KWANZA RIVER

also spelled Coanza, Cuanza, Quanza, or Kuanza, river in central Angola, rising about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Chitembo in the Bi Plateau at 5,000 feet (1,500 m). It flows northward for about 320 miles (510 km) and then curves westward to enter the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles (48 km) south of Luanda, after a course of 600 miles (960 km). The Kwanza drains much of central Angola and is the only Angolan river of economic significance. At intervals during much of its upper and middle course, the Kwanza is broken by rapids and flows in a well-defined valley. The lowest fall is that at Cambambe (about 70 feet ), below which the river is navigable by small steamers to the sea, about 160 miles (255 km) distant. But the Kwanza is little used for transportation because of its shallowness in the dry season and because of a shifting sandbar at its mouth; moreover, much of the river's basin is served by the Luanda-Malanje railway. A right-bank tributary of the Kwanza, the Lucala, is also navigable and is noted for a 330-foot (100-metre) falls along its course. Cambambe Dam (1963) supplies electricity to the Angolan capital of Luanda and provides irrigation water for the valley of the Kwanza in its lower course.