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The Congo River is a river is Africa. It is 2,900 miles long, second only in length to the Nile. Not only is the second largest river in length, it runs through the second largest rain forest in the world. The Amazon Rainforest in South America is the largest. It has the second largest flow in the world and the second largest watershed. The Congo begins in the highlands and mountains of the East African Rift. There are considerable amounts of the river that above and fall below the equator and rivers that fall above and below the equator experience stable flows because there is always a river encountering a rainy season.
The origin of the river’s name comes from the archaic Kingdom of Kongo. The Kongo lived along the mouth of the Congo and gave their name to the river. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo both obtained their names form the river as they are located along its shores. At one time the river was named the Zaire by the once named country of Zaire between 1971 and 1997.
Most of the river is able to be traveled by ships until you reach the three areas with falls. There you find railways that detour around the falls. Shipping of copper, palm oil, sugar, coffee and cotton can continue along the river with a little ingenuity. The Inga Dams were built to provide power to the cities along the river and plans have been made to build more dams. |
