Congo River

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{{Infobox_river |river_name = Congo |image_name = ISS007-E-6305.jpg |caption = Image of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, taken by NASA; the Congo River is visible in the center of the photograph |origin = |mouth = Atlantic Ocean |basin_countries = Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo |length = 4,670 km (2,900 mi) |elevation = |discharge = 41,800 m³/s (1,476,376 ft³/s) |watershed = 3,680,000 km² (1,420,848 mi²) }}

The Congo River (formerly known as Zaire River) is the largest river in Western Central Africa. Its overall length of 4,374 km (2,718 mi.) makes it the second longest in Africa (after the Nile) and fifth longest in the world. The river and its tributaries flow through the second largest rain forest area in the world, only the Amazon Rainforest being larger. The river also has the second-largest flow in the world, behind the Amazon, and the second-largest watershed of any river, again trailing the Amazon and slightly ahead of the Mississippi. Because long sections of the river lie above and below the equator, its flow is very stable, as there is always at least one section of the river experiencing a rainy season.[1]

The Congo gets its name from the ancient Kingdom of Kongo which inhabited the lands at the mouth of the river. In turn, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, both countries lying along the river's banks, are named after it.

Nearly the entire Congo is readily navigable, and with railways now bypassing the three major falls, much of the trade of central Africa passes along it, including copper, palm oil (as kernels), sugar, coffee, and cotton. The river is also potentially valuable for hydroelectric power, and the Inga facility below Pool Malebo is the first to exploit the river. In February 2005, South Africa's state-owned power company, Eskom, announced a proposal to increase the capacity of the Inga facility dramatically through improvements and the construction of a new hydroelectric dam. The project would bring the maximum output of the facility to 40 GW; double that of China's Three Gorges Dam. [2]