Mbandaka was founded in 1883 by Henry
Morton Stanley with the name of "Équateur". In fact the Town Hall is
about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of the Geographic Equator Line, and Mbandaka
is indeed one of the closest of any substantial city in the world. Stanley
placed a large "Equator Stone" near the river bank south of the city
to mark the point where he believed the Equator to cross the river. It remains
there today. Due to its symbolic location close to the equator and the Congo
River there were early plans to locate the capital of the Congo Free State in
Mbandaka
