Manyanga was a staging post on the route from the coast to Léopoldville during the days of the Congo Free State.

It was at the upper end of a navigable reach of the Congo River from Isangila, further downstream to the west.

He charged Charles-Marie de Braconnier with building a road from Manyanga to the mouth of the Lufu River, bypassing the Ntombo-Mataka falls.

[4] The Baptist missionary George Grenfell established a chain of missions at Musuko, Isangila and Manyanga.

[6] The decision to build a road along the south shore, avoiding territory claimed by the French, followed by construction of the Matadi-Léopoldville Railway made the laborious route via Manyanga to Léopoldville obsolete.