[3] A new plant species, Streptocarpus malachiticola, was found along the Tshilongo in the rocks bordering the right bank near Kabwe village in 1980.

[4] The Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga opened the 114.3 kilometres (71.0 mi) section of the Lubumbashi – Bukama line that ran from Kamatanda Junction to Tenke and the Tshilongo River on 15 July 1914.

The 89.4 kilometres (55.6 mi) section from the Tshilongo River to Lubudi opened on 1 April 1918.

[citation needed] The Benguela Railway ran 837 miles (1,347 km) through Portuguese West Africa (Angola) from Lobito Bay on the Atlantic to the border of Katanga province in the Belgian Congo.

During Operation Grandslam, where United Nations peacekeeping forces attacked the secessionist State of Katanga, on 17 January 1963 forward elements of the 99th Brigade reached the Tshilongo River where they were ordered to halt.