Congo

or Kongo, a river of equatorial Africa. The length is about 3,000 miles. In volume, the Congo is the second river in the world, ranking ahead of the Mississippi, and next the Amazon. The Congo leaves Lake Bangweolo in northeastern Rhodesia, near the line of twelve degrees south latitude. It describes an immense arc to the northward, crossing the equator twice, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean at the line of six degrees south latitude. The last section of the course is ten miles in width. The mouth of the river was known to the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. Settlements were made on that part of the coast.

In 1876-7 Henry M. Stanley followed the outlet of the Bangweolo clear to the Atlantic Ocean. He was the first white man to visit the middle Congo, and, indeed, the first to make known that the head waters and the lower course of this river were one. Stanley desired to call the river the Livingstone.

The Congo is navigable for seagoing ships to the port of Boma, 110 miles from the sea. A railway leads from Boma around 100 miles of cataracts to Stanley Pool. Pool steamers ascend for 1,000 miles farther to Stanley Falls. There are several large tributaries. It is thought that the main stream, with its tributaries, affords in all over 7,000 miles of navigable waterway. There are two rainy seasons, extending from October to December, and from February to May.

The basin of the Congo is too large to be described in a few words. Its forests rival those of the Amazon. The entire area comprises over a tenth of all Africa. Estimates place the population of this vast region at no less than 30,000,000, chiefly negroes, known racially as Bantus.

French Congo lies on the north bank of the river, near the coast. Portuguese Congo or Angola lies on the coast south of the mouth. Belgian Congo comprises the greater portion of the interior, with a small strip along the river to the coast. A part of the head waters, as stated, lie in Rhodesia. See Belgian Congo; Bantus; Pigmies; Livingstone; Stanley; Africa; Negro; Slave, etc.