The Congo River (Kongo: Nzâdi Kôngo, French: Fleuve Congo, Portuguese: Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world by discharge volume, following the Amazon and Ganges rivers. It is the world's deepest recorded river, with measured depths of around 220 m (720 ft).^[8] The Congo-Lualaba-Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km (2,900 mi), which makes it the world's ninth-longest river. The Chambeshi is a tributary of the Lualaba River, and Lualaba is the name of the Congo River upstream of Boyoma Falls, extending for 1,800 km (1,100 mi).

Measured along with the Lualaba, the main tributary, the Congo River has a total length of 4,370 km (2,720 mi). It is the only major river to cross the Equator twice.^[9] The Congo Basin has a total area of about 4,000,000 km² (1,500,000 sq mi), or 13% of the entire African landmass.

The name Congo/Kongo originates from the Kingdom of Kongo once located on the southern bank of the river. The kingdom in turn was named after the indigenous Bantu Kongo people, known in the 17th century as "Esikongo".^[10] South of the Kingdom of Kongo proper lay the similarly named Kakongo kingdom, mentioned in 1535. Abraham Ortelius labelled "Manicongo" as the city at the mouth of the river in his world map of 1564.^{[lower-alpha 1]} The tribal names in Kongo possibly derive from a word for a public gathering or tribal assembly. The modern name of the Kongo people or Bakongo was introduced in the early 20th century.^{[citation needed]}

The name Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word, nzere ("river"), a truncation of nzadi o nzere ("river swallowing rivers").^[11] The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries; Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and Congo is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to Zahir or Zaire as the name used by the inhabitants remained common.^[12] The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo are named after it, as was the previous Republic of the Congo which had gained independence in 1960 from the Belgian Congo. The Republic of Zaire during 1971–1997 was also named after the river's name in French and Portuguese.

The Congo's drainage basin covers 4,014,500 km² (1,550,000 sq mi),^[1] an area nearly equal to that of the European Union. The Congo's discharge at its mouth ranges from 23,000 to 75,000 m³/s (810,000 to 2,650,000 cu ft/s), with an average of 41,000 m³/s (1,400,000 cu ft/s).^[1] The river transports annually 86 million tonnes of suspended sediment to the Atlantic Ocean and an additional 6% of bedload.^[13]

The river and its tributaries flow through the Congo rainforest, the second largest rainforest area in the world, after the Amazon rainforest in South America. The river also has the second-largest flow in the world, behind the Amazon; the second-largest drainage basin of any river, behind the Amazon; and is one of the deepest rivers in the world, at depths greater than 220 m (720 ft).^[8][14] Because its drainage basin includes areas both north and south of the Equator, its flow is stable, as there is always at least one part of the river experiencing a rainy season.^[15]

The sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of the East African Rift, as well as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru, which feed the Lualaba River, which then becomes the Congo below Boyoma Falls. The Chambeshi River in Zambia is generally taken as the source of the Congo in line with the accepted practice worldwide of using the longest tributary, as with the Nile River.

The Congo flows generally toward the northwest from Kisangani just below the Boyoma Falls, then gradually bends southwestward, passing by Mbandaka, joining with the Ubangi River and running into the Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool). Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) and Brazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool, where the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons (collectively known as the Livingstone Falls), running by Matadi and Boma, and into the sea at Muanda.

Lower Congo constitutes the 'lower' parts of the great river; that is the section of the river from the river mouth at the Atlantic coast to the twin capitals of Brazzaville and Kinshasa. In this section of the river, there are two significant tributaries, both on the left or south side. The Kwilu River originates in the hills near the Angolan border and enters the Congo some 100 km upstream from Matadi. The other is the Inkisi River, that flows in a northerly direction from the Uíge Province in Angola to the confluence with the Congo at Zongo some 80 km downstream from the twin capitals. Because of the vast number of rapids, in particular the Livingstone Falls, this section of the river is not operated continuously by riverboats.

The Congo basin covers ten countries and accounts for about 13% of Africa. The highest point in the Congo basin is in the Ruwenzori Mountains, at an altitude of around 4,340 m (14,240 ft) above sea level.

Distribution of the Congo basin area between countries:^[16]

More information Country, Area (km2) ...

Country	Area (km2)	(%)
Angola	305,760	8.2
Burundi	18,728	0.51
Cameroon	85,300	2.3
Central African Republic	402,000	10.8
Democratic Republic of the Congo	2,307,800	62.15
Gabon	1,146	0.03
Republic of the Congo	248,400	6.7
Rwanda	382	0.01
Tanzania	166,800	4.5
Zambia	176,600	4.8
For the Congo basin	3,712,316	100.0

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The most important hydrological stations along the Congo river are:^[16]

The Congo River discharge at Kinshasa/Brazzaville stations since the start of measurements (1902 to 2021):^[5][6][17]

^[2][3][4]

The main river and tributaries are (sorted in order from the mouth heading upstream):

^[18][19][20]

Lower Congo (river mouth to Kinshasa) Downstream of Kinshasa, from the river mouth at Banana, there are a few major tributaries.

• M'pozo (left)
• Kwilu (left)
• Inkisi (left)
• Djoué (right)

Middle Congo (Kinshasa to the Boyoma Falls)

• Kwa-Kassai (left)
  • Fimi
    • Lukenie
  • Kwango
    • Kwilu
  • Sankuru
• Alima (right)
• Likouala-Mossaka (right)
• Sangha (right)
  • Kadéï (570 km, 41,000 km², 466 m³/s)
• Ubangi (right)
  • Mbomou
  • Uele
• Tshuapa or Ruki (left)
• Lulonga (left)
  • Lopori
  • Maringa
• Mongala (right)
• Itimbiri (right)
• Aruwimi (right)
• Lomami (left)
• Lindi (right)

Upper Congo (Lualaba; upstream from the Boyoma Falls)

• Lowa (right)
• Ulindi (right)
• Elila (right)
• Luama (right)
• Lukuga (right)
• Luvua (right)
  • Luapula (740 km, 173,386 km², 741 m³/s)
    • Chambeshi (500 km, 44,427 km², 185 m³/s)

Although the Livingstone Falls prevent access from the sea, nearly the entire Congo above them is readily navigable in sections, especially between Kinshasa and Kisangani. Large river steamers worked the river until quite recently.^[when?] The Congo River still is a lifeline in a land with few roads or railways.^[21] Railways now bypass the three major falls, and much of the trade of Central Africa passes along the river, including copper, palm oil (as kernels), sugar, coffee, and cotton.^[22]

The current course of the Congo River formed between 1.5 and 2 million years BP, during the Pleistocene.^[27][28] It is likely that during this period many upper tributaries of the Congo were captured from adjacent river basins, including the Uele and upper Ubangi from the Chari system^[29] and the Chambeshi River^[30] alongside a number of upper Kasai River tributaries from the Zambezi system.^[31]

The Congo's formation may have led to the allopatric speciation of the bonobo and the common chimpanzee from their most recent common ancestor.^[32] The bonobo is endemic to the humid forests in the region, as are other iconic species like the Allen's swamp monkey, dryas monkey, aquatic genet, okapi, and Congo peafowl.^[33][34]

In terms of aquatic life, the Congo River Basin has a very high species richness and among the highest known densities of endemics.^[35] As of 2009^[update], almost 800 fish species have been recorded from the Congo River Basin (not counting Lake Tanganyika, which is connected but ecologically very different),^[36] and large sections remain virtually unstudied.^[37] For example, the section in Salonga National Park, which is about the size of Belgium, had still not been sampled at all in 2006.^[38] New fish species are scientifically described with some regularity from the Congo River Basin, and many undescribed species are known.^[39]

The Congo has by far the highest diversity of any African river system; in comparison, the next richest are the Niger, Volta and Nile with about 240, 140 and 130 fish species, respectively.^[36][40] Because of the great ecological differences between the regions in the Congo basin —including habitats such as river rapids, deep rivers, swamps, and lakes— it is often divided into multiple ecoregions (instead of treating it as a single ecoregion). Among these ecoregions, the Livingstone Falls cataracts has more than 300 fish species,^[41] including approximately 80 endemics^[26] while the southwestern part (Kasai River basin) has more than 200 fish species, of which about a quarter are endemic.^[42]

The dominant fish families – at least in parts of the river – are Cyprinidae (carp/cyprinids, such as Labeo simpsoni), Mormyridae (elephant fishes), Alestidae (African tetras), Mochokidae (squeaker catfishes), and Cichlidae (cichlids).^[43] Among the natives in the river is the huge, highly carnivorous giant tigerfish. Three of the more unusual endemics are the whitish (non-pigmented) and blind Lamprologus lethops, which is believed to live as deep as 160 metres (520 ft) below the surface,^[26] Heterochromis multidens, which is more closely related to cichlids of the Americas than other African cichlids,^[44] and Caecobarbus geertsii, the only known cavefish in Central Africa.^[45] There are also numerous endemic frogs and snails.^[43][46] Several hydroelectric dams are planned on the river, and these may lead to the extinction of many of the endemics.^[26]

Several species of turtles and the slender-snouted, Nile and dwarf crocodile are native to the Congo River Basin. African manatees inhabit the lower parts of the river.^[47]

• Congo river waterway (free of climate change variations, Matadi-Kinshasa requires canalization to be navigable)
• Congo river hydropower (9-16% of World hydropower potential, 4% used)
• List of crossings of the Congo River
• 2021 Congo River disaster