ecoregions, the Livingstone Falls cataracts has more than 300 fish species,[49] including approximately 80 endemics[34] while the southwestern part (Kasai River basin) has more than 200 fish species, of which about a quarter are endemic.[50]
17th-century map of the Congo estuaryIn this 1853 map of Africa, the remainingUnexplored Region essentially corresponds to the Congo basin
The entire Congo basin is populated byBantu peoples, divided into several hundred ethnic groups.Bantu expansion is estimated to have reached the middle Congo by about 500 BC and the upper Congo by the first century AD. Remnants of the aboriginal population displaced by the Bantu migration,Pygmies/Abatwa of theUbangian phylum, remain in the remote forest areas of the Congo Basin.
By the 13th century there were three main confederations of states in the western Congo Basin. In the east were theSeven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza, considered to be the oldest and most powerful, which likely includedNsundi,Mbata,Mpangu, and possiblyKundi andOkanga. South of these wasMpemba which stretched from modern-dayAngola to the Congo River. It included various kingdoms such asMpemba Kasi andVunda. To its west across the Congo River was a confederation of three small states;Vungu (its leader),Kakongo, andNgoyo.[56]: 24–25
TheKingdom of Kongo was formed in the late 14th century from a merging of the kingdoms ofMpemba Kasi andMbata Kingdom on the left banks of the lower Congo River. Its territorial control along the river remained limited to what corresponds to the modernKongo Central province. European exploration of the Congo began in 1482 when Portuguese explorerDiogo Cão discovered the river estuary[57] (likely in August 1482), which he marked by aPadrão, or stone pillar (still existing, but only in fragments) erected on Shark Point. Cão sailed up the river for a short distance, establishing contact with the Kingdom of Kongo. The full course of the river remained unknown throughout the early modern period.[c]
The upper Congo basin runs west of theAlbertine Rift.[57] Its connection to the Congo was unknown until 1877. The extreme northeast of the Congo basin was reached by theNilotic expansion at some point between the 15th and 18th centuries, by the ancestors of theSouthern Luo speakingAlur people.Francisco de Lacerda followed the Zambezi and reached the uppermost part of the Congo basin (theKazembe in the upper Luapula basin) in 1796.
The upper Congo River was first reached by theArab slave trade by the 19th century.Nyangwe was founded as a slavers' outpost around 1860.David Livingstone was the first European to reach Nyangwe in March 1871.[57] Livingstone proposed to prove that the Lualaba connected to the Nile, but on 15 July, he witnessed a massacre of about 400 Africans by Arab slavers in Nyangwe, which experience left him too horrified and shattered to continue his mission to find the sources of the Nile, so he turned back to Lake Tanganyika.[58][59]
The Europeans had not reached the central regions of the Congo basin from either the east or west, untilHenry Morton Stanley's expedition of 1876–77, supported by theCommittee for Studies of the Upper Congo. At the time one of the last open questions of theEuropean exploration of Africa was whether the Lualaba River fed the Nile (Livingstone's theory), the Congo,[60] or even theNiger River. Financed in 1874,Stanley's first trans-Africa exploration started inZanzibar and reached the Lualaba on October 17, 1876. Overland he reached Nyangwe, the center of a lawless area containing cannibal tribes at whichTippu Tip based his trade in slaves. Stanley managed to hire a force from Tippu Tip to guard him for the next 150 kilometres (90 mi) or so, for 90 days.
The party left Nyangwe overland through the dense Matimba forest. On November 19 they reached the Lualaba again. Since the going through the forest was so heavy, Tippu Tip turned around with his party on December 28, leaving Stanley on his own, with 143 people, including eight children and 16 women. They had 23 canoes. His first encounter with a local tribe was with the cannibalWenya. In total Stanley reports 32 unfriendly meetings on the river, some violent, even though he attempted to negotiate a peaceful thoroughfare. But the tribes were wary as their only experience of outsiders was with slave traders.
On January 6, 1877, after 640 kilometres (400 mi), they reached Boyoma Falls (called Stanley Falls for some time after), consisting of seven cataracts spanning 100 kilometres (60 mi) which they had to bypass overland. It took them to February 7 to reach the end of the falls. Here Stanley learned that the river was calledIkuta Yacongo,[61] proving to him that he had reached the Congo and that the Lualaba did not feed the Nile.
From this point, the tribes were no longer cannibals[clarification needed] but possessed firearms, apparently as a result of Portuguese influence[citation needed]. Some four weeks and 1,900 kilometres (1,200 mi) later he reached Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo), the site of the present day cities Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Further downstream were the Livingstone Falls, misnamed as Livingstone had never been on the Congo: a series of 32 falls and rapids with an elevation change of 270 metres (900 ft) over 350 kilometres (220 mi). On 15 March they started the descent of the falls, which took five months and cost numerous lives. From the Isangile Falls, five falls from the foot, they beached the canoes andLady Alice and left the river, aiming for the Portuguese outpost ofBoma via land.
On August 3 they reached the hamlet Nsada. From there Stanley sent four men with letters forward to Boma, asking for food for his starving people. On August 7 relief came, being sent by representatives from theLiverpool trading firm Hatton & Cookson. On August 9 they reached Boma, 1,001 days since leaving Zanzibar on November 12, 1874. The party then consisted of 108 people, including three children born during the trip. Most probably (Stanley's own publications give inconsistent figures), he lost 132 people through disease, hunger, drowning, killing and desertion.[62][63]
^Manikongo was properly the title of the kings of Kongo; their capital was at the site of modernM'banza-Kongo, capital of Angola's northwesternZaire Province. Ortelius had no knowledge of theorography of Africa and drew fictitious courses for its rivers; his Congo upstream of itsestuary turns sharply south, flowing through what would correspond toAngola andBotswana.
^TheDieppe maps of the mid-16th century show the Congo only as a minor river while having theNile run throughout the continent, rising in Southern Africa. The same interpretation is in essence still found in Jan Blaeu'sAtlas Maior of 1660. Jacques Bellin'smap of the Congo inHistoire Generale Des Voyages byAntoine François Prévost (1754) shows awareness of the river reaching further inland, to the provinces ofSundi andPango, but has no detailed knowledge of its course.
^Forbath 1979, p. 6. "Not until it crosses the Equator will it at last turn away from this misleading course and, describing a remarkable counter-clockwise arc first to the west and then to the southwest, flow back across the Equator and on down to the Atlantic.
In this the Congo is exceptional. No other major river in the world crosses the Equator even once, let alone twice."
^James Barbot (1746).An Abstract of a Voyage to Congo River, Or the Zair and to Cabinde in the Year 1700. • James Hingston Tuckey (1818).Narrative of an Expedition to Explore the River Zaire, Usually Called the Congo, in South Africa, in 1816.Archived from the original on 2018-05-21. Retrieved2019-11-11. • John Purdy (1822).Memoir, Descriptive and Explanatory, to Accompany the New Chart of the Ethiopic Or Southern Atlantic Ocean. p. 112.Congo River, calledZahir orZaire by the natives
^Hanibal Lemma, and colleagues (2019). "Bedload transport measurements in the Gilgel Abay River, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia (Table 7)".Journal of Hydrology.577 123968.doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.123968.S2CID199099061.
^Thieme et al.,Freshwater Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment Ecoregions Assessments, Island Press, 2005,p. 297Archived 2023-11-10 at theWayback Machine. "It is hypothesized that in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene, a coastal Lower Guinean river captured Malebo Pool, connecting the previously interior Congo Basin to the ocean."
^Cooper, John E. and Hull, Gordon;Gorilla Pathology and Health: With a Catalogue of Preserved Materials, p. 371ISBN9780128020395
^Skelton, P.H. 1994. 'Diversity and distribution of freshwater fishes in East and Southern Africa', inBiological diversity in African fresh and brackish water fishes, Symposium Paradi (G.G. Teugels, J.F. Guégan, and J.J. Albaret, editors), pp. 95–131.Annals of the Royal Central African Museum (Zoology) No. 275.
^Gupta, Avijit (editor);Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management, p. 327ISBN9780470849873
^abFrans Witte; Martien J. P. van Oijen; Ferdinand A. Sibbing (2009). "Fish Fauna of the Nile". In Henri J. Dumont (ed.).The Nile. Springer. pp. 647–675.ISBN978-1-4020-9725-6.
^Schliewen, U.K.; Stiassny, M.L.J. (2006). "A new species of Nanochromis (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Mai Ndombe, central Congo Basin, Democratic Republic of Congo".Zootaxa.1169:33–46.doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1169.1.2.S2CID86533120.
^Kullander, S.O. (1998).A phylogeny and classification of the South American Cichlidae (Teleostei: Perciformes). pp. 461–498 in Malabarba, L., et al. (eds.), Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes, Porto Alegre.
^Proudlove, G. (2006).Subterranean fishes of the world. International Society for Subterranean Biology.ISBN978-2-9527084-0-1.
^Stanley, Henry M. (1988) [Originally published: London: G. Newnes, 1899].Through the Dark Continent (Reprint ed.). Dover Publications.ISBN978-0-486-25667-2.
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