III.

European Exploration

The first European, so far as is known, to visit the river was the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cam (Port. Cão), who entered the Congo estuary on a voyage between 1482 and 1484. He claimed the surrounding region as Portuguese territory, leaving a marble pillar on the riverbank as proof of his discovery. From this circumstance the river became known as the Rio de Padrão (Pillar River). This name was subsequently replaced by Zaïre, a term similar to the local word for river, which gave way in turn to the present name.

After Cam's voyage other Europeans visited the river estuary, chiefly for trading purposes, but more than three centuries elapsed before a serious exploratory project was undertaken. In 1816 a British expedition reached a point between present-day Matadi and Kinshasa, failing to advance farther because of an outbreak of illness among the members. The Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone reached the Lualaba River in 1871; the first exploration of the main stream was the expedition of the Anglo-American explorer Henry M. Stanley. Stanley descended the Lualaba-Congo river system in 1876 and 1877 to its mouth, travelling more than 2,575 km (1,600 mi). As a navigable route to the interior, the Congo figured prominently in the subsequent colonization of central Africa.