DR Congo’s riverboat economy – how a floating transport system tells the country’s story

Road transportation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has received much scholarly attention. Some studies have examined the urban landscape (p.142). Others have studied transportation in the context of armed conflict in the east of the country, where roadblocks are a pronounced feature. The Congo Basin’s inland waterways, of which 25,000km are classified as navigable, have been studied with regard to the taxation regime of larger pushboat-barge convoys. The less far-reaching scale of small- and…