ABSTRACT
Africa is as much a river reality as it is a desert or savanna reality, in the sense that rivers provide food, homes, and transportation for millions of people on the continent. It has five great rivers: Congo, Niger, Nile, Orange, and Zambezi. Humans have occupied the region of the Congo River for thousands of years. The Congo kingdom lasted for nearly one thousand years, perfecting its system of governance and creating uniquely beautiful art out of its own cosmology. The main tributary feeding the Niger is the Benue River, itself a major source of food and transportation. Only the Nile River equals the Niger in terms of the glamor of its historic towns. Actually, in very dry years, the Orange River dries up before it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. The great Zambezi is Africa's fourth-largest river system after the Nile, Congo, and Niger rivers.
