The Mpoko River is a river in Central African Republic It is a tributary of the Oubangui River. The river is located near Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.
The Mpoko River is a river in Central African Republic It is a tributary of the Oubangui River. The river is located near Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.
It is a small tributary off the Oubangui river, which is a tributary off the larger Congo River. [1] The Mpoko River covers 23,900 km2 of land area and 86% savanna cover. [2] It begins northwest of the capital, Bangui, and flows southeast to its confluence near Bangui. It drains a savanna dominated ecosystem. [2]
Starting in 1899, the French gave land commissions in the French Congo to 39 companies. The companies had to pay royalties to France and their main objective was the collection of rubber and ivory. One concessionary company called the "La Mpoko" was founded on July 10, 1899 with the intention of exploiting a concession that covered the basin of the Mpoko River and the other tributaries. Guilbrand Schiötz was appointed head of the company in Bimbo, in 1906 Gaston Guibet was appointed head. The chief of the Bouriki peoples came to Guibet with a complaint, armed company men were demanding more rubber in his village and committing violent crimes. In 1907 Guibet reported to the local judicial authorities the crimes committed by agents under La Mpoko. The agents would take women as hostages demanding certain rubber quotas and beat and kill many people for no apparent reason. Agents stationed there would often rape women while the men were away at work. Schiötz resigned and left Africa in 1907 right as Guibet began to start an investigation. The French Congo high commissioner Èmile Gentil asked Paris to shut La Mpoko down but was rejected and the minister in Paris claimed that legal procedures against the company's clients had to be completed first. On April 29, 1909 a persecutor in Brazzaville gave a verdict that relieved the company and clients of their crimes. Due to its bad reputation the La Mpoko concession was revoked in 1910 and the company was liquidated in February 1911. [3]
The Mpoko river was found to have high TSM levels (total suspended matter), around 78.0 mg L−1 contrasting from the low levels ranging around 0.7–16.0 mg L−1 from more rainforest dominated rivers. [4] TSM levels depict how clear the water is in a river. Due to the surrounding savanna ecosystem, the water quality of the Mpoko River is highly turbid and not recommended for drinking.
The Central African Republic (CAR), formerly known as Ubangi-Shari, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. Bangui is the country's capital and largest city, at the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi). As of 2021, it had an estimated population of around 5.5 million. As of 2024, the Central African Republic is the scene of a civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012.
The history of the Central African Republic is roughly composed of four distinct periods. The earliest period of settlement began around 10,000 years ago when nomadic people first began to settle, farm and fish in the region. The next period began around 10,000 years prior.
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