Congo+Geography


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THE CONGO'S GEOGRAPHY


 * The Congo straddles the equator
 * A narrow strip of land that controls the lower Congo River and is only outlet to South Atlantic Ocean
 * There is dense tropical rain forest in central river basin and the eastern highlands



**Location:** Central Africa, northeast of Angola

**Geographic Coordinates:** 0 00 N, 25 00 E

**Area:** (Slightly less than one-fourth of the size of the United States of America)
 * Total: 2,344,858 sq km
 * Land: 2,267,048 sq km
 * Water: 77,810 sq km

**Surrounding Countries:** Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, & Zambia.

**Climate:** tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands; north of Equator - wet season (April to October), dry season (December to February); south of Equator - wet season (November to March), dry season (April to October)

**Natural Resources:** cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, coal, hydropower, timber

**Elevation Extremes:**
 * **Lowest point:** Atlantic Ocean- 0 m
 * **Highest point:** Pic Marguerite on Mont Ngaliema (Mount Stanley)- 5,110 m

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Terrain:** vast central basin is a low-lying plateau; mountains in east


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Arable land:** 2.86%
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Permanent crops:** 0.47%
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Other:** 96.67% (2005) [[image:photo_lg_congo.jpg width="378" height="253" align="right"]]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Environmental Issues:**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Poaching threatens wildlife populations
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Water Pollution
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Deforestation
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Excessive mining of minerals



**Resources:** Congo, Democratic Republic of the. (n.d.). //The Word Factbook//. Retrieved December 1, 2010, from http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html