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Congo, Democratic Republic of the

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This astronaut image shows two capital cities (brownish-gray areas) on opposite banks of the Congo River. The smaller city on the north side of the river is Brazzaville, while the larger, Kinshasa, is on the south side. The cities lie at the downstream end of an almost circular widening in the river known as Stanley Pool. The international boundary follows the south shore of the pool (roughly 30 km in diameter). The Republic of the Congo, originally a French colony, is sometimes called Congo-Brazzaville - as opposed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known from 1971 to 1999 as Zaire) which is often called Congo-Kinshasa, originally a Belgian colony. Brazzaville's population is less than a tenth of Kinshasa's. There is no bridge between the cities so that water craft of many kinds ply between them. It is not uncommon to see dugout canoes being paddled between the cities. Photo courtesy of NASA.

This astronaut image shows two capital cities (brownish-gray areas) on opposite banks of the Congo River. The smaller city on the north side of the river is Brazzaville, while the larger, Kinshasa, is on the south side. The cities lie at the downstream end of an almost circular widening in the river known as Stanley Pool. The international boundary follows the south shore of the pool (roughly 30 km in diameter). The Republic of the Congo, originally a French colony, is sometimes called Congo-Brazzaville - as opposed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known from 1971 to 1999 as Zaire) which is often called Congo-Kinshasa, originally a Belgian colony. Brazzaville's population is less than a tenth of Kinshasa's. There is no bridge between the cities so that water craft of many kinds ply between them. It is not uncommon to see dugout canoes being paddled between the cities. Photo courtesy of NASA.

The Luizi Structure, located in southeastern Congo, is a crater covered by grasses up to a meter (3 ft) high. The crater seen in this satellite image has about a 17 km (11 mi) diameter, with an intermittent ring about 5.2 km (3.2 mi) across, and a smaller, center ring about 2 km (1.2 mi) across. Around the perimeter of the crater, a rim rises approximately 300 to 350 m (980 to 1,150 ft) above the interior. In short, Luizi is a well-preserved, moderately sized, complex crater. Exactly when Luizi formed is difficult to answer. Researchers estimate that nearby rocks are 575 million years old - more than 300 million years older than the first dinosaurs. But besides knowing that the impact cannot be older than the rock layers it disrupted, geologists still cannot say when the impact occurred. Photo courtesy of NASA.

The Luizi Structure, located in southeastern Congo, is a crater covered by grasses up to a meter (3 ft) high. The crater seen in this satellite image has about a 17 km (11 mi) diameter, with an intermittent ring about 5.2 km (3.2 mi) across, and a smaller, center ring about 2 km (1.2 mi) across. Around the perimeter of the crater, a rim rises approximately 300 to 350 m (980 to 1,150 ft) above the interior. In short, Luizi is a well-preserved, moderately sized, complex crater. Exactly when Luizi formed is difficult to answer. Researchers estimate that nearby rocks are 575 million years old - more than 300 million years older than the first dinosaurs. But besides knowing that the impact cannot be older than the rock layers it disrupted, geologists still cannot say when the impact occurred. Photo courtesy of NASA.

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