Luvua

Course

Lake Mweru, at an elevation of about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), is a floodplain lake that has been formed by a process of erosion where the wind has carried off alluvium. The Luvua River leaves the north end of the lake at Pweto in the DRC. The river flows about 350 kilometres (220 mi) northwest to Ankoro, where it meets the Lualaba. The middle course of the river is obstructed by a series of rapids, torrents and cataracts as it drops down from the plateau into the Congo Basin. At Piana Mwanga the falls are used to generate electricity for the Manono and Kitotolo mines. The river can be navigated in shallow-draft boats for 160 kilometres (99 mi) of its lower course below Kiambi.

History

Sometime after 1810 Kumwimbe Ngombe, ruler of the Luba Kingdom, conquered the region.

The European missionary and explorer David Livingstone "discovered" Lake Mweru in 1867, and formed the theory that the Luvua flowed to the Upper Nile. It was only after Livingstone's death that Henry Morton Stanley in his expedition of 1874-1877 showed that the river in fact was a tributary of the Congo.

Starting in 1891, a Swahili named Shimba launched a series of slave-raiding expeditions that depopulated most of the western shore of Lake Mweru. Shimba joined forces with another Swahili named Kafindo who was based on the upper Luvua and attacked the local Yeke ruler.