1.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as DR Congo, DRC, DROC, East Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo is a country located in Central Africa. From 1971 to 1997 it was named, and is still called, Zaire. It is the second-largest country in Africa by area and eleventh largest in the world, the Congolese Civil Wars, which began in 1996, brought about the end of Mobutu Sese Sekos 32-year reign and devastated the country. These wars ultimately involved nine African nations, multiple groups of UN peacekeepers and twenty armed groups, besides the capital, Kinshasa, the other major cities, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi, are both mining communities. DR Congos largest export is raw minerals, with China accepting over 50% of DRCs exports in 2012, as of 2015, according to the Human Development Index, DR Congo has a low level of human development, ranking 176 out of 187 countries. The country was known officially as the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 27 October 1971, in 1992, the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the change was not put into practice. The countrys name was restored by former president Laurent-Désiré Kabila following the fall of longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, some historians think that Bantu peoples began settling in the extreme northwest of Central Africa at the beginning of the 5th century and then gradually started to expand southward. Their propagation was accelerated by the transition from Stone Age to Iron Age techniques, the people living in the south and southwest were mostly San Bushmen and hunter-gatherer groups, whose technology involved only minimal use of metal technologies. The development of tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture. This led to the displacement of the groups in the east and southeast. The 10th century marked the expansion of the Bantu in West-Central Africa. Rising populations soon made intricate local, regional and foreign commercial networks that traded mostly in salt, iron. Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s and it was first led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. The eastern regions of the precolonial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slave raiding, mainly from Arab–Swahili slave traders such as the infamous Tippu Tip, Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony. Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and he named it the Congo Free State. Leopolds rėgime began various infrastructure projects, such as construction of the railway ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville. Nearly all such projects were aimed at making it easier to increase the assets which Leopold. In the Free State, colonists brutalized the local population into producing rubber, for which the spread of automobiles, rubber sales made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honor himself and his country
2.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
3.
Ruanda-Urundi
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Ruanda-Urundi was a territory in the African Great Lakes region, once part of German East Africa, which was ruled by Belgium between 1916 and 1962. After the disestablishment of the League and World War II, Ruanda-Urundi became a Trust Territory of the United Nations, in 1962, the mandate became independent as the two separate countries of Rwanda and Burundi. Before the Scramble for Africa, the region of Ruanda-Urundi was dominated by two independent kingdoms, Rwanda and Burundi, which were annexed by the German Empire in 1894, the Ruanda-Urundi region formed the westernmost part of the colony of German East Africa, which included modern-day mainland Tanzania. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Ruanda-Urundi was the scene of fighting between German and Belgian forces from the Belgian Congo which bordered the region to the west, the Treaty of Versailles divided the German colonial empire among the Allied nations. German East Africa was divided, with the vast majority of the territory, known as Tanganyika, going to the British, the western part of the colony, formally referred to as the Belgian Occupied East African Territories, was allocated to Belgium. In 1924, when the League of Nations issued a formal mandate granting Belgium full control over the area, the Belgians were far more involved in the territory than the Germans, especially in Ruanda. These funds mostly came from the cultivation of coffee in the regions rich volcanic soils. To implement their vision, the Belgians used the indigenous power structure. This consisted of a largely Tutsi ruling class controlling a mostly Hutu population, the Belgian administrators believed that the Tutsi were superior and deserved power. While before colonization the Hutu had played some role in governance, Hutu anger at the Tutsi domination was largely focused on the Tutsi elite rather than the distant colonial power. Although promising the League it would promote education, Belgium left the task to subsidised Catholic missions, as late as 1961, shortly before independence arrived, fewer than 100 natives had been educated beyond secondary level. He must be cured of his thoughtlessness, he must accustom himself to living in society, after the League of Nations was dissolved, the region became a United Nations trust territory in 1946. Independence came largely as a result of actions elsewhere, in the late 1950s, an independence movement arose in the Belgian Congo, and the Belgians became convinced they could no longer control the territory. Unrest also broke out in Ruanda where the king was deposed, in 1960, Ruanda-Urundis larger neighbour gained its independence. After two more years of hurried preparations, the trust territory became independent on 1 July 1962, broken up along traditional lines as the independent nations of Rwanda and it took two more years before the government of the two became wholly separate. The Great Lakes of Africa, Two Thousand Years of History, le Burundi sous administration Belge, la période du mandat, 1919-1939
4.
Central bank
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A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a states currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries, Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference. Still, limited control by the executive and legislative bodies usually exists, prior to the 17th century most money was commodity money, typically gold or silver. However, promises to pay were widely circulated and accepted as value at least five hundred years earlier in both Europe and Asia. The Song dynasty was the first to issue generally circulating paper currency, in 1455, in an effort to control inflation, the succeeding Ming Dynasty ended the use of paper money and closed much of Chinese trade. The Bank of Amsterdam, established in the Dutch Republic in 1609, is considered to be the forerunner to modern central banks. The Wisselbanks innovations helped lay the foundations for the birth and development of the banking system that now plays a vital role in the worlds economy. Along with a number of local banks, it performed many functions of a central banking system. Lucien Gillard calls it the European guilder, and Adam Smith devotes many pages to explaining how the bank guilder works, the model of the Wisselbank as a state bank was adapted throughout Europe, including the Bank of Sweden and the Bank of England. Established by Dutch-Latvian Johan Palmstruch in 1668, Sveriges Riksbank is often considered by many as the worlds oldest central bank, the lenders would give the government cash and also issue notes against the government bonds, which could be lent again. A Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694, the bank was given exclusive possession of the governments balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue banknotes. The £1. 2M was raised in 12 days, half of this was used to rebuild the Navy and these modern central banking functions evolved slowly through the 18th and 19th centuries. The currency crisis of 1797, caused by panicked depositors withdrawing from the Bank led to the government suspending convertibility of notes into specie payment. The bank was accused by the bullionists of causing the exchange rate to fall from over issuing banknotes. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Bank was being treated as an organ of the state, henry Thornton, a merchant banker and monetary theorist has been described as the father of the modern central bank. An opponent of the real bills doctrine, he was a defender of the bullionist position, thorntons process of monetary expansion anticipated the theories of Knut Wicksell regarding the cumulative process which restates the Quantity Theory in a theoretically coherent form. Until the mid-nineteenth century, commercial banks were able to issue their own banknotes, many consider the origins of the central bank to lie with the passage of the Bank Charter Act of 1844. Under this law, authorisation to issue new banknotes was restricted to the Bank of England, at the same time, the Bank of England was restricted to issue new banknotes only if they were 100% backed by gold or up to £14 million in government debt
5.
Franc
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The franc is the name of several currency units. The French franc was the currency of France until the euro was adopted in 1999. The Swiss franc is a world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription francorum rex used on early French coins and until the 18th century, or from the French franc, the countries that use francs include Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and most of Francophone Africa. Before the introduction of the euro, francs were used in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, while Andorra. The franc was used within the French Empires colonies, including Algeria and Cambodia. The franc is sometimes italianised or hispanicised as the franco, for instance in Luccan franco, one franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. It was equivalent to one livre tournois, the French franc was the name of a gold coin issued in France from 1360 until 1380, then a silver coin issued between 1575 and 1641. The franc finally became the currency from 1795 until 1999. Though abolished as a coin by Louis XIII in 1641 in favor of the gold louis and silver écu. The franc was also minted for many of the former French colonies, such as Morocco, Algeria, French West Africa, today, after independence, many of these countries continue to use the franc as their standard denomination. The value of the French franc was locked to the euro at 1 euro =6, fourteen African countries use the franc CFA, originally worth 1.7 French francs and then from 1948,2 francs but after January 1994 worth only 0.01 French franc. Therefore, from January 1999,1 CFA franc is equivalent to €0.00152449, a separate circulates in Frances Pacific territories, worth €0.0084. In 1981, The Comoros established an arrangement with the French government similar to that of the CFA franc, originally,50 Comorian francs were worth 1 French franc. In January 1994, the rate was changed to 75 Comorian francs to the French franc, since 1999, the currency has been pegged to the euro. The conquest of most of western Europe by Revolutionary and Napoleonic France led to the wide circulation. Newly unified Italy adopted the lira on a basis in 1862. In the 1870s the gold value was made the fixed standard, the 1921 monetary union of Belgium and Luxembourg survived, however, forming the basis for full economic union in 1932
6.
Belgian franc
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The Belgian franc was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, known as centimes, centiem or Centime, the conquest of most of western Europe by revolutionary and Napoleonic France led to the French francs wide circulation. In the Austrian Netherlands, the replaced the kronenthaler. This was in turn replaced by the Dutch guilder when the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed, Belgian mint working during the late 19th century was innovative and Belgium was the first country to introduce coins made of cupronickel, in 1860. In the 1870s the gold value was made the fixed standard, the Belga was tied to the British pound at a rate of 35 belgas =1 pound and was thus put on a gold standard of 1 Belga =209.211 mg fine gold. The 1921 monetary union of Belgium and Luxembourg survived, however, in 1935, the Belgian franc was devalued by 28% to 150.632 mg fine gold and the link between the Luxembourg and Belgian francs was revised to 1 Luxembourgish franc = 1 1⁄4 Belgian francs. Following Belgiums occupation by Germany in May 1940, the franc was fixed at a value of 0.1 Reichsmark, reduced to 0.08 Reichsmark in July 1940. Following liberation in 1944, the franc entered into the Bretton Woods system and this was changed to 43.8275 in 1946 and then to 50 following the devaluation of the British pound in September 1949. The Belgian franc was devaluated again in 1982, like 10 other European currencies, the Belgian/Luxembourgish franc ceased to exist on 1 January 1999, when it became fixed at 1 EUR=40.3399 BEF/LUF, thus a franc was worth €0.024789. Old franc coins and notes lost their legal status on 28 February 2002. In later 20th century issues, the text is almost without exception divided between two types of coins, with Flemish issues reading België and Frank, and French issues reading Belgique, initially, the currency was monolingual in French. From 1886, some Belgian coins also carried the Dutch language legends, some later coins featured inscriptions in both languages. Some commemorative coins were issued with German inscriptions but none for circulation, the Francs value compared to the US dollar varied over the years. After 1971, its lowest mark was in February 1985, when one dollar would have bought 66.31 franc and its highest standing was in July 1980, when it stood at 27.96 to the dollar. After 1 January 1999, the rates are calculated from the Francs fixed conversion rate to the Euro. Between 1832 and 1834, copper 1,2,5 and 10 centime, silver 1⁄4, 1⁄2,1,2 and 5 franc, some of the early 1 and 2 centimes were struck over Dutch 1⁄2 and 1 cent coins. The 40 franc was not issued after 1841, whilst silver 2 1⁄2 francs, silver 20 centimes replaced the 1⁄4 franc in 1852. In 1860, cupro-nickel 20 centimes were introduced, followed by cupro-nickel 5 and 10 centimes in 1861, the silver 5 franc was discontinued in 1876
7.
Rwanda
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Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a sovereign state in central and east Africa and one of the smallest countries on the African mainland. Located a few south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi. Rwanda is in the African Great Lakes region and is elevated, its geography is dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two seasons and two dry seasons each year. The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa, Rwandans are drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda, although within this group there are three subgroups, the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa are a pygmy people descended from Rwandas earliest inhabitants. Christianity is the largest religion in the country, the language is Kinyarwanda, spoken by most Rwandans, with English. Rwanda has a system of government. The president is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, who took office in 2000, Rwanda today has low corruption compared with neighbouring countries, although human rights organisations report suppression of opposition groups, intimidation and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by an administrative hierarchy since pre-colonial times. Rwanda is one of two countries with a female majority in the national parliament. Hunter gatherers settled the territory in the stone and iron ages, the population coalesced first into clans and then into kingdoms. The Kingdom of Rwanda dominated from the century, with the Tutsi kings conquering others militarily, centralising power. Germany colonised Rwanda in 1884 as part of German East Africa, followed by Belgium, both European nations ruled through the kings and perpetuated a pro-Tutsi policy. The Hutu population revolted in 1959 and they massacred numerous Tutsi and ultimately established an independent, Hutu-dominated state in 1962. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front launched a war in 1990. Social tensions erupted in the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000 to 1.3 million Tutsi, the RPF ended the genocide with a military victory. Rwandas economy suffered heavily during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, but has since strengthened, the economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture
8.
Burundi
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It is also considered part of Central Africa. The southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika, the Twa, Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. For more than 200 of those years, Burundi was an independent kingdom, until the beginning of the twentieth century, after the First World War and Germanys defeat, it ceded the territory to Belgium. Both Germans and Belgians ruled Burundi and Rwanda as a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi, despite common misconceptions, Burundi and Rwanda had never been under common rule until the time of European colonisation. The European intervention exacerbated social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, and contributed to political unrest in the region. Bouts of ethnic cleansing and ultimately two civil wars and genocides during the 1970s and again in the 1990s left the country undeveloped, Burundis political system is that of a presidential representative democratic republic based upon a multi-party state. The President of Burundi is the head of state and head of government, there are currently 21 registered parties in Burundi. On 13 March 1992, Tutsi coup leader Pierre Buyoya established a constitution, six years later, on 6 June 1998, the constitution was changed, broadening National Assemblys seats and making provisions for two vice-presidents. Because of the Arusha Accord, Burundi enacted a government in 2000. In October 2016, Burundi informed the UN of its intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, Burundi remains an overwhelmingly rural society, with just 13% of the population living in urban areas in 2013. The population density of around 315 people per kilometre is the second highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Roughly 85% of the population are of Hutu ethnic origin, 15% are Tutsi, the official languages of Burundi are French and Kirundi, although Swahili can be found spoken along the Tanzanian border. One of the smallest countries in Africa, Burundi has an equatorial climate, Burundi is a part of the Albertine Rift, the western extension of the East African Rift. The country lies on a plateau in the centre of Africa. The highest peak, Mount Heha at 2,685 m, lies to the southeast of the capital, there are two national parks, Kibira National Park to the northwest, Ruvubu National Park to the northeast. Both were established in 1982 to conserve wildlife populations, Burundis lands are mostly agricultural or pasture. Settlement by rural populations has led to deforestation, soil erosion, deforestation of the entire country is almost completely due to overpopulation, with a mere 600 km2 remaining and an ongoing loss of about 9% per annum. In addition to poverty, Burundians often have to deal with corruption, weak infrastructure, poor access to health and education services, Burundi is densely populated and has had substantial emigration as young people seek opportunities elsewhere
9.
Mount Nyiragongo
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Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 metres in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 20 km north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu, the main crater is about two kilometres wide and usually contains a lava lake. The crater presently has two distinct cooled lava benches within the crater walls - one at about 3,175 m, Nyiragongos lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in recent history. The depth of the lake varies considerably. A maximum elevation of the lake was recorded at about 3,250 m prior to the January 1977 eruption - a lake depth of about 600 m. A recent very low elevation of the lake was recorded at about 2,700 m. Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are together responsible for 40% of Africas historical volcanic eruptions, the volcano partly overlaps with two older volcanoes, Baratu and Shaheru, and is also surrounded by hundreds of small volcanic cinder cones from flank eruptions. The lava emitted in eruptions at Nyiragongo is often unusually fluid, Nyiragongos lavas are made of melilite nephelinite, an alkali-rich type of volcanic rock whose unusual chemical composition may be a factor in the unusual fluidity of the lavas there. Whereas most lava flows rather slowly and rarely pose a danger to human life. This is because of the extremely low silica content, the lava lake activity continued through 2010. At present, the lake is mostly confined within a broad, steep-sided cinder cone on the crater floor, between 1894 and 1977 the crater contained an active lava lake. On 10 January 1977, the crater walls fractured, and the lake drained in less than an hour. The lava flowed down the flanks of the volcano at speeds of up to 60 km/h, on the upper slopes, overwhelming villages and killing at least 70 people. The hazards posed by eruptions like this are unique to Nyiragongo, nowhere else in the world does such a steep-sided stratovolcano contain a lake of such fluid lava. Nyiragongos proximity to populated areas increases its potential for causing a natural disaster. The 1977 eruption raised awareness of the dangers posed by Nyiragongo. The 1977 eruption was preceded by the creation of a new volcano, Murara. Lava lakes reformed in the crater in eruptions in 1982–1983 and 1994, another major eruption of the volcano began on January 17,2002, after several months of increased seismic and fumarolic activity
10.
Patrice Lumumba
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Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first democratically elected prime minister of Congo. Lumumba appealed to the United States and the United Nations for assistance to suppress the Belgian-supported Katangan secessionists, both parties refused, so Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for support. This led to growing differences with President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and chief-of-staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, as well as the opposition of the United States. Lumumba was subsequently imprisoned by authorities under Mobutu and executed by a firing squad under the command of Katangan authorities. The United Nations, which he had asked to come to the Congo, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the United States have all been accused of involvement in Lumumbas death. In 2002 Belgium recognised its involvement in the killing and apologised to Lumumbas family, in 2014, the United States also recognised the CIAs active involvement. He was a member of the Tetela ethnic group and was born with the name Élias OkitAsombo and his original surname means heir of the cursed and is derived from the Tetela words okitá/okitɔ́ and asombó. He had three brothers and one half-brother, Lumumba spoke Tetela, French, Lingala, Swahili, and Tshiluba. Outside of his studies, Lumumba took an interest in the Enlightenment ideals of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was also fond of Molière and Victor Hugo, therefore, he started writing poetry, with many of his works taking on an anti-imperialist theme. He worked in Léopoldville and Stanleyville as a clerk and as a travelling beer salesman. In 1951, he married Pauline Opangu, in 1955, Lumumba became regional head of the Cercles of Stanleyville and joined the Liberal Party of Belgium, where he worked on editing and distributing party literature. After traveling on a study tour in Belgium, he was arrested in 1955 on charges of embezzlement. His two-year sentence was commuted to twelve months after it was confirmed by Belgian lawyer Jules Chrome that Lumumba had returned the funds and he was released in July 1956. After his release, he helped found the Mouvement National Congolais party on 5 October 1958, Lumumba himself had a large popular following, due to his personal charisma, excellent oratorical skills, and ideological sophistication. This allowed him more political autonomy than his Belgian-dependent contemporaries, Lumumba was one of the delegates that represented the MNC at the All-African Peoples Conference in Accra, Ghana, in December 1958. At this international conference, hosted by Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, Nkrumah was personally impressed by Lumumbas intelligence and ability. In late October 1959, Lumumba, as leader of the organization, was arrested for inciting a riot in Stanleyville,30 thirty people were killed
11.
Congo River
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The Congo River is a river in Africa. It is the second largest river in the world by discharge, the Congo-Chambeshi river has an overall length of 4,700 km, which makes it the ninth-longest river. Measured along the Lualaba, the Congo River has a length of 4,370 km. The Congo Basin has an area of about 4 million km2. The name River Congo originated from the Kingdom of Kongo which was located on the bank of the river. The kingdom in turn is named for the Bantu population, in the 17th century reported as Esikongo, South of the Kongo kingdom proper lay the similarly named Kakongo kingdom, mentioned in 1535. Abraham Ortelius in his map of 1564 labels as Manicongo the city at the mouth of the river. The tribal names in kongo possibly derive from a word for a gathering or tribal assembly. Little is known about the peoples of the inner Congo, but It is probable that the word Kongo itself implies a public gathering, the usual interpretations, admittedly unsatisfactory, make the mistake of being too concrete, for example, they may claim that Kongo comes from nkongo. The modern name of the Kongo people or Bakongo was introduced in the early 20th century, the name Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word nzere, a truncation of nzadi o nzere. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo are named after it, the state of Zaire during 1971–1997 was also named after the river, after its name in French and Portuguese. The Congos drainage basin covers 4,014,500 square kilometres, the Congos discharge at its mouth ranges from 23,000 to 75,000 cubic metres per second, with an average of 41,000 cubic metres per second. The river and its tributaries flow through the Congo Rainforest, the second largest rain forest area in the world, second only to the Amazon Rainforest in South America. Because its drainage basin includes 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. 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 River Basin is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the larger Mid-African province, sorted in order from the mouth heading upstream. Lower Congo Downstream of Kinshasa, there are no important tributaries, luvua Luapula Chambeshi 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, the Congo River still is a lifeline in a land with few roads or railways
12.
Virunga National Park
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The park was established in 1925 as Africas first national park and is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site since 1979. In recent years, poaching and the Congo Civil War have seriously damaged its wildlife population, the current park director since 2008 is the Belgian Prince Emmanuel de Merode. The park was created in 1925 by King Albert I of Belgium as the first national park on the continent of Africa. Land remuneration and the use of resources such as fishing and hunting by the local population became an ongoing problem. When the Belgians granted Congo independence in 1960 the new state deteriorated rapidly and it was only in 1969 when President Mobutu began to take a personal interest in conservation, that the park was revived. In the process of Mobutus Africanization campaign, it was renamed Virunga National Park, Virunga fared well for the better part of the 1970s. Foreign investment helped to improve the infrastructure and training facilities. In 1979 UNESCO designated the park as a World Heritage Site, in the mid-1980s the Mobutu regime began to lose its hold on power and the country began a long slide into chaos. Poaching depleted Virungas large mammal populations, infrastructure was destroyed, the Congolese Wildlife Authority slowly lost control of Virunga and UNESCO changed the World Heritage Site status to endangered. In 2013 the World Wildlife Fund raised concerns about plans by the UK based Soco International to carry out exploration for oil in the park, currently more than 80% of Virunga National Park has been allocated as oil concessions. Soco Internationals own environmental impact assessment reports admit that oil exploration is likely to cause pollution, irreparably damage habitats, the World Wildlife Fund have launched a campaign to petition Soco to refrain exploring the world heritage area for oil, and thereby avoid these outcomes. As of August 30,2014, SOCO demobilized its operations in the DRC, World Wildlife Fund executives now acknowledge that the battle over Virunga is hardly over. SOCO has yet to relinquish its operating permits or commit to an unconditional withdrawal, Virunga National Park is unrivaled in its diversity of landscapes and ecosystems. The park is known for its diversity, containing more bird, mammal. Although mountain gorillas are now rare and listed as one of the most critically endangered species. Their populations actually increased during the years of upheaval in the region. The 2010 mountain gorilla census has indicated that the efforts of Virunga have been very successful regarding the gorilla population. Both savanna and forest elephants as well as chimpanzees and low land gorillas can still be found in Virunga, along with okapi, giraffes, buffaloes and many endemic birds
Democratic Republic of the Congo
First Congolese Republic
Belgian Congo
Ruanda-Urundi
