Stanleyville

Kisangani, former Stanleyville, (population 500,000) city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa. Provincial capital of Orientale.

Kisangani is located where the Lualaba River becomes the Congo River north of the Boyoma Falls. It is the farthest navigeable point upstream from Kinshasa.

History

Stanley founded Stanley Falls Station in december 1883, on an island in the Congo River near the present town of Kisangani. He left mr Binnie, an engineer and a Scotchman, in charge to trade with the natives and to represent the Congo Free State. Soon afterwards, Arab slavers from Zanzibar reached Stanley Falls. Relations between Free State Officials and Arab slavers were strained and after a fight the Station was abandoned in 1887. In 1888, some form of Free State power was re-established by appointing Tippu Tip, one of the greatest Arab slavers, as governor of Stanley Falls district.