evidence: The Congo River (also known as Zaire River) is the largest river in Africa. Its overall length of 4,700 km (2,922 miles) makes it the second longest in Africa (after the Nile). The river and its tributaries flow through the second largest rain forest area in the world,[1] second only to the Amazon Rainforest in South America. The river also has the second-largest flow in the world, behind the Amazon, and the second-largest watershed of any river, again trailing the Amazon. Its watershed is a little larger than that of the Mississippi River. Because large parts of the river basin sit north and south of the equator, its flow is steady, as there is always at least one river having a rainy season.[2] The Congo gets its name from the old Kingdom of Kongo which was at the mouth of the river. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, both countries sitting along the river's banks, are named after it. From 1971 to 1997, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was called Zaire and its government called the river the Zaire River. [...] Literature [change | change source]The Congo River was the location the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.