| Likouala-Mossaka | |
|---|---|
 Sangha River basin, showing the Likouala to the west | |
  | |
| Location | |
| Country | Republic of the Congo |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Mouth | Congo River |
• location | Mossaka |
• coordinates | 1°13′37″S16°47′57″E / 1.2270°S 16.7991°E |
The Likouala-Mossaka (or Likouala River) (Swahili : Mto Likouala) is a river in the Republic of the Congo. It is a tributary of the Congo River, which it enters to the east of the town of Mossaka.
The Likouala-Mossaka is a right tributary of the Congo into which it flows at Mossaka about 650 kilometres (400 mi) from its source. Its basin adjoins that of the Sangha River to the north and the Ogooué River in Gabon to the west. To the south it adjoins the basin of the Alima, which has hardly any left tributaries. [1] The lower Sangha, the Likouala-aux-Herbes and Likouala-Mossaka rivers flow through the Congolese Cuvette, a huge depression with an equatorial climate. The soil of this region is sandy or clayey quaternary fluvial alluvia. Vegetation is dense, humid, shady forest that partly floods during the high water season. [2]
Between 1951 and 1993 annual rainfall in the Likouala-Mossaka basin was 1,689 millimetres (66.5 in) and average discharge at the Makoua gauging station was 216 cubic metres per second (7,600 cu ft/s). [3] The basin above this point covered 14,100 square kilometres (5,400 sq mi). [4]
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza explored the upper part of the Likouala-Mossaka, the Licona, in August 1878. Albert Dolisie entered its mouth in 1884. Giacomo Savorgnan di Brazzà descended the river when he returned from his exploration of the north in December 1885. In 1899 the whole Likouala-Mossaka basin was granted to the Tréchot brothers who had created the Compagnie Française du Haut-Congo (CFHC) for its operation. [1] In 1908 there were four administrative posts in a territory of about 80,000 square kilometres (31,000 sq mi). Seventy-two villages had to pay 44,648 francs in taxes. [5] Until 1909 the French administration of the Likouala-Mossaka basin was very light, and little had been done to develop its resources. [6]
The Congo River, 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). The Congo–Lualaba–Luvua–Luapula–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).
Brazzaville is the capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a department and a commune. Constituting the financial and administrative centre of the country, it is located on the north side of the Congo River, opposite Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza was an Italian-French explorer. With his family's financial help, he explored the Ogooué region of Central Africa, and later with the backing of the Société de Géographie de Paris, he reached far into the interior along the right bank of the Congo River. He has often been depicted as a man of friendly manner, great charm and peaceful approach towards the Africans he met and worked with on his journeys, but recent research has revealed that he in fact alternated this kind of approach with more calculated deceit and at times relentless armed violence towards local populations. Under French colonial rule, the capital of the Republic of the Congo was named Brazzaville after him and the name was retained by the post-colonial rulers, one of the few African nations to do so.
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The Lualaba River flows entirely within the eastern part of Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provides the greatest streamflow to the Congo River, while the source of the Congo is recognized as the Chambeshi. The Lualaba is 1,800 kilometres (1,100 mi) long. Its headwaters are in the country's far southeastern corner near Musofi and Lubumbashi in Katanga Province, next to the Zambian Copperbelt.
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Likouala is a department of the Republic of the Congo in the northern part of the country. It borders the departments of Cuvette and Sangha, and internationally, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. The region has an area of 66,044 km² and an estimated population of almost 360,000. The chief town is Impfondo. Principal cities and towns include Epena and Dongou.
Lake Tele is a freshwater lake in Epena District, Republic of the Congo.
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The Batéké Plateau is located around the border between the Republic of Congo and Gabon. In both countries it gave name to departments:
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Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park is a national park in the Republic of the Congo. Established in 1993, in the northern provinces of Congo, it is home to forest elephants, great apes, including western lowland gorillas and the eastern sub-species of chimpanzees and bongo. It is 3,921.61 km2 (1,514.14 sq mi) of pristine tropical rainforest with no human habitation within it and with human population densities in its periphery that are comparatively low for the sub-region. The forests have a rich biodiversity of 300 bird species, plus 1,000 plant and tree species which include endangered mahoganies.
The Cuango or Kwango is a transboundary river of Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the largest left bank tributary of the Kasai River in the Congo River basin. It flows through Malanje in Angola. The Kwango River basin has large resources of diamonds in the Chitamba-Lulo Kimberlite Cluster in Lunda Norte Province, discovered in the main river channel and on flats and terraces in its flood plains.
The Lake Chad replenishment project is a proposed major water diversion scheme to divert water from the Congo River basin to Lake Chad to prevent it drying up. Various versions have been proposed. Most would involve damming some of the right tributaries of the Congo River and channeling some of the water to Lake Chad via a canal to the Chari River basin.
The Chad Basin is the largest endorheic basin in Africa, centered approximately on Lake Chad. It has no outlet to the sea and contains large areas of semi-arid desert and savanna. The drainage basin is approximately coterminous with the sedimentary basin of the same name, but extends further to the northeast and east.
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The Dominique River is a river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
The Lobaye River is a river of the Central African Republic, a right tributary of the Ubangi River.
The Likouala-aux-Herbes is a river in the Republic of the Congo. It is a tributary of the Sangha River, which in turn is a tributary of the Congo River. It gives its name to the Likouala Department.
