Full descent of the Congo River
Travesía completa del río Congo
- Date
- 1874-1877 · confidence high
- Place
- Boma, Kongo Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Credited to
- Henry Morton Stanley (with African porters and guides)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Stanley descended the Lualaba-Congo from Nyangwe to the Atlantic, proving the two were the same river and fixing its 4,700 km course. The journey opened the Congo basin to King Leopold's Free State.
Only 114 of the 228 expedition members reached the coast; the 1874-77 expedition is associated with violence against local populations and with the origins of colonialism in the Congo.
What it led to
- mapping of central Africa
- Belgian colonisation of the Congo
- steam navigation on the Upper Congo