Kongo (mto)

Mto wa Kongo (kati ya miaka 1971 na 1997 uliitwa zaidi "Zaire") ni mto mkubwa wa Afrika ya kati. Ni mto mrefu wa pili katika Afrika baada ya Nile. Pia ni mto wenye kina kirefu zaidi duniani. 

Beseni la Kongo pamoja na matawimto yake ni eneo kubwa la pili duniani la msitu wa mvua. Kwa kiasi cha mshuko wa maji mdomoni ni mto mkubwa wa pili duniani baada ya Amazonas (Amerika ya Kusini).[Oberg, Kevin (July 2008). "Discharge and Other Hydraulic Measurements for Characterizing the Hydraulics of Lower Congo River, July 2008" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey. 1 Discharge and Other Hydraulic  Measurements for Characterizing the  Hydraulics of Lower Congo River , July 2008, Oberg et alia] 

Urefu wake ni kilomita 4,700 ukipimwa kuanzia chanzo cha tawimto la mbali zaidi ambalo ni mto Chambeshi wenye chanzo nchini Zambia. Mara nyingi urefu hutajwa kuanzia chanzo cha Lualaba halafu ni kilomita 4,374. 

Jina
Jina la mto limetokana na Ufalme wa Kongo uliokuwa dola kubwa katika Angola ya Kaskazini na Kongo ya Magharibi wakati wa karne ya 14-17 BK. Jamhuri zote mbili za Kongo za leo zimepata majina yao kutoka mto huo. 

Kuna taarifa ya mwaka 1535 kuhusu ufalme mdogo wa pili ulioitwa Kakongo kingdom. Ramani ya dunia iliyochorwa na Abraham Ortelius mnamo 1564 inaonyesha mji wa "Manicongo" kwenye mdomo wa mto kando ya bahari.

Jina la Bakongo kwa ajili ya jumla ya wasemaji wa lugha ya Kikongo ni jina la kisasa lililotumiwa tangu karne ya 20 tu. 

Jina la pili linalotumiwa wakati mwingine ni "Zaire"; dikteta Mobutu Sese Seko alilifanya kuwa jina rasmi la mto pamoja na la taifa kati ya miaka 1971 - 1997. Jina hilo linatokana na neno la Kikongo "nzere" ("mto")Forbath, Peter. The River Congo (1977), p. 19.. 

Katika karne za 16 na 17 mto ulijulikana kwa majina yote mawili jinsi inavyoonekana katika maandishi ya siku zile, kwa mfano Mwingereza James Barbot aliandika mwaka 1746 juu ya safari kwenda mto "Kongo au Zaire" ("Voyage to Congo River, Or the Zair") <ref>James Barbot, An Abstract of a Voyage to Congo River, Or the Zair and to Cabinde in the Year 1700 (1746). Mifano mingine inayotaja majina yote mawili: James Hingston Tuckey, Narrative of an Expedition to Explore the River Zaire, Usually Called the Congo, in South Africa, in 1816 (1818), (via google books, imetazamiwa May 2016). "Congo River, called Zahir or Zaire by the natives" John Purdy, Memoir, Descriptive and Explanatory, to Accompany the New Chart of the Ethiopic Or Southern Atlantic Ocean, 1822, p. 112.</ref>

Beseni na mwendo
Beseni la Kongo linalokusanya utiririshaji wa maji lina eneo la kilomita za mraba 4,014,500 Bossche, J.P. vanden; G. M. Bernacsek (1990).  Source Book for the Inland Fishery Resources of Africa, Volume 1, imetolewa na FAO, pp. 338–339. ISBN 978-92-5-102983-1.. Kongo inashusha (kutegemeana na majira na kiasi cha mvua) kila sekunde kati ya m³ 23,000 hadi 75,000 za maji kwenye Atlantiki (wastani umekadiria kuwa mita za ujazo 41,000 kwa sekunde)Oberg, Kevin (July 2008), uk. 3. 

Kongo na matawimto yake inapita katika eneo kubwa la misitu ya mvua duniani (Amazonas pekee inapita katika msitu wa mvua mkubwa zaidi). Kwa kuwa ikipita pande zote mbili za ikweta, yaani kaskazini na kusini, sehemu fulani ya beseni lake huwa na majira ya mvua muda wowote. 

Vyanzo vya Kongo viko katika nyanda za juu na kwenye milima inayopakana na Bonde la Ufa la Afrika ya Mashariki, pamoja na Ziwa Tanganyika na Ziwa Mweru ambayo yanamwaga maji kwenda mto Lualaba ulio tawimto kubwa zaidi la Kongo. Kwa kawaida chanzo cha mto Chambeshi huko Zambia, ambao unaishia katika Lualaba, huhesabiwa kama chanzo cha Kongo.

Lualaba inabadilisha jina lake mjini Kisangani ambako mto umepita maporomoko ya Bayoma na baada ya hapo huitwa Kongo. Mto unaelekea kaskazini, halafu mwendo wake unapinda kuelekea kusini magharibi, unapita mji wa Mbandaka unapopokea mto Ubangi halafu unaingia katika Bwawa la Malebo (kwa Kiingereza: Stanley Pool). Miji ya Kinshasa na Brazzaville inatazamana ikiwa pande mbili za bwawa hilo. Baada ya bwawa mto unakuwa mwembamba ukipita katika mabonde ya korongo kwenye idadi ya maporomoko inayojulikana kama maporomoko ya Livingstone Falls). Unapita miji ya Matadi na Boma (Kongo) na kuufikia baharini kwenye mji mdogo wa Muanda.

 Matawimto 
Matawimto yanaorodheshwa kuanzia mdomo kulekea chanzo. Kma namba zinatajwa zinaeleza urefu wa mwendo kwa kilomita (=km), eneo la beseni la tawimto kwa kilomita za mraba (=km²) na mshuko wa maji yaani kiasi cha maji kinachotoka mdomoni kwa mita za ujazo kwa sekunde (=m3/s)

 Inkisi
 Nzadi
 Nsele 
 Bombo
 Kwa-Kassai (kushoto) - 2150 km - 881,900 km2, 9,900 m3/s
 Fimi
 Lukenie
 Kwango
 Sankuru
 Lefini (kulia)
 Sangha (kulia) - 1,400 km, 213,400 km2, 750 m3/s
 Kadéï
 Ubangi (kulia)  - 2,270 km,  772,800 km2, 4,000 m3/s
 Mbomou
 Uele
 Tshuapa (mto) (kushoto) - 1,000 km
 Lomami (mto) (kushoto) - 1,400 km

Kongo ya Juu
Juu ya Miporomoko ya Boyoma karibu na Kisangani mto kongo hujulikana kwa jina la mto Lualaba.
 Luvua
 Luapula
 Chambeshi

Kongo kama njia ya usafiri
Mto Kongo ni njia muhimu ya mawasiliano na biashara kwa meli zinazoweza kusafiri mle kwa kushirikiana na njia za reli penye maporomoko mahali patatu.

Maporomoko ya Livingstone yanazuia meli kupita kutoka baharini. Kuanzia Kisangani hadi Kinshasa mto ni njia ya maji inayopitiwa na meli za mtoni. Upande wa Lualaba kuna sehemu kadhaa zinazofaa kwa meli lakini njia ya maji inakatwa mara kadhaa na maporomoko.

Sehemu kubwa ya bidhaa kwenda Afrika ya kati zinasafirishwa mtoni. 

Umememaji
Mto Kongo ni mto wenye maji mengi katika Afrika yote. Hivyo kuna nafasi kubwa ya kuzalisha umememaji. Kama nafasi zote zingetumika ingewezekana kutosheleza mahitaji yote ya umeme kwa Afrika kusini kwa Sahara. Alain Nubourgh, Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) . Weetlogs.scilogs.be (2010-04-27). Retrieved on 2011-11-29.

Hadi sasa kuna takriban vituo 49 vinavyozalisha umememaji katika beseni la Kongo. Kituo kikubwa kiko kwenye Lambo la Inga takriban kilomita 200 upande wa kusini magharibi wa Kinshasa. Mradi ulianzishwa katika miaka ya 1970. Wakati ule mfululizo wa malambo 5 ulipangwa. Hadi sasa 2 yamejengwa, lambo la kwanza (Inga I) lilikuwa tayari mwaka 1972, Inga II ikafuata mwaka 1982 na yote miwili ina rafadha 14 zinazoweza kuzalisha megawati 1,775 kwa jumla, lakini kutokana na uhaba wa matengenezo na usimamzi yanafikia si zaidi ya nusu yake.  "Inga 1 and Inga 2 dams" kwenye tovuti ya www.internationalrivers.org, ilitazamiwa Mei 2016 

Shirika la Eskom kutoka Afrika Kusini imependekeza kuongeza lambo la tatu na - pamoja na matengenezo kwenye malambo mengine - kuongeza uwezo wa majiumeme hadi kiwango cha gigawati 40.  

Lakini kuna wataalamu walioonyesha mashaka kuwa malambo mapya yatakuwa hatari kwa ekolojia ya mto na hasa maisha ya spishi nyingi za mtoni.Norlander, Britt (20 April 2009). "Rough waters: one of the world's most turbulent rivers is home to a wide array of fish species. Now, large dams are threatening their future". Science World. (hitimisho ilitazamiwa kwenye tovuti ya the Free Library, Mei 2016)

 Tazama pia 
 Kongo (maana)
 Mito mirefu ya Afrika

Marejeo

Kujisomea
 1837: Silence – A Fable is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe,  written in 1837.   "The region of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya, by the borders of the river Zaire."
 1878: Henry Morton Stanley documented his journey down the Congo River in Through the Dark Continent, first published in 1878.Through the Dark continent. Open Library. Retrieved on 2011-11-29.
 1899: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a short novel   about Charles Marlow's life as an ivory transporter down the Congo River in Central Africa.  The river is "a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land".
 1914: American poet Vachel Lindsay portrays a dark and savage society around the Congo River in his 1914 poem The Congo: A Study of the Negro Race.
 1921: The Congo is mentioned in Langston Hughes's poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers".
 1930: Both Congo River and basin form the setting of Hoity Toity, the Soviet science fiction novel by Alexander Belyayev.
 1980: The Congo River is featured in a chapter of Michael Crichton's novel Congo (published in 1980), as well as in the 1995 film based on the book.
 1995: The Congo River is featured in the action film Congo, by director Frank Marshall, although it is not mentioned by name in the film. The film is based on the 1980 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton.
 1996: British author Redmond O'Hanlon has a travelogue published by Penguin Books under the title of Congo Journey (1996).
 1998: The river's history is discussed in the 1998 book King Leopold's Ghost (by Adam Hochschild).
 2006: The river's history is discussed in the book Brazza, A Life for Africa (by Maria Petringa, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006).
 2007: The Congo River and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the scenario for the 2007 book Blood River by journalist Tim Butcher, based on his intrepid travels up and down Africa's second longest river. Blood River was an attempt to retrace Henry Morton Stanley's trip down the Congo River, documented in Through the Dark Continent (first published, 1878), and was shortlisted for the 2008 British Book Awards.
 2010: The Congo River is a central element in the 2010 novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, El sueño del celta (The Dream of the Celt), a fictionalisation of episodes in the life of the Irishman Roger Casement. The book is to be published in English in 2012.
 2012: Phil Harwood's book "Canoeing the Congo" , Harwood, P. (2012). Canoeing the Congo: First Source to Sea Descent of the Congo River. Matador. ISBN 978-1780880075,

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Jamii:Mito ya Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo
Jamii:Mito ya Jamhuri ya Kongo
Jamii:Mito ya Angola
Jamii:Mito ya Afrika