Malebón de piscina

El lago Malebo es una zona donde el río Congo se ensancha formando un lago. El término inglés pool designa una masa de agua , como un lago o estanque . Kinshasa se encuentra a lo largo de la costa sur de esta cuenca, mientras que Brazzaville está situada en su costa norte. ^{[ 6 ]} Antes de la nomenclatura colonial, las poblaciones locales conocían este tramo de agua con varios nombres, entre ellos N'Tamo (o Ntamo), Nkouna (Nkuna o Nkunda), Pumbo, Pumbu, Mpumbu o Ngobila. ^{[ 4 ] [ 3 ]}

La laguna Malebo tiene aproximadamente 35 kilómetros (22 millas) de largo y 23 ^kilómetros (14 millas) de ancho, cubriendo un área de unos 500 km² (190 millas cuadradas ) , y está salpicada de islas, la mayor de las cuales es la isla M'Bamou , que se encuentra en su centro y abarca aproximadamente 180 km² (69 ^millas cuadradas ) y forma parte de la República del Congo . La laguna es relativamente poco profunda, con profundidades que van de 3 a 10 metros, aunque las inundaciones estacionales pueden causar fluctuaciones en los niveles de agua de hasta 3 metros anualmente. La elevación promedio del área es de alrededor de 272 metros (892 pies) sobre el nivel del mar . ^{[ 5 ] [ 4 ]}         

A lo largo de la parte sur de la laguna, Brazzaville y Kinshasa se encuentran una frente a la otra en orillas opuestas, lo que las convierte en el par de capitales nacionales más cercanas del mundo (aparte de Roma y la Ciudad del Vaticano , que son contiguas ). ^{[ 3 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ]} Maluku se encuentra en la entrada aguas arriba de la cuenca, desde donde la laguna Malebo marca el inicio del río Congo navegable hacia Mbandaka , Makanza , Bangui y hasta Kisangani , mientras que aguas abajo de la bahía de Ngaliema , el río se precipita a través de una sucesión de rápidos conocidos como las cataratas Livingstone , descendiendo aproximadamente 300 metros en su camino hacia el puerto de Matadi . ^{[ 3 ] [ 17 ] : Vol. Dos, 255}

Vista aérea desde el noroeste del río Congo , que muestra la mitad superior del embalse de Malebo y la isla de Mbamu . Las afueras septentrionales de Brazzaville aparecen en primer plano a la derecha.

El contacto europeo con la región del río Congo comenzó en 1483, cuando el navegante portugués Diogo Cão llegó a la desembocadura del río y estableció relaciones entre el Reino de Portugal y el Reino del Congo . Este encuentro puso fin al relativo aislamiento de África Central de las redes intercontinentales y marcó el comienzo de la documentación escrita sobre la región. ^{[ 6 ]} Sin embargo, la investigación arqueológica y lingüística, en particular sobre las lenguas bantúes , indica que el asentamiento humano en la cuenca del Congo es muy anterior al contacto europeo, con evidencia de agricultura y metalurgia del hierro y el cobre que se remonta a "aproximadamente dos mil años". A partir del siglo XVI, la región se integró en los sistemas comerciales atlánticos, particularmente a través del comercio transatlántico de esclavos . ^{[ 6 ]} Se desarrolló un importante eje comercial a lo largo del río Congo, que se extiende desde la costa atlántica hasta la cuenca media del río. Pool Malebo funcionó como un punto de transbordo clave dentro de esta red, dividiéndola en dos zonas distintas. La zona occidental, que se extendía desde la costa hasta la laguna, dependía en gran medida de las rutas terrestres y funcionaba principalmente como corredor para el movimiento de mercancías, con importantes centros como Tungwa, Tshela , São Salvador , Kimongo y Ludima conectados por redes de caminos. La zona oriental, que se extendía desde la laguna Malebo hacia la confluencia de los ríos Ubangi y Uélé , era principalmente una región de producción, que abastecía artículos como cerámica , sal , alcohol de caña de azúcar , marfil , caucho y copal . ^{[ 6 ]}

Pareja Bateke , Estado Libre del Congo , 1898.

The area around Pool Malebo belonged to the Tio Kingdom, whose people are more commonly under the ethnonym Batéké. Jan Vansina, who wrote an entire study on this kingdom, explains that Batéké is likely a Kongo term used for groups belonging to the Tio Kingdom or describing their defining traits.^[6] Across the Kongo region, the Batéké plateau, and the central Congo valley, the ethnonym Téké is associated with the idea of selling. In Kikongo, téké means "to sell", a reference to the Tio's primary economic pursuit, commerce, and to how neighboring peoples viewed them: essentially as merchants. Vansina notes that the Tio were among the most familiar Central African groups to Europeans and Americans because of their presence around Pool Malebo.^[6] Many enslaved people exported to the Americas, as well as ivory from the Congo Basin, passed through markets in this area. The Tio Kingdom itself likely emerged when several small political and territorial communities united under one of them and a prominent leader, the Makoko (king). According to Isidore Ndaywel è Nziem, one of these communities included the ruins of a very ancient kingdom called N'guunu, located at Pool Malebo. This process of unification took place around the sixteenth century. Over time, the Tio built strong commercial connections with neighboring states such as the Kingdom of Kongo and Loango, which enabled the circulation of goods between the Atlantic coast and the interior. Pool Malebo served as the principal storage center and the key junction of this commercial corridor, functioning as its primary hub for goods transfer.^[6]

Iloo I (also known as Illoy Loubath Imoumba or Mboulignaoh Illoh), chief of the Bateke of Mbé and king of the Bateke from 1874, held the title Makoko, Onkô, or Ma-Onkô, traditionally given to a patriarchal leader. He died in 1892.

On the southern bank of the pool lived the Mfumu and Humbu (Bahumbu) peoples, who were culturally and linguistically related to the Batéké but constituted distinct groups. Vansina notes that the Bahumbu controlled the southern territories of the Pool. Most of their settlements were situated inland behind the surrounding hills, with their capital located at Lemba.^[6] The leader of Lemba, based in Mbanza-Lemba, served as the chief authority for the Pool's southern shore. For several centuries, Europeans were unable to penetrate the Pool Malebo region. Compared with areas of West Africa, the Congo Basin was colonized very late. Natural geographic barriers played a role, but more decisive was the determined effort of Bakongo and Batéké merchants to block Europeans, whether traders or missionaries, from approaching the Pool. This becomes evident in François Bontinck's account, which describes the ordeals faced by Italian missionaries in the seventeenth century as they tried to enter the Makoko Kingdom by passing through the Kingdom of Kongo.^[6] Their first attempt failed, with one missionary beaten and even threatened with execution. They reached the Pool only on a second try, and even then their escape route toward the Tio Kingdom ended on the southern bank, they were not allowed to cross the river to meet Makoko. Other missionaries of the same order encountered similar resistance. After several failed attempts, they sought to reach the Makoko Kingdom through the Ngobila canal, territory of the Batéké, but were attacked by warriors loyal to the king. Their village was burned, and the king later rebuilt it elsewhere, away from them. The attackers wanted to keep missionaries out, fearing that baptism and Christian influence would undermine commercial interests.^[6] The Tio kept themselves at the margins of the Kongo Kingdom because they worried that missionaries following Portuguese trade routes might discover the economic privileges of Tio territory, such as transit rights and various fees levied on those passing through. The missionaries ultimately returned to Kongo without meeting Makoko. The Makoko Kingdom continued to enchant missionaries stationed in Kongo, who dreamed of establishing missions there, but merchant resistance ensured that these ambitions were never realized.^[6]

Mfumu men in Léopoldville

During the nineteenth century, long-distance river trade expanded significantly, even though the slave trade had been officially banned, and from Pool Malebo, caravans of porters carried goods to trading stations near the mouth of the Congo River in the Lower Congo. Congolese guides crossing this region led thousands of caravans transporting enslaved people together with chili peppers, palm kernels, peanuts, sesame, ivory, and, later, rubber. For days at a time, communities in the Lower Congo supplied the stations where Europeans baked bread in huge ovens, and households easily obtained large quantities of European goods such as gin, firearms, gunpowder, and cloth.^[6] By this period, the Bobangi had joined the Batéké in commercial activity at Pool Malebo. Migrating from the Ubangi River, where they initially lived, they moved into the middle Congo and then toward the Pool between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They were not invaders; instead, they were drawn by the commercial vitality of the region. Calling themselves "river people", the Bobangi gave fresh energy to trade. Each Bobangi merchant could unload at least a ton of goods per year at the Pool, amounting to roughly forty tons annually. Their trade revolved largely around ivory and enslaved persons destined for coastal posts, which were exchanged for European-manufactured items like guns and textiles.^[6] Slave exports continued until around 1850–1860, when they were replaced by new commodities such as tobacco. In the 1870s, the Bobangi delivered between 5,000 and 6,000 elephant tusks to Pool Malebo. They earned a reputation as expert navigators of the Congo and its tributaries, the Alima, Likouala, and Ikelemba, between Pool Malebo and Bangala territory in the Ubangi valley. Their trade caravans, often made up of 10 to 60 pirogues loaded with goods, frequently traveled along the river.^[6] The Lingala language, derived from a river-trade lingua franca used along the Congo and Ubangi, spread as the primary commercial language in heavily trafficked zones, even though it originated with a relatively small group of "river people". Over time, the Bobangi first participated in, and then dominated, trade along the entire Congolese commercial network, a position they held until the establishment of the Léopoldville post and the introduction of steam navigation by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881, events that disrupted, but did not completely end, their trading system.^[6]

Eastward view across Stanley Pool from the terrace at Léopoldville, ca. 1889.

A finales del siglo XIX, el sistema comercial del río Congo se desmoronó. Su colapso se debió a la división de las zonas fluviales entre las autoridades francesas y belgas, la creación de nuevos puestos comerciales en aldeas ribereñas que antes eran locales, la introducción del transporte a vapor y la construcción de ferrocarriles. La actividad comercial descrita anteriormente había conectado África, Europa y América, integrando la región de Pool Malebo en la creciente economía mundial capitalista ya en el siglo XVII. ^{[ 6 ]} Sin embargo, este comercio estaba controlado por una pequeña élite, principalmente los habitantes que vivían a lo largo del río Pool, quienes poseían derechos exclusivos para vender personas esclavizadas y marfil. Estos jefes amasaron una considerable riqueza en forma de cautivos, armas y mercancías importadas. Los jefes que residían tierra adentro ejercían mucha menos influencia económica, ya que participaban solo indirectamente en el comercio regional enviando a sus dependientes a Pool. ^{[ 6 ]} Junto al comercio fluvial, la producción local de subsistencia y artesanía seguía siendo vital. La vida cotidiana dependía principalmente de la producción agrícola y artesanal local, que generaba los excedentes necesarios para sustentar a comerciantes y artesanos. Los cambios socioeconómicos que transformaron la zona durante el siglo XIX también afectaron profundamente la economía de subsistencia , la agricultura y la artesanía. La agricultura se expandió notablemente. ^{[ 6 ]} El procesamiento de la yuca para los mercados fluviales requirió una creciente mano de obra femenina, mientras que la producción de tabaco, destinada principalmente a la exportación, exigió una importante cantidad de mano de obra masculina, a menudo compuesta por trabajadores esclavizados. Por el contrario, algunas artesanías tradicionales, en particular la herrería , declinaron. Los artículos metálicos importados de la costa atlántica se abarataron lo suficiente como para reemplazar las herramientas de hierro, los arcos y las flechas fabricados localmente. Incluso la fabricación de canoas y remos , tan fundamental para el transporte y la pesca de los bobangi , disminuyó. La alfarería , sin embargo, adquirió una importancia sustancial. ^{[ 6 ]}

Una vista de la aldea de Kinshasa en 1912, un asentamiento también conocido históricamente como Insasa, Ntasa, Nshasa o Nsasa.

The southern side of Pool Malebo was made up of numerous villages of unequal size and importance: some sat directly on the river's edge, whereas others were situated farther inland. Among the principal riverside villages were Ntassa (Kinshasa) and Ntamo (Kintambo), which functioned as the chief markets of the southern bank.^[6] The major settlements in this area included Kinshasa, Kintambo, and Lemba. Villages such as Nolo, Kingabwa, Mokilao, and Kinsuka were also located along the river and were inhabited by Batéké. The inland villages belonged to the Bahumbu. Their chief village was Mbanza-Lemba, an important commercial hub. Other notable Bahumbu villages included Kimbanza and Kimwenza.^[6] Economic and social life differed for communities depending on whether they lived along the river or farther inland. According to Jan Vansina, the riverside villages near Pool Malebo could essentially be regarded as commercial towns. Unlike inland villages, these riverside communities were clusters made up of several smaller villages, often six or seven. For instance, Kinshasa consisted of multiple small villages scattered across the Kalina and Ndolo plains. Most riverside villages had mixed populations composed of Tio and Bobangi.^[6] Their organization was distinctive: a small number of free men presided over and managed a large enslaved population. Many of these riverside centers held hundreds of enslaved people. The biggest villages, such as Kinshasa and Kintambo, may have had roughly 500 to 1,000 residents, including women. These major villages frequently hosted caravans of traders from across the Congo River trade network, whose camps remained for weeks at a time.^[6] Riverside villagers cultivated little land and instead bought food from the inland Bahumbu villages. A few men fished, but the majority relied on local commerce. Women in these villages also saw major changes in their economic roles with the rise of riverine trade. Because little farmland surrounded these settlements, women devoted themselves largely to crafts, especially pottery, and to producing large quantities of cassava bread (chikwangue) for the trader caravans lodged in the villages. They also participated in the markets, selling food purchased from women in the inland villages. Despite this work, their daily routines gave them more leisure time than those of women who lived inland.^[6]

A marketplace in Matadi, circa 1899.

Marketplace scene in Matadi, circa 1905.

Among the Bahumbu, agriculture remained the primary means of livelihood. Their villages hosted markets of varying regional importance, depending on their involvement in long-distance river trade or in more localized exchange networks. For instance, Lemba, located in the Pumbu region, functioned as a major commercial hub, far surpassing Kimwenza, whose market served mainly local needs. Lemba drew numerous participants in river commerce, including the Bobangi, who could travel upriver from Ngili to Kimbangu and from there easily continue to Lemba. Bahumbu villages were usually small, rarely exceeding about three hundred inhabitants, women and children included.^[6] However, they were numerous and situated only a few kilometers apart. The Bahumbu were accomplished agriculturalists: they farmed, fished, hunted, and practiced multiple crafts. Their production supported household consumption and trade. They grew bananas, sugarcane, pineapples, cassava, maize, sweet potatoes, and beans; they also fished in the Congo River and its tributaries and sold game, livestock, peanuts, kaolin, tobacco, and other goods.^[6] As a result, they were the principal suppliers of foodstuffs to the riverside villages. When caravans of traders arrived and stayed for weeks at a time, sometimes up to four, the Bahumbu used the opportunity to raise their prices. The caravans represented a vital source of revenue for the inland economy. Trade also flowed both ways: caravans purchased goods from riverside villages, but villagers also bought items from the caravans.^[6] Among the products destined for the broader international market and acquired by Bobangi merchants were goods meant for local use, such as beverages, alcohol, metal tools, luxury household items, artisanal goods, and textiles. Through this extensive river trade, even smaller villages around the Pool became accustomed to the regular presence of goods originating from various regions of the Congo. As river commerce expanded, ordinary people also grew accustomed to consuming European imports arriving from the Atlantic coast. These imported items were usually cheaper and of higher quality than locally made equivalents. Their superior quality meant they were initially treated as luxury goods, but they gradually became everyday necessities.^[6]Este cambio generó una fuerte dependencia de mercancías extranjeras y disminuyó la autosuficiencia de los Batéké. Los productos europeos integrados a la vida cotidiana eran muy variados, incluyendo telas , mantas , cristalería , pólvora, sal , cubiertos , joyas , botellas , velas , vajilla y más. Las bebidas alcohólicas europeas, como la ginebra y el ron , también se popularizaron. A pesar de la competencia de las importaciones, la artesanía local, especialmente la cerámica, continuó floreciendo. ^{[ 6 ]} Estos productos hechos a mano se vendían a los Bobangi, quienes luego los transportaban río arriba. Según Vansina, esta persistencia de la producción local puede estar relacionada con preferencias culturales: los utensilios elaborados por los habitantes de Pool eran muy apreciados, en particular las jarras , los cuencos, las ollas y los objetos de latón. El pescado ahumado y salado también tenía una gran demanda en Pool, sirviendo como mercancía y como medio de pago. El pescado ahumado era transportado por los bobangi, quienes lo utilizaban en los mercados locales para obtener alimentos, mientras que el pescado salado, elaborado con sal marina de la costa atlántica, circulaba en intercambios entre las grandes comunidades ribereñas y las aldeas del interior. ^{[ 6 ]}

La cerveza de maíz , el vino de caña de azúcar y los productos del comercio interior abundaban en los mercados de Pool y gozaban de gran popularidad. Las mujeres solían vender productos animales, cerveza y vino, mientras que los hombres comerciaban con tabaco y carne seca . Surgió una especie de especialización regional a lo largo de la orilla sur: las grandes aldeas se centraban en la actividad comercial, mientras que las aldeas del interior de la meseta de Batéké, dedicadas a la agricultura y la ganadería, les proporcionaban alimentos esenciales. ^{[ 6 ]} Los cambios estacionales en el comercio fluvial creaban períodos alternos de abundancia y escasez. Las caravanas de comerciantes que llegaban del corredor comercial del norte del Congo llegaban a Pool por agua y permanecían habitualmente en los principales asentamientos durante las estaciones seca y lluviosa . ^{[ 6 ]} En cambio, las caravanas que viajaban hacia el interior desde la costa atlántica eran más constantes durante la estación seca. Estas fluctuaciones moldearon los ritmos económicos locales. A medida que el intercambio del siglo XIX se intensificaba alrededor de Pool, la agricultura se expandió significativamente en las regiones interiores del sur y en las mesetas de Batéké. La producción y el procesamiento de yuca aumentaron rápidamente, impulsados ​​por la creciente demanda y las estancias más prolongadas de las caravanas comerciales en la zona. ^{[ 6 ]}

El pueblo isangi vive a orillas del río Congo.

Traditional markets formed the core of local economic life. There were local and interregional markets, each distinguished by the types of goods exchanged, how often they were held, and the origins of the traders. A traditional week included one dedicated market day, separate from days of rest and agricultural work. Because market days varied between regions, people could easily travel from one market to the next. Yet the market was not purely an economic institution; it also fulfilled essential social and cultural functions.^[6] It served as a venue for entertainment, where new fashions appeared, and dancers presented new styles that then circulated more widely. Markets also acted as public forums: official announcements were made there, new laws were proclaimed, disputes were settled, and major crimes were judged. Barter was the earliest form of exchange and did not entirely disappear even after new instruments of trade appeared. Initially, some goods served simultaneously as commodities and as means of exchange. Later, symbolic objects were used as monetary markers, followed by rudimentary currencies such as shells, cloth, necklaces, metal rods, and motako (plural mitako).^[6] With the arrival of colonial capitalism in the Congo Basin, motako eventually became the dominant form of money. This economic system corresponded to the local economy, the economy of those excluded from large-scale river trade, which was controlled by a small elite of chiefs and influential figures. In practice, however, the economic activities of the "lower" and "upper" classes were interdependent. Large-scale river commerce generated a steady and predictable market for local producers, while the local economy supported river traders by supplying the food they needed during their stays at the Pool.^[6]

African societies engaged in European trade underwent significant social change, especially within their higher social strata. Traditional political, religious, and ritual leaders gradually lost influence to new elites who accumulated wealth through commerce. At Pool Malebo, although new figures emerged, particularly chiefs of riverside villages who were deeply involved in river trading, the older authorities continued to exercise considerable influence. These newly enriched chiefs acquired the military, material, and symbolic assets needed to consolidate their power.^[6] Another outcome of this process was the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Those who benefited directly from the major river trade formed a wealthy group, while those unable to participate became the poor. Despite this divide, both groups remained closely linked, with poorer individuals relying on and serving their wealthier counterparts.^[6]Immanuel Wallerstein notes that Europe experienced similar patterns of social differentiation between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries as long-distance commerce expanded. He observes that the main divide existed between those whose primary interest lay in the profits of the world market and those who did not share this orientation.^[6] The latter defended privileges tied to their social status, ranging from aristocratic rights to peasant protections inherited from feudalism or the monopolies of outdated guilds. Under the appearance of cultural unity, unusual alliances emerged that sometimes exerted enough pressure to influence central political institutions. At other times, these groups remained passive, serving, sometimes effectively, sometimes not, the interests of the dominant powers within the world-system.^[6]

Substantial social disruption did not occur until the colonial system took shape, a development made feasible after Henry Morton Stanley's expeditions opened the Congo River basin to European penetration.

Aunque el comercio en la región de Pool Malebo fue muy activo durante el siglo XIX, el sistema comercial aún no había evolucionado hacia una economía capitalista . Si bien las ganancias podían ser considerables, se repartían entre múltiples participantes, especialmente los comerciantes del interior. Por ejemplo, las ganancias del marfil se dividían entre el comerciante, el cazador que mataba al elefante y el jefe de la aldea, quien recibía automáticamente una parte. Los habitantes ribereños de Pool obtenían ingresos significativos, particularmente del marfil, pero estas ganancias no podían reinvertirse en empresas productivas. ^{[ 6 ]} No se podía comprar tierra y la mano de obra solo se podía obtener mediante la esclavitud. La riqueza acumulada circulaba en forma de préstamos sin intereses, y ciertos bienes y servicios sociales o rituales, como multas y dotes matrimoniales, permanecían fuera del control monetario. Algunos estudiosos sostienen que este período marcó una transición gradual del mercantilismo comercial al capitalismo industrial , lo que permitió a Europa imponer nuevas formas de influencia sobre las economías precapitalistas de África. ^{[ 6 ]} A pesar de los cambios en la producción, el comercio y las prácticas monetarias, las estructuras sociales permanecieron en gran medida intactas. Así, no hubo grandes convulsiones sociales en esta etapa, ya que estas transformaciones reflejaban principalmente una mayor penetración económica europea, mientras que las jerarquías sociales indígenas se mantuvieron estables durante todo el siglo XIX. Las perturbaciones sociales significativas solo ocurrirían más tarde con el establecimiento del sistema colonial, que se hizo factible después de que la cuenca del río Congo fuera abierta a Europa por el explorador galés-estadounidense Henry Morton Stanley . ^{[ 6 ]} Stanley completó el mapeo de la cuenca durante expediciones que lo llevaron desde Zanzíbar , con la ayuda de Tippu Tip , un prominente jefe traficante de esclavos, a través de varios bosques, hasta llegar finalmente al río Congo y arribar a Boma en agosto de 1877. ^{[ 6 ]} En su viaje, encontró el lago del río Congo, Pool Malebo, al que su compañero Pocock llamó Stanley Pool. Después de explorar la cuenca, Stanley se propuso abrirla al comercio mundial. Cuando Inglaterra mostró poco interés, aceptó una oferta del Comité d'études du Haut-Congo (CEHC), respaldado por el rey Leopoldo II de Bélgica , quien había buscado colonias durante mucho tiempo. La misión de Stanley era controlar el estuario del río Congo y establecer rutas de barcos de vapor desde Pool, abriendo así la cuenca al comercio europeo y sentando las bases del capitalismo colonial y el trabajo asalariado en el Congo. ^{[ 6 ]}

A view from the head of Bamu Island overlooking the southern branch of Stanley Pool

The Léopoldville post was established on 1 December 1881 by Stanley on a hill known to local inhabitants as Konzo Ikulu, which he renamed Mont Léopold. Later, the hill was ceded to him by Ngalimena, the chief of the nearby Kintambo village, giving it the current name Mont Ngaliema. Stanley's caravan route from the Congo River estuary near present-day Matadi ended at Pool Malebo, close to this hill. Léopoldville developed earlier than Kinshasa, and river trade continued after its founding, with ivory merchants bringing goods from the upper river to Kintambo to exchange for imported items.^[6] During the first decade, Batéké intermediaries controlled the trade, reselling ivory to European settlers. From its earliest years, Léopoldville expanded: houses were built, roads laid out, trees planted, and Catholic and Protestant missions established. A port was constructed on Kintambo Bay. The Batéké villages in the area remained alongside the post. Between 1890 and 1911, the town's growth accelerated, notably due to the railway's construction.^[6] Administrative and logistical infrastructure developed extensively, including naval and transport services, the Force Publique, postal and telegraph offices, customs, the district commissioner's office, hospitals for Europeans and Africans, schools (including mission schools), and a military camp. African workers initially concentrated in one village were later organized into two camps, Kiliamani and Mampeza, numbering around 3,000 by 1907.^[6] In contrast, the Kinshasa post between 1883 and 1910 was still in its infancy and expanded slowly. It was linked to Léopoldville by a poorly maintained dirt road. A Dutch trading post (Nieuwe Afrikaanse Handels-Vennootschap) was established there around 1886, along with Portuguese trading posts, European residences, an African workers' camp, a Protestant mission, a coffee factory, and buildings for customs, the post office, and the train station. A railway, following the river at a distance of approximately 500 meters, connected Kinshasa to Léopoldville.^[6]

Congo Railways at Léopoldville, a view of the port and the train station

El crecimiento significativo de Kinshasa comenzó con la construcción de un nuevo puerto fluvial entre 1910 y 1912, que reemplazó al puerto de Léopoldville, que estaba demasiado cerca de los rápidos . La ciudad se expandió rápidamente, atrayendo empresas comerciales de Bélgica, Inglaterra, Italia y Portugal, que se establecieron en toda la zona. Se fundó una cámara de comercio en 1912. También se construyó un barrio africano, que albergaba a aproximadamente 13.000 personas entre 1914 y 1915. ^{[ 6 ]} Una misión católica dirigida por los Padres Scheut ( Congregación del Inmaculado Corazón de María ) estableció escuelas primarias y de formación profesional , y la Catedral de Santa Ana se terminó en 1915. Se instaló un mercado en el sitio actual del mercado principal, mientras que el antiguo ferrocarril Kinshasa-Léopoldville , ahora Boulevard du 30 Juin , marcaba el límite entre las secciones europea y africana de la ciudad. A medida que Kinshasa se expandía, este límite se desplazó más al sur, el ferrocarril se reubicó y el mercado también se trasladó. ^{[ 6 ]} En 1920, Kinshasa y Léopoldville se fusionaron en un único distrito urbano llamado Léopoldville, que se convirtió oficialmente en la capital del Congo Belga en 1923. Kinshasa se desarrolló como centro de negocios, y este acuerdo se formalizó en 1929 después del desarrollo de la llanura de Kalina . Se construyeron edificios administrativos, incluido el palacio del gobernador, y una importante carretera conectó Léopoldville con Kinshasa. ^{[ 6 ]} La ciudad se expandió, incorporando aldeas a lo largo de la ribera sur del río, y atrajo a colonos de todo el país, en su mayoría extranjeros. Con el tiempo, los barrios se multiplicaron, formando la extensa y cosmopolita ciudad de Kinshasa. Después de la independencia, el nombre Léopoldville se eliminó gradualmente, y Kinshasa se convirtió oficialmente en el nombre de la ciudad el 1 de julio de 1966. ^{[ 6 ]}

The Pool Malebo area experiences an equatorial to tropical climate characterized by two principal seasons. The dry season lasts roughly three months, from June to August, while the rainy season extends from September to May, interrupted by a brief dry spell between January and February.^[13] Rainfall peaks in November, December, and March, whereas July is typically the driest month. Due to its low elevation, Kinshasa has a hot and humid tropical climate classified as AW4 under the Köppen climate classification, with a dry season from June to September and a rainy season from September through May.^[13]

Palm and papyrus swamps fringe the margins of the river and Pool Malebo, while floating mats of Eichhornia drift along the river channel and circulate within the pool.^[18] The aquatic vegetation is largely composed of hydrophytes, geophytes, and chaméphytes adapted to permanently or seasonally flooded environments.^[13] A floristic survey conducted in 2020 on Molondo, Mipongo, and Japon islands recorded 19 aquatic plant species, including 17 angiosperms and 2 pteridophytes, belonging to 15 families and 14 orders. These plants occupy habitats that range from open water to muddy and riparian environments.^[13]

A significant proportion of the aquatic flora consists of invasive species. Among them, Eichhornia crassipes and Echinochloa pyramidalis display invasive characteristics and are the most serious ecological threats. These species form dense monospecific mats that displace native vegetation, reduce habitat heterogeneity, and alter light and oxygen availability in the water column.^[13] Their spread is also facilitated by waterborne dispersal and human activities such as fishing, river traffic, market gardening, and rice cultivation along riverbanks, which introduce and redistribute plant propagules throughout the pool.^[13]

Most fish endemic to the area are catfishes, including the mountain catfish, L. brieni, Leptoglanis mandevillei, L. bouilloni and Atopochilus chabanaudi, an upside-down catfish.^[18] More than 200 fish species have been documented. Mormyrids are the most common, with over 40 species, and have the highest diversification.^[18]

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  Aerial view of Pool Malebo from above Kinshasa
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  Stanley's route is depicted by the solid black line.