Congo River and Basin

Congo River and Basin

The Congo River (also known as the Zaire River) is the third longest river in the world, and the second longest in Africa (after the Nile River in northeastern Africa). Its river basin, one of the most humid in Africa, is also the largest on that continent, covering over 12% of the total land area.

History

The equatorial region of Africa has been inhabited since approximately the middle Stone Age. Late Stone Age cultures flourished in the southern savannas after about 10,000 B.C. and remained functional until the arrival of Bantu-speaking peoples during the first millennium B.C. In a series of migrations taking place from about 1,000 B.C. to the mid-first millennium A.D., many Bantu-speakers dispersed from an area west of the Ubangi-Congo River swamp across the forests and savannas of the region known as the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the precolonial era, this region (modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) was dominated by three kingdoms: Kongo (late 1300s), the Loango (at its height in the 1600s), and Tio. Portugese navigator Diogo Cam was the first European to sail up the mouth of the Congo in 1482. After meeting with the rulers of the Kingdom of Kongo, Cam negotiated intercontinental trade and commerce agreements—including the slave trade—between Portugal and the region.

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