It flows from the northern end of Lake Mweru on the Zambia-Congo border in a northwesterly direction for 350 kilometres (220 mi) to its confluence with the Lualaba River opposite the town of Ankoro.

[3] The middle course of the river is obstructed by a series of rapids, torrents and cataracts as it drops down from the plateau into the Congo Basin.

[12] The European missionary and explorer David Livingstone "discovered" Lake Mweru in 1867, and formed the theory that the Luvua flowed to the Upper Nile.

It was only after Livingstone's death that Henry Morton Stanley in his expedition of 1874-1877 showed that the river in fact was a tributary of the Congo.

[13] Starting in 1891, a Swahili named Shimba launched a series of slave-raiding expeditions that depopulated most of the western shore of Lake Mweru.

Shimba joined forces with another Swahili named Kafindo who was based on the upper Luvua and attacked the local Yeke ruler.

These attacks continued until the Belgian Braseur arrived and began to "pacify" the region, which the European powers had agreed belonged to Belgium.