Congo basin
News •
-
What is the Congo Basin?
The Congo Basin, located in west-central Africa, is the drainage area for the Congo River. It is the second largest river basin in the world, encompassing over 1.3 million square miles.
The basin spans across several countries, including the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, western Zambia, northern Angola, and parts of Cameroon and Tanzania. The central part of the Congo Basin is a vast depression filled with alluvial deposits. The basin is also home to the second largest rainforest in the world, with an equatorial climate that supports a dense evergreen forest.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Where is the Congo Basin located in Africa?
The Congo Basin, the world's second-largest river basin, is located in west-central Africa, lying astride the Equator. Its drainage area covers over 1.3 million square miles and includes almost the whole of the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, western Zambia, northern Angola, and parts of Cameroon and Tanzania.
The basin stretches for more than 1,200 miles from north to south and about 1,200 miles from the Atlantic in the west to the Nile-Congo watershed in the east. The Congo Basin is geographically situated between the Sahara to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, and the East African lakes to the east. The central part of the Congo Basin contains Quaternary alluvial deposits that rest on thick sediments of continental origin. The Congo basin is home to the second largest rainforest in the world.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Which countries are part of the Congo Basin?
The Congo Basin, the second-largest river basin globally, is located in west-central Africa. It includes almost the entirety of the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, western Zambia, northern Angola, and parts of Cameroon and Tanzania. The basin is characterized by a dense network of rivers and tributaries, with the exception of sandy plateaus in the southwest.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is the Congo River and why is it important in the basin?
The Congo River, located in west-central Africa, is the continentâs second-longest river, after the Nile, stretching approximately 2,900 miles (4,700 km). Its basin, the second largest in the world, covers over 1.3 million square miles (3.4 million square km) and includes the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and parts of other countries.
The Congo River is important because it forms the largest network of navigable waterways in Africa. It supports economic activities such as the production of palm oil and coffee in areas far from the coast. The river also sustains a diverse animal life, including numerous fish species, reptiles like crocodiles, and aquatic mammals such as hippopotamuses and manatees. The Congo basin is home to the second largest rainforest in the world.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What kind of plants and animals live in the Congo Basin?
The Congo Basin is home to the second largest rainforest in the world. The region has a diverse range of plant and animal life.
Plant life in the Congo Basin includes mahogany, ebony, limba, wenge, agba, iroko, and sapele trees, which are sources of timber. Fibrous plants like raffia and sisal are also present. The area contains plants used in traditional medicine, such as cinchona and rauwolfia, as well as copal, rubber, and palm trees.
Animal life includes chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, elephants, monkeys, and baboons. Okapi, giant wild boars, and short antelopes live in the northern primary forests. Lions and leopards inhabit the grasslands, while jackals, hyenas, cheetahs, wildcats, wild dogs, buffaloes, antelopes, wild hogs, and black and white rhinoceroses are found in the grasslands and savanna woods. Giraffes mainly inhabit the northeastern grasslands. Hippopotamuses and crocodiles are common in the rivers and lakes, and whales, dolphins, and lungfishes are found near the coast.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why is the Congo Basin important for people and the environment?
The Congo Basin is important because it is the second largest river basin in the world and home to the second largest rainforest. The Congo Basin rainforest is essential for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and regional climate regulation. It supports many plant and animal species, including chimpanzees, gorillas, and elephants.
The Congo Basin is also important for the people living in the area. More than one-third of the workforce is in agriculture. Many people rely on the forest for timber, food, and traditional medicine.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Congo basin, basin of the Congo River, lying astride the Equator in west-central Africa. It is the worldâs second largest river basin (next to that of the Amazon), comprising an area of more than 1.3 million square miles (3.4 million square km). The vast drainage area of the Congo River includes almost the whole of the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, western Zambia, northern Angola, and parts of Cameroon and Tanzania. The expression âCongo basin,â strictly speaking, refers to the hydrographic basin. This not only is vast but is also covered with a dense and ramified network of tributaries, subtributaries, and small riversâwith the exception of the sandy plateaus in the southwest.
The Congo basin is the most clearly distinguished of the various geographic depressions situated between the Sahara to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, and the region of the East African lakes to the east. In this basin a fan-shaped web of tributaries flows downward along concentric slopes that range from 900 to 1,500 feet (275 to 460 metres) in elevation and that enclose a central depression. The basin itself stretches for more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from north to south (from the CongoâLake Chad watershed to the interior plateaus of Angola) and also measures about 1,200 miles from the Atlantic in the west to the Nile-Congo watershed in the east.
The central part of the Congo basinâoften called the cuvette (literally âsaucerâ or âshallow bowlâ)âis an immense depression containing Quaternary alluvial deposits that rest on thick sediments of continental origin, consisting principally of sands and sandstones. These underlying sediments form outcrops in valley floors at the eastern edge of the cuvette. The filling of the cuvette, however, began much earlier. Boreholes have revealed that since late Precambrian times (i.e., since at least 542 million years ago) considerable sediment has accumulated, derived from the erosion of formations situated around the periphery of the cuvette. The arrangement of surface relief, thick depositional strata, and substratum in amphitheatre-like fashion around the main Congo channel, which has been uniform across time, is evidence of a persistent tendency to subsidence in this part of the continent. This subsidence is accompanied by uplifting on the edges of the cuvette, principally on its eastern sideâwhich has also been influenced by the formation of the Western Rift Valley.
The Congo basin is home to the second largest rainforest in the world. The equatorial climate that prevails over a significant part of the Congo basin is coextensive with a dense evergreen forest. The Congolese forest spreads out over the central depression, extending continuously from about 4° N to about 5° S; it is interrupted only by clearings, many of which have a natural origin. The forest region is bordered on either side by belts of savanna (grassy parkland). The forest and savanna often meet imperceptibly, blending together in a mosaic pattern; more rarely, strips of forest invade the grassland. Farther away from the Equator, the wooded savanna region, with its thin deciduous forest, is progressively reached.
See also Congo River.