Lesson video

Hi there.

Welcome to today's geography lesson with me, Miss Roberts.

I'm really excited that you've chosen to join me today as we continue our journey exploring a country called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This lesson is going to look at the physical landscapes of this country.

Physical geography is all about the natural world, so we are gonna be looking at things like mountains and rivers today.

And in fact, by the end of the lesson today, you are going to be able to identify physical features and explain the importance of them within the DRC.

So, are you ready to get started? Brilliant.

Let's begin by taking a look at some really important geographical terms that we're going to be using today.

It's important for you to understand what these terms mean and be able to use them yourself when you are talking about physical landscapes.

Our first term is something that we can actually shorten to just three letters: H-E-P.

HEP is hydroelectric power.

This is a way of generating electricity from water, from very fast-flowing water, in fact.

It's when water flows downhill very rapidly and the momentum of that flowing water is used to turn a turbine, which can then connect with a generator and produce electricity.

Our next keyword is an adjective describing something that has been created by a volcano.

The adjective is volcanic.

Our next keyword is a geographical feature.

It's a feature of the landscape.

It's a feature found in mountainous areas, and that's a valley.

A valley is often a very long area.

It's a very low-lying area, and the area immediately surrounding it is hilly or mountainous.

The valley is the area between those hills.

And finally, we are going to be talking a lot today about natural resources.

Natural resources are very important for every country in the world, but especially in the DRC, where there are lots of natural resources available.

Natural resources are resources that come from the earth.

They occur naturally, without any influence from human beings, but human beings can extract them and use them in different ways to fulfil our needs.

The lesson today has got two parts.

First, we're going to be exploring a specific area of the DRC that we call the Congo Basin.

And then after that, in the second part of today's lesson, we'll be exploring another area of the DRC called the Great Rift Valley.

So let's begin, then, by exploring the Congo Basin.

Let's find out exactly what it is.

The Congo Basin isn't only found in the DRC.

In fact, it's a very large area of Central Africa, of the African continent.

It's the area that is drained by the Congo River.

The Congo River is the greatest river in the DRC.

It's the longest and the deepest.

The Congo Basin itself actually spans six countries because that's the area where different tributaries drain into the Congo River.

The Congo River is a massive 4,667 kilometres long.

It is actually the second longest river in Africa.

Do you know what the longest river in Africa is? It's a very famous one.

It's the Nile River, that spans 11 countries.

You can see the Congo River here on this map.

The Congo River begins in the country of Zambia as a tiny little stream in the highlands.

It then starts to flow and enters the DRC in the southeast of the country.

From there, it continues to flow in a huge arch shape all around the country until it drains eventually into the Atlantic Ocean in the west.

The Congo River is used to form a natural border or boundary between part of the DRC and its neighbouring country, the Republic of the Congo, as well.

This incredible river isn't the only water feature of the DRC.

The DRC also has several very large lakes.

Mostly these are located in the east of the country, and they also form natural borders with other African nations, including Uganda.

Uganda, there in the north, is bordered with the DRC by Lake Albert.

We also have lakes that border the countries of Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Lakes and rivers, historically and in modern times, are very important sources of fresh water and, more importantly, are used for fishing, which is an important food source.

Many settlements, places where people live, began and formed around these important water sources.

Before we continue, let's pause here 'cause we've already found out an awful lot today.

So, let's try this quick activity.

Here you can see five different locations.

Only one of them correctly fits in each of these sentences.

Pause the video and add the correct location to each one.

When you're ready, restart, and I'll share the answers with you.

Okay, then.

Let's have a look at those answers together.

The Congo River flows through the DRC.

Part of the Congo River forms a border with the neighbouring country of the Republic of the Congo.

The Congo River starts in Zambia.

The Congo River is the second largest river in Africa.

And Lake Albert is on the border of the DRC and Uganda.

Well done if you got all of those correct.

The Congo River and all of those large lakes we are looking at hold great importance for humans, and that's because they're important ways of transportation.

People use boats to travel and move goods up and down around the country.

Settlements, where people live, grew around the river because they were transport hubs, as well as being water sources.

This means that the river, the lakes, and the tributaries of the river are key factors for economic development and trade in the DRC.

This map here shows all the navigable parts of the river.

They are thick blue lines, with the two small black lines at either end of the navigable sections.

Now, not all of the Congo River can be navigated by boat.

Some parts of it, due to the physical landscape.

There are sections where there are waterfalls and rapids, which are very, very challenging to traverse by any means of transport.

They are, in fact, very dangerous.

There are three large waterfalls, particularly in the west of the country, just before the Congo River drains into the Atlantic Ocean.

These cannot be travelled at all by water transport.

So, any water transport ends at the largest port in the country, which is in Kinshasa, the capital city.

Transportation from there onwards to the Atlantic Ocean continues by road or even by rail.

So what are the features of the physical landscape that prevent people from travelling by boat along the Congo River? Is it the lakes? How about crocodiles? Waterfalls, maybe? Or rainforests? Have a think and choose your answer.

It's waterfalls.

Waterfalls make travelling down certain parts of the Congo River impossible for humans.

The Congo River, having those waterfalls and having those rapids, those fast-flowing areas, presents another opportunity for the people of the DRC.

It's an opportunity for hydroelectric power to be created.

So, there are two very large hydroelectric dams in the DRC, and they are called the Inga dams. They're located on that western side of the DRC in those areas where the Congo River is fastest.

Those areas have very fast-flowing rapids, they have waterfalls, and a huge volume of water passing through the area.

This is towards the mouth of the river, where it is about to drain into the Atlantic Ocean.

So the discharge, the volume of the river, is at its greatest.

These conditions are ideal for hydroelectric power to be generated.

Building dams, however, for a country like the DRC, is a very expensive and challenging project to undertake, and that makes expanding this very difficult for the country.

The photograph you can see there is the first of the hydroelectric dams that were built in the DRC.

This is Inga I.

Most of the hydroelectricity that is produced by those two dams in the DRC is used specifically to provide power to one of the largest industries of the DRC, and that's mining.

The DRC relies on mining for a lot of its government revenue.

The output from those hydroelectric power plants is a lot lower than it could be, given the size of the power plants.

The power plants actually have the potential to provide electricity not only to the industries, but to millions of people in the country.

Unfortunately, any plans to expand or maintain these dams have been hampered by years of civil unrest in the DRC.

When things like war and conflict is happening in a country, other things are not prioritised.

So, the maintenance of these dams has not been upkept, and they now need extensive repairs.

Thinking about what we've just heard, then, about hydroelectric power in the DRC, do you think this statement is true or false? "The Congo River provides free electricity to the DRC." Have a think and make your choice.

Ready? This is, in fact, false.

Now, take another moment.

Can you think of a reason why? Why is this false? Ready? Perhaps you had an idea like this one: we can use fast-flowing rivers for HEP.

So, in the DRC, the Congo River is used to produce HEP.

That's true.

But it doesn't come for free.

The dams and the power stations have to be built, and that costs money.

They have to be maintained, and that costs money.

The electricity that is generated has to be supplied through vast networks of cables across the country before it can get to the industries.

That costs money.

So, at the end of the line, the people who that electricity is supplied to have to pay their electricity bills, which means the electricity is not free.

Okay, let's round off this section of the lesson about the Congo Basin with an activity to get you really thinking about this.

Andeep says that the DRC could generate so much more power through hydroelectricity.

I'd like to know whether you agree or disagree with Andeep, and why you have the opinions that you have.

Make some notes and give some details that are relevant to the DRC to support your choice.

You can pause this video now, and when you come back, I will share some example answers with you.

Okay, let's have a look at some example responses together.

Yours might have looked like one of these.

Let's begin with statements that agree with Andeep about the opportunity for generating hydroelectric power.

The Congo is a huge river.

It flows around the DRC.

It has fast-flowing rapids and waterfalls, and this natural resource could be used in the future to generate more electricity by hydroelectric power.

The Congo River's there; they don't need to mine for water like they might have to for other sources.

Now, how about a disagreement with Andeep? Hydroelectric power is very expensive to generate.

They need to build power plants and dams, and that all costs lots of money.

The DRC doesn't have it.

There's been so much conflict in the DRC as well, and if that continues, if there's more conflict, then the priority isn't going to be looking after hydroelectric power.

So there we are.

We have two different statements, some that agree with Andeep and some that disagree with Andeep.

And in geography, as geographers, we know that there is never one correct point of view, but what you must always be able to do is provide evidence and facts to back up your opinions on a particular topic.

We are now going to move into a different physical landscape of the DRC.

We're moving into an area now that we call the Great Rift Valley.

The Great Rift Valley isn't only in the DRC.

Just as the Congo Basin spans six countries, the Great Rift Valley is a huge area of Central Africa.

It's a huge volcanic region, and the part that you can see circled on the map here is the area of the Great Rift Valley in the DRC.

The Great Rift Valley was formed because it's a place where plate boundaries meet.

The plate boundaries are marked on this map by that black line.

The dotted line there, the dotted black line, is the Great Rift Valley, and the orange triangles are volcanoes in that area.

There are lots of them there, isn't there? Over millions and millions of years, this constant movement of the Earth's tectonic plates has formed a stunning, vast landscape that's full of mountains and valleys and volcanoes.

There are several volcanoes in the DRC itself, including the most active volcano of the Great Rift Valley, and that's called Mount Nyiragongo.

That volcano has actually been in a state of constant eruption since around 2021 to today.

That doesn't mean to say it's continuously exploding with lots of violent eruptions, but what we do have is a constant state where magma is able to escape from the volcano and cause continuous lava flow from it.

If you'd like to, you can take a bit of time now to pause the video and take a look at this map.

Look at where the volcanoes are in relation to the plate boundaries.

What patterns can you notice? Before we move on, let's pause for a brief check.

I was just talking about something called Mount Nyiragongo.

Now what type of natural feature is Mount Nyiragongo? Is it a valley? Is it a tectonic plate? Is it a freshwater lake? Or is it a volcano? It's a volcano.

Well done.

Mountainous areas like the Great Rift Valley are very challenging areas to build in.

Think about all of those steep slopes.

How do we build settlements in areas like that? Well, really, we can't.

So for that reason, many people settle in the valleys around the mountains, because in those areas the land is flatter.

So if we look at settlements in the east of the DRC in the Great Rift Valley, we can see that they are mostly located in the lowland areas, closer to those lakes that we saw before.

One of those cities is Goma.

Goma is in the foothills of Mount Nyiragongo, and it is built around a very busy fishing industry.

So we can understand why settlements grew around water sources like the lake.

We've got this busy fishing industry, we've got a water supply, but living near a volcano surely is a very dangerous place to live.

So why would people go and live there? Living in volcanic regions like this has both benefits and risks.

And the question is whether for some people the benefits outweigh the risks of living there.

These areas in the east of the DRC are very, very rich in natural resources.

These natural resources are some of the most expensive things on Earth, including gold, ores of metals like tantalum and tin.

And as export products, these can make a lot of money.

So the mining industry flourishes and grows around areas where these natural resources can be found and extracted from the earth.

As a result of those natural resources, towns and settlements grow in other areas close to where people can work in those mines.

The map here shows you some different types of natural resources that come from the DRC.

And we can see in the east there, we have the Great Rift Valley, and we have natural resources like gold and tin there in that area.

So before we move along, let's take a closer look at this map.

I would like you to pause the video, take a look at the key and the map, and I would like you to name three resources that are mined in the Great Rift Valley area of the DRC.

Pause the video now, and when you are ready, I'll share some examples with you.

Okay, let's have a look.

Now, first thing to remember is we are looking at the Great Rift Valley area.

That's the area in the east of the DRC.

So we are not looking at any of those natural resources that are further west or further south.

We are looking at the north and east part of the country, and over there we can see we have resources of gold.

We have resources of tantalum, which is another type of metal, and resources of tin as well.

Good job.

Now, it isn't only those natural resources that we find in the volcanic areas.

Areas that have undergone years of volcanic activity result in having very rich, fertile soils, and those soils are excellent for agriculture and for crop production.

In the DRC, one of the largest crops for export is a type of coffee bean.

The DRC specialises in growing two types of coffee bean, and one of them is a certain type of coffee bean called the arabica bean.

The arabica bean is the one that is the most valuable and can be exported.

It's one of the biggest exported products in the whole world.

And the east of the DRC, around the Great Rift Valley, produces arabica coffee beans, and they use those as a cash crop.

So this is a crop that's not used for people to use in the DRC.

This is a crop that is purely developed for export reasons to make some money.

In other parts of the DRC, the climate is still great for growing coffee beans, but they grow other varieties of bean called the robusta bean, for an example.

And those are the beans that are used to produce coffee domestically within the country.

So for many people, whether they are coffee farmers or miners, the opportunities to live and to earn money in volcanic areas outweigh the risks of living near the volcano.

You can see there the mighty, fierce lava flow.

This is actually a picture of Mount Nyiragongo.

The communities that live there live in a constant shadow of risk.

There is constant risk that earthquakes can happen because of the tectonic movements at the plates.

Volcanic eruptions happen all the time.

Lava flows.

Lava will destroy everything in its path.

It can create mudslides, which are all very dangerous to human settlements.

They result in the loss of people's livelihoods, if crops are destroyed, for example.

It can destroy people's homes and even kill people.

Yet despite those very real and very prevalent risks, the economic opportunities presented by farming and by mining, for many people, outweigh those risks.

Before we move on to do an activity together, I'd like you to answer this question.

Quick multiple choice.

Why is the Great Rift Valley an excellent location for growing coffee? A, because floods never happen there.

B, because other crops won't grow there.

C, mineral-rich volcanic soils are found there.

Or D, coffee can be easily exported from there.

Have you chosen? It's C.

It's because of those very mineral-rich volcanic soils.

They're really fertile.

Well done.

So the next activity is going to round off what we know today about the physical geography of the DRC.

We have learned a lot about the Congo Basin and about the Great Rift Valley, two very, very different natural landscapes.

Those natural landscapes influence where people live in the DRC and how they use the natural resources that those landscapes present.

I would like you to choose one or the other of the landscapes: the Congo Basin or the Great Rift Valley.

I would like you to describe and explain what influences where people live within that landscape and how they use the natural resources of the region.

I would like you to include details about both the opportunities and the challenges that are presented by living in the area that you've chosen.

You can pause the video now to do the task.

You can work with a partner if you wish while you are doing your research.

And when you are ready, come back, unpause the video, and I'll be sharing some example responses with you.

Enjoy.

Okay, let's have a look at some example responses together.

First of all, a response about the Congo Basin: Settlements grew around the Congo River as it was a source of freshwater for human use and for fishing.

Lakes in the Congo Basin also attracted people to live near them.

The Congo River is a major transport route, so people live near water transport hubs for easier trade and travel.

And now the Great Rift Valley.

This is a volcanic area with lots of mountains, so that means it's challenging to build settlements there.

However, in the valleys, where there is plenty of mineral-rich volcanic soil, people did settle there because of the farming opportunities.

There are also lots of natural resources in volcanic areas, like gold.

So people settled in mining towns where they could work.

Perhaps your response had ideas similar to these.

The DRC is a country full of vast differences in their physical landscapes.

Today, we have discovered that the DRC's physical geography includes mountains, lakes, rivers, and the Congo Basin.

We know that the Congo River is actually the second largest river in Africa after the Nile, and it's important because it's used for hydroelectric power and transport.

We know that part of the Great Rift Valley runs through the east of the DRC and that it has formed a landscape of mountains and volcanoes in that area.

The natural landscape of the DRC affects where settlements formed, it affects where people live, and how they use that natural landscape and the natural resources it provides.

I hope you have enjoyed the lesson today, finding out all about the DRC, its physical geography and the natural resources, and how people interact with them.

I hope you can join me again for the next lesson in this unit about the DRC, and I'll see you then.

Bye for now!.