Geography |
The Democratic Republic of the Congo lies between latitudes 5° 20´ N and 13° 28´ S and longitudes 12° 10´ and 31° 15´ E and has a total area of 2 344 860 km2, over 77 000 km2 of which are covered in water. The country is more or less square, stretching 2 139 km from east to west at its widest point, and 2 094 km from north to south. It is almost totally landlocked, having an Atlantic seaboard of only 40 km on the left bank of the Congo (Zaïre) River between the Angolan province of Cabinda and the rest of Angola. It is bounded on the north by the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Sudan; on the east by Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Lake Tanganyika (which separates the country from Tanzania); on the south by Zambia and Angola; and on the west by the Republic of the Congo and the Angolan exclave of Cabinda. The equator crosses the northern part of the country.
The whole of the country lies within the basin of the river from which it takes its name, a huge and often swampy area with an average altitude of only 400 m, the lowest points being found in the north-west in the region of Lakes Tumba and Mayi-Ndombe (previously Leopold II), toward which the main left-bank tributaries converge. The central depression is open only to the west, but is enclosed by a higher rim in all other directions. In the north, flat plateaux between 600 and 800 m in height lie between the Congo and Obangui Rivers. In the south, huge, tiered plateaux rise steadily towards the south-east, reaching 1 000 to 2 000 m in Shaba province. In the east the old hard pan protrudes around the major depressions of the western Rift Valley. Peaks reach 4 500 m in the Virunga volcanic massif on the border with Rwanda, and exceed 5 000 m in the Ruwenzori Mountains on the border with Uganda. They reach 2 000 m in the Blue Mountains, west of Lake Albert and in the Kivu Mountains, west of the lake bearing the same name (according to the Jeune Afrique atlas). A total of 77% of the country is at an altitude of over 1 000 m, but only 0.8% is over 2 000 m.
The Congo (Zaïre) River dominates the country. At 4 374 km, the Congo is the second longest river in Africa and the seventh longest in the world. The Ubangi River is the Congo's chief northern tributary, while the Kasai is its main southern tributary. Other rivers feeding the Congo are the Luvua, Aruwimi, and Lomami.
Except in the high elevations, the country's climate is very hot and humid. The following climatic zones can be distinguished:
- A permanently hot and humid equatorial climate near the equator, with 140 to 160 days' rain a year, with maximums in April and October and minimums in January and July. The average annual temperature in the low central area is about 27° C. Temperatures are considerably higher in February, the hottest month. In low-lying areas (the river basin), annual rainfall is between 1 800 and 2 200 mm.
- A tropical climate beyond latitudes 3° N and 3° S, with a dry season that increases in length with the distance from the equator (4 months at Kinshasa, 5 months at Kamina and 6 months at Lumumbashi);
- Variations depending on altitude in the mountainous regions in the eastern Kivu and Shaba provinces, where rainfall can be as high as 3 000 mm and average temperatures drop by 1° C for each 180 m rise in altitude.
The driest parts are on the Atlantic coast in Bas-Zaïre (810 mm of rain at Banana, where the effect of the cold Benguela current is felt) and the lower parts of Shaba, where rainfall can be less than 1 000 mm.
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.