Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Congo River

Starting point is 00:00:00 Located in the heart of the African continent is one of the world's largest rivers, the Congo. The Congo basin covers much of central Africa, winds through some of the world's largest rainforest, and carries more water than any of the river, save the Amazon. And it also has the distinction of being the deepest river in the world. Learn more about the Congo River, why it's important, and what makes it unique, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover

Starting point is 00:00:42 the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thuline podcast from NPR. While the fundamental forces behind the formation of rivers are the same everywhere, how rivers end up can be radically different depending on the geography which they flow through. The Nile flows through a desert and has very few tributaries flowing into it. There are also rapids on the Egypt-Sudanese border, which make navigation beyond that point impossible. The Mississippi flows through productive farmland and has many larger tributaries and has almost no rapids or waterfalls, which makes the river highly navigable. The Amazon is enormous and can easily be

Starting point is 00:01:30 navigated, but it mainly flows through sparsely inhabited rainforest. The Congo has a collection of quirks reflecting elements of many other rivers. The Congo River Basin is the second largest river basin in the world, the largest being the Amazon. However, even though it is the second largest drainage area, it is a little over half of the size of the Amazon Basin. The total size of the Congo River Basin is 4,014,500 square kilometers, or 1,550,000 square miles. It covers parts of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Tanzania. Likewise, it's the second largest river in the world behind the Amazon in terms of total water discharge. The average amount of water that's discharged at its

Starting point is 00:02:13 mouth is 41,200 cubic meters a second, or 1,400,000 cubic feet per second. The entire Congo River Basin has traditionally been known as the Congo. The name is derived from the Kingdom of Congo, which existed as an independent kingdom for 500 years prior to European colonization in the 19th century. The Kingdom of Congo got its name from the Congo people, who were a Bantu people who lived in the area of what is today Western Angola, the Republic of Congo, and the DRC. The name Congo was also used by Europeans when they said. set up their colonies. What is today, Angola was known as the Portuguese Congo. The DRC was the Belgian Congo and the Republic of Congo was French Congo. The Belgian Congo and its unique and horrible

Starting point is 00:02:55 history will be an episode of its own in the future. Two modern countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo have adopted very similar names, which often leads to a great deal of confusion, especially because the people from both countries are known as Congolese. And once I was in East Timor and I met a UN peacekeeper, who said he was, Conglis, and I asked him which one, and which point he smiled because most people don't know the difference. He said Congo-Kinchasa, as the two congos are often described by their capital cities. And speaking of capital cities, both the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both have capital cities on the Congo River, Brazzaville and Kinshasa. In fact, they lie directly

Starting point is 00:03:36 across the river from each other, making them the only two capital cities of countries that border each other. However, despite being the largest city in each country, there's no bridge connecting Kinshasa and Brazzaville. There's been talk of building one for decades, but no action has ever been taken. A proposed bridge has been planned and stopped several times over the last 30 years. As of right now, the bridge is once again on track, and construction is scheduled to start in 2023 and end in 2008. The lack of a bridge between the capitals isn't the only bridging problem. There are almost no bridges anywhere on the Congo or its larger tributaries. There is a suspension bridge at the city of Matadi in the DRC,

Starting point is 00:04:14 where the DRC happens to be on both sides of the river, but that's about it. There are ferries that cross the river, but they can't handle the same amount of traffic as a bridge. The lack of bridges crossing the Congo has been a huge impediment to economic growth in the region. It makes the river serve as a barrier more than a conduit for trade. And speaking of trade, here is where I have to address one of the biggest problems with the Congo and one of its defining features. It's rapids. If you could take a boat far up river and sail it all the way down to the Atlantic Ocean, the economics of the Congo Basin would be radically different. The problem is, you can't. The biggest problem is Livingston Falls. Usually major rivers like

Starting point is 00:04:54 the Mississippi or Amazon will only have waterfalls far upstream near the river's source. Livingston Falls is actually pretty far downstream, 80 kilometers downstream from the two capitals. And it technically isn't one big waterfall like Victoria Falls or Niagara Falls. It's a stretch of river which is 220 miles or 350 kilometers long, and along that stretch, the river drops 900 feet or 270 meters. Because of the sheer amount of water that the Congo carries, this would be the largest waterfall in the world in terms of volume, if you consider it to be a waterfall. Livingston Falls also can narrow down to only 300 meters, which means that all that water has to go somewhere, and the place it goes is down.

Starting point is 00:05:37 There are parts of Livingston Falls where the water depth can reach 720 feet or 220 meters. And this makes the Congo the deepest river in the world. Below Livingston Falls, the Congo also has another unique feature for rivers of its size. It doesn't really have a delta. You don't see a series of channels spreading out in a fan shape as you do in comparable rivers around the world. Likewise, there are no major cities near the mouth of the river. Soyo, Angola has a population of 200,000, and the small seaport of banana in the DRC, and yes, that's its name, has a population of a bit over 3,000. The ecosystem of the Congo Basin is perhaps the biggest thing that sets the Congo apart from other rivers, save the Amazon.

Starting point is 00:06:19 The Congo Basin is home to the world's second largest contiguous rainforest ecosystem. The rainforest and the volume of the Congo River are due to the enormous amounts of rainfall that fall in the Congo Basin. There are actually two rainy seasons each year, which is responsible for the enormous amount of water. At least 10,000 species of plants are known to live in the Congo Basin. The Congo rainforest is home to 8% of all the forest carbon in the world. Within the rainforest, there are a host of animal species that are found nowhere else. These include the African forest elephant, the pygmy hippopotamus, western lowland gorilla, chimpanzees, bonobos, and many, many others.

Starting point is 00:06:56 There are still probably thousands of unknown species, which have yet to be. be discovered in the Congo Basin. Solonga National Park in the DRC is roughly the size of Belgium, and it still hasn't been thoroughly sampled. The river itself is also home to the greatest amount of fish diversity of any river in the world. Over 800 species of fish have been discovered as of today, and because of the various rapids on the river, different sections of the river tend to be their own smaller ecosystems. There are currently about 80 million people who live within the Congo basin, and about half of them still live mostly traditional lives. Despite Livington Falls, preventing access to ocean ports, it's mostly navigable above the falls.

Starting point is 00:07:34 The few other waterfalls in the river are bypassed by short railways. The amount of water that flows through the Congo makes it one of the greatest potential sources of hydroelectric power on Earth. 13% of the entire hydroelectric potential on the planet is within the Congo River. The potential for hydroelectric generation on the Congo is so great that it could, in theory, meet the power demands for all of sub-Saharan Africa. There are currently 40 hydroelectric dams on the Congo and its tributaries. The largest are the Inga 1 and 2 dams, which are located just downstream of Livingston Falls. Collectively, the two dams can produce 1.8 gigawatts of electricity.

Starting point is 00:08:12 But there's talk of creating a super project known as the Grand Inga Dam, which, if completed, could produce 70 gigawatts of power. If it were to be built, it would be the world's largest dam, potentially producing three times the electricity of the three gorges dam, in China. The estimated cost of the dam would be $80 billion. The Congo isn't as well known as the world's other great rivers. This is mostly due to its inaccessibility because of its rainforest and its lack of impact on world trade due to Livingston Falls. Nonetheless, for the 80 million people who call the Congo Basin home, it is the most important river in the world. Everything Everywhere Daily is an airwave media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thorpe Thompson and Peter Bennett.

Starting point is 00:09:02 I just wanted to extend a big thank you to everyone who is supporting the show over at patreon.com. I have show merchandise available there, including hoodies, t-shirts, and stickers. Plus, it really just helps me get this show out every single day, including, of course, weekends and holidays. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you too can have it read on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Congo River

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