The pool's former name was in honour of the British explorer and journalist Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who mapped this area.

When a railway was constructed nearby, a plaque was installed at Palaba to commemorate the rail line connecting Matadi to Stanley Pool.

Its central part is occupied by M'Bamou or Bamu Island[3] (180 km2 (69 sq mi)), which is Republic of the Congo territory.

The Pool is the beginning of the navigable part of the Congo River upstream to the cities of Mbandaka, Kisangani and Bangui.

Downstream, navigation of the river is blocked by its descent through hundreds of meters in a series of rapids known as the Livingstone Falls.