Congo River Coast

The immense Congo River meets the Atlantic through a wide estuary, its fresh water spreading far into the sea. Upstream, rapids interrupt the route into the interior, but the lower river connects the coast with the lands of Kongo. In the 1480s the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão reached the river mouth and erected a stone marker there. His voyage opened direct contact between the Portuguese crown and the rulers of Kongo, beginning a relationship that would transform the politics and trade of the region.