Where is zaire river

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Username Please enter your Username. Password Please enter your Password. Forgot password? Don't have an account? Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. This upper Congo section begins to curve, and forms an arc after it passes through the equator in the central Democratic Republic of the Congo. The river features some major rapids here before reaching the city of Kisangani formerly known as Stanleyville , one of the largest cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The upper Congo ends and becomes the middle Congo at these major rapids, which are known as Boyoma Falls formerly known as Stanley Falls , a series of seven cataracts, or large waterfalls, that are barely passable and span about 60 miles 97 km , according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Downstream of these rapids, the river becomes relatively quiet and steady. The middle Congo is about 1, miles 1, km long and as wide as 9 miles With its proximity to large cities and ease of navigation, many area residents use this section of the river for boat transport.

After the 1,mile stretch of the middle Congo, the river slows to a virtual stand-still for 20 miles 32 km — a stretch known as Malebo Pool formerly Stanley Pool. The capital of the Republic of the Congo, Brazzaville, is on the northern river bank, while the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, sits on the southern bank of Malebo Pool. The pool ends abruptly with the Livingstone Falls, which feature miles km of rapids. The water plunges over deep canyons at this point, marking the beginning of the lower Congo.

It's a very different kind of river than the rest of the Congo," Stiassny said. The lower Congo is an approximately mile-long km narrow channel that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. This is different from most other major rivers, which usually form a river delta, or a network of smaller rivers and streams that spill out into the ocean. The river's speed surges here because the massive amount of water it's carrying — nearly three times more than the Mississippi River carries — is jetting out of a narrow gorge that's less than feet m across in some spots.

The Congo River carries about 1. The Mississippi River , for comparison, discharges about , cubic feet 17, cubic meters of water per second on average into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Parks Service.

It's the world's second-largest river basin, at 1. For reference, the size of India is about 1. The land in the Congo Basin is a web of smaller rivers, swamps and forests.

The basin is bordered by the Sahara Desert to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, and the East African lakes region to the east. The Congo Basin surrounds the equator, with the river crossing the equator twice in about a mile-long 1, km stretch.

The mix of equatorial climate and massive water source provided by the river provides the perfect ingredients for the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world. The Congo Basin is also the natural habitat of about species of mammals, 1, species of birds and species of fish. For comparison, the Nile River has about unique species of fish, and the Mississippi River has about Some of the more well-recognized and charismatic mammals in the region include forest elephants, lowland and mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, okapi, leopards , hippos , manatees and lions.

Other rainforest species include the recognizable tsetse flies, African Goliath beetles and Congo African grey parrots. Several animal species in this region are endangered, including mountain gorillas , chimpanzees and African wild dogs , mostly due to recent increases in deforestation and wildlife hunting. The rainforest provides crucial ecosystem services, such as regulating the climate, preventing drought , preserving unique species, and providing a source of food and medicine to local communities, said Alexandra Tyukavina, an assistant research professor of geographical sciences at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.

The Congo Basin rainforest is so valuable for sequestering carbon dioxide and producing oxygen that scientists have called the rainforest the world's "second lungs," following the Amazon rainforest, according to the European Space Agency. Humans have lived in the Congo River Basin for 50, years, and the area is now home to approximately 75 million people, including distinct ethnic groups, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Archaeological evidence suggests that some tribes began to form villages along the Congo River around 4, years ago. Remnants of iron tools and pottery suggest that some of the groups settled along the river around 5, years ago, when populations of Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from the savannahs of West Central Africa throughout the Congo Basin — an event known as the Bantu expansion.

Deforestation, primarily as part of modern agricultural practices, is the main environmental threat to the Congo River Basin and its rainforest. And then they burn those logs to fertilize the soil with the ashes and grow crops there," Tyukavina said. Industrial logging is another driver of deforestation in the region, according to Mongabay. In addition, as the population in the region has grown at a rate of about 1. Bushmeat, or meat from wild animals like bats, monkeys, rats and snakes, which hunter-gatherer groups have traditionally relied upon as their main source of food now faces a new threat: overhunting.

But commercial hunters have increasingly targeted animals like monkeys and antelope for the commercial bushmeat trade. These midsize mammals are unable to reproduce fast enough to compensate for the high rate of hunting, causing their populations to decline. Related: Elephants vanish in Congo reserve.

The region first became known as the "Congo" in the late s, from the kingdom of Kongo, an independent state that ruled the area around the mouth of the river from the late s through the s, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Zaire is the Portuguese adaptation of the Kikongo word nzere or nzadi, which means "river that swallows all rivers. The Congo has a dark and storied history.

Because of all the resources that can be found along the Congo ivory, rubber, timber and rare metals such as cobalt, copper, diamond, tantalum, tin and gold , the region has long been the home of major conflicts and European colonialism.