Why is the Congo basin considered the world’s second largest river basin?

The Congo basin is considered the world’s second-largest river basin, surpassed in size only by the Amazon River basin.1

This vast hydrographic region covers an area of more than 1.3 million square miles (approximately 3.4 million square kilometers). It is characterized by a massive, shallow depression—often referred to as the cuvette—that acts as a central basin for a dense, ramified network of tributaries, subtributaries, and smaller rivers. These waterways flow in a fan-shaped pattern from surrounding highlands toward the main Congo River channel, which eventually cuts through a narrow exit to reach the Atlantic Ocean.2134