The Congo River (occasionally called the
Zaire River) is the fifth longest river in the world, and carries more water than any river on Earth except the
Amazon River. It's formed in the
Democratic Republic of Congo where the Lualaba and the Luvua rivers come together, and flows to the Atlantic Ocean through the DROC and the
Republic of Congo (whose repective capitals,
Kinshasa and
Brazzaville, face each other across the wide area called
Stanley Pool). Its tributaries come from the
Central African Republic,
Zambia,
Angola,
Cameroon, and
Tanzania, making it a major waterway in sub-
Saharan
Africa.
In places the river is up to 10 miles wide, and along its length are more than 4,000 islands. Between the islands and the waterfalls, the river is unnavigable in places, but in between these barricades, boat traffic thrives.
The first European to see any of the Congo River was Portuguese navigator Diogo Cao, about 1483. David Livingstone and Henry Stanley in the 1870s were the first non-Africans to travel most of the river's length. Joseph Conrad based his "Heart of Darkness" on travels on the Congo shortly thereafter.
Sources:
http://library.thinkquest.org/16645/the_land/congo_river.shtml
http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/worldbook/atozgeography/c/129360.html
http://www.africana.com/Articles/tt_236.htm