The
Congo River (also known as the
Zaire River; ; ) is a river in
Africa. It is the second largest river in the world
by discharge (after the
Amazon), and the world's deepest river with measured depths in excess of . The Congo-
Chambeshi river has an overall length of , which makes it the ninth
longest river (in terms of discharge, the Chambeshi is a tributary of the
Lualaba River, Lualaba being the name of the Congo River upstream of the
Boyoma Falls, extending for 1,800 km). Measured along the Lualaba, the Congo River has a total length of . It crosses the
equator twice. The
Congo Basin has a total area of about 4 million km
2, or 13% of the entire
African landmass.