When was JP Morgan Chase established?

Upon the bank's founding in 2001, JP Morgan Chase owned a 4% stake in the company. JP Morgan had hoped to expand its asset and wealth management services in Japan. The company reduced its ownership to 3.2% by 2005. It sold off its entire stake in 2005, claiming to have discussed the move with Sony in advance.

Sony Bank

Sony Bank () is a Japanese commercial bank established in April 2001. It operates as a direct bank and has no physical branches or ATMs. It is a subsidiary of Sony Financial and a member of the Japanese electronics company Sony. Its main business is offering online banking with foreign currency deposits, investment trusts, and home loans.

A reduction in regulations in Japan at the end of the 1990s encouraged a number of companies to enter the banking sector for the first time.

Sony faced challenges as it began Sony Bank. In 2001, when Sony Bank was founded, Web use was limited in Japan as compared with the United States. Only 24 million people used the Internet every month at that time. Still, the company remained hopeful that infrastructure would improve. Sony claimed its move into banking went hand-in-hand with its shift from a manufacturing focus to a focus on content such as films and music.

Sony announced its new banking unit in March 2000. The bank started doing business on June 11, 2001. The company began with ¥37.5 billion of capital. It had around 80 employees at the time. It added 340 online accounts during its first hour of operation. At the time, the company offered yen-deposit accounts, investment trusts, card loans, and bank payments. It hoped to expand into foreign currency deposit accounts, credit cards, and housing loans by 2002. It also hoped to allow its customers to use automated teller machines from the Japan Post.

In 2001, Sony Bank hoped to accumulate 400,000 customers by 2004. In February 2001, the company had hoped to accumulate $5.2 billion in deposits; it adjusted that figure downward to $4.1 billion in deposits three months later. In February 2001, the company aimed to gain $8.6 billion in deposits by 2006. Analysts at the time were generally upbeat about the prospects for the bank. Raymond H. Graber of TowerGroup suggested the bank could synergize with the other operations of Sony Financial. Still, Paul Jamieson of Gomez Advisors warned that customers would have high expectations for Sony Bank, given Sony's existing reputation for the ease of use and elegant design of its products.

Shigeru Ishii was appointed and served as the first president of Sony Bank.

By 2007, Sony Bank had accumulated 500,000 customers. That year, Sony planned to add an online brokerage.

In 2011, Sony group considering extending this subsidiary into the Australian market. However it abandoned those plans in 2013.

Upon the bank's founding in 2001, Sony owned 80% of the company. By 2005, its stake had risen to 84.2%. When JP Morgan Chase sold its stake, Sony increased its ownership to 87.4%.

Sumitomo Mitsui owned a 16% initial stake in the company and allowed Sony Bank customers to access its 7,600 automated teller machines. It had reduced its share to 12.6% by 2005.

JPMorgan Chase, in its current structure, is the result of the combination of several large U.S. banking companies since 1996, including Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan & Co., Bank One, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. Going back further, its predecessors include major banking firms among which are Chemical Bank, Manufacturers Hanover, First Chicago Bank, National Bank of Detroit, Texas Commerce Bank, Providian Financial and Great Western Bank. The company's oldest predecessor institution, the Bank of the Manhattan Company, was the third oldest banking corporation in the United States, and the 31st oldest bank in the world, having been established on September 1, 1799, by Aaron Burr.

JPMorgan Chase

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in New York City. JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, and is ranked by S&P Global as the sixth largest bank in the world by total assets, to the amount of $2.534 trillion. It is the world's most valuable bank by market capitalization.
As a "Bulge Bracket" bank, it is a major provider of various investment banking and financial services. It is one of America's Big Four banks, along with Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. JPMorgan Chase is considered to be a universal bank and a custodian bank. The J.P. Morgan brand, historically known as Morgan, is used by the investment banking, asset management, private banking, private wealth management, and treasury & securities services divisions. Fiduciary activity within private banking and private wealth management is done under the aegis of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.—the actual trustee. The Chase brand is used for credit card services in the United States and Canada, the bank's retail banking activities in the United States, and commercial banking. Both the retail and commercial bank and the bank's corporate headquarters are located at 270 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed in 2000, when Chase Manhattan Corporation merged with J.P. Morgan & Co.

As of 2017, the bank is one of the largest asset management companies in the world with US$2.789 trillion in assets under management and US$30 trillion in assets under custody. At US$47.7 billion in assets under management, the hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase is the fourth largest hedge fund in the United States.

The Chase Manhattan Bank was formed upon the 1955 purchase of Chase National Bank (established in 1877) by the Bank of the Manhattan Company (established in 1799), the company's oldest predecessor institution. The Bank of the Manhattan Company was the creation of Aaron Burr, who transformed The Manhattan Company from a water carrier into a bank.

According to page 115 of "An Empire of Wealth" by John Steele Gordon, the origin of this strand of JPMorgan Chase's history runs as follows:

At the turn of the nineteenth century, obtaining a bank charter required an act of the state legislature. This of course injected a powerful element of politics into the process and invited what today would be called corruption but then was regarded as business as usual. Hamilton's political enemy—and eventual murderer—Aaron Burr was able to create a bank by sneaking a clause into a charter for a company, called the Manhattan Company, to provide clean water to New York City. The innocuous-looking clause allowed the company to invest surplus capital in any lawful enterprise. Within six months of the company's creation, and long before it had laid a single section of water pipe, the company opened a bank, the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Still in existence, it is today J. P. Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States.

Led by David Rockefeller during the 1970s and 1980s, Chase Manhattan emerged as one of the largest and most prestigious banking concerns, with leadership positions in syndicated lending, treasury and securities services, credit cards, mortgages, and retail financial services. Weakened by the real estate collapse in the early 1990s, it was acquired by Chemical Bank in 1996, retaining the Chase name. Before its merger with J.P. Morgan & Co., the new Chase expanded the investment and asset management groups through two acquisitions. In 1999, it acquired San Francisco-based Hambrecht & Quist for $1.35 billion. In April 2000, UK-based Robert Fleming & Co. was purchased by the new Chase Manhattan Bank for $7.7 billion.

The New York Chemical Manufacturing Company was founded in 1823 as a maker of various chemicals. In 1824, the company amended its charter to perform banking activities and created the Chemical Bank of New York. After 1851, the bank was separated from its parent and grew organically and through a series of mergers, most notably with Corn Exchange Bank in 1954, Texas Commerce Bank (a large bank in Texas) in 1986, and Manufacturer's Hanover Trust Company in 1991 (the first major bank merger "among equals"). In the 1980s and early 1990s, Chemical emerged as one of the leaders in the financing of leveraged buyout transactions. In 1984, Chemical launched Chemical Venture Partners to invest in private equity transactions alongside various financial sponsors. By the late 1980s, Chemical developed its reputation for financing buyouts, building a syndicated leveraged finance business and related advisory businesses under the auspices of pioneering investment banker, Jimmy Lee. At many points throughout this history, Chemical Bank was the largest bank in the United States (either in terms of assets or deposit market share).

In 1996, Chemical Bank acquired Chase Manhattan. Although Chemical was the nominal survivor, it took the better-known Chase name. To this day, JPMorgan Chase retains Chemical's pre-1996 stock price history, as well as Chemical's former headquarters at 270 Park Avenue.

The heritage of the House of Morgan traces its roots to the partnership of Drexel, Morgan & Co., which in 1895 was renamed J.P. Morgan & Co. (see also: J. Pierpont Morgan). Arguably the most influential financial institution of its era, J.P. Morgan & Co. financed the formation of the United States Steel Corporation, which took over the business of Andrew Carnegie and others and was the world's first billion dollar corporation. In 1895, J.P. Morgan & Co. supplied the United States government with $62 million in gold to float a bond issue and restore the treasury surplus of $100 million. In 1892, the company began to finance the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and led it through a series of acquisitions that made it the dominant railroad transporter in New England.

Built in 1914, 23 Wall Street was known as the "House of Morgan", and for decades the bank's headquarters was the most important address in American finance. At noon, on September 16, 1920, a terrorist bomb exploded in front of the bank, injuring 400 and killing 38. Shortly before the bomb went off, a warning note was placed in a mailbox at the corner of Cedar Street and Broadway. The warning read: "Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters." While there are many hypotheses regarding who was behind the bombing and why they did it, after 20 years of investigation the FBI rendered the case inactive without ever finding the perpetrators.

In August 1914, Henry P. Davison, a Morgan partner, traveled to the UK and made a deal with the Bank of England to make J.P. Morgan & Co. the monopoly underwriter of war bonds for the UK and France. The Bank of England became a "fiscal agent" of J.P. Morgan & Co., and vice versa. The company also invested in the suppliers of war equipment to Britain and France. Thus, the company profited from the financing and purchasing activities of the two European governments.

In the 1930s, all of J.P. Morgan & Co. along with all integrated banking businesses in the United States, was required by the provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act to separate its investment banking from its commercial banking operations. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to operate as a commercial bank, because at the time commercial lending was perceived as more profitable and prestigious. Additionally, many within J.P. Morgan believed that a change in political climate would eventually allow the company to resume its securities businesses but it would be nearly impossible to reconstitute the bank if it were disassembled.

In 1935, after being barred from securities business for over a year, the heads of J.P. Morgan spun off its investment-banking operations. Led by J.P. Morgan partners, Henry S. Morgan (son of Jack Morgan and grandson of J. Pierpont Morgan) and Harold Stanley, Morgan Stanley was founded on September 16, 1935, with $6.6 million of nonvoting preferred stock from J.P. Morgan partners. In order to bolster its position, in 1959, J.P. Morgan merged with the Guaranty Trust Company of New York to form the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. The bank would continue to operate as Morgan Guaranty Trust until the 1980s, before beginning to migrate back toward the use of the J.P. Morgan brand. In 1984, the group finally purchased the Purdue National Corporation of Lafayette Indiana, uniting a history between the two figures of Salmon Portland Chase and John Purdue. In 1988, the company once again began operating exclusively as J.P. Morgan & Co.

In 2004, JPMorgan Chase merged with Chicago-based Bank One Corp., bringing on board current Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon as president and COO and designating him as CEO William B. Harrison, Jr.'s successor. Dimon's pay was pegged at 90% of Harrison's. Dimon quickly made his influence felt by embarking on a cost-cutting strategy, and replaced former JPMorgan Chase executives in key positions with Bank One executives—many of whom were with Dimon at Citigroup. Dimon became CEO in January 2006 and Chairman in December 2006.

Bank One Corporation was formed upon the 1998 merger between Bank One of Columbus, Ohio and First Chicago NBD. These two large banking companies had themselves been created through the merger of many banks. This merger was largely considered a failure until Dimon—recently ousted as President of Citigroup—took over and reformed the new firm's practices—especially its disastrous technology mishmash inherited from the many mergers prior to this one. Dimon effected changes more than sufficient to make Bank One Corporation a viable merger partner for JPMorgan Chase.
Bank One Corporation traced its roots to First Bancgroup of Ohio, founded as a holding company for City National Bank of Columbus, Ohio and several other banks in that state, all of which were renamed "Bank One" when the holding company was renamed Banc One Corporation. With the beginning of interstate banking they spread into other states, always renaming acquired banks "Bank One", though for a long time they resisted combining them into one bank. After the First Chicago NBD merger, adverse financial results led to the departure of CEO John B. McCoy, whose father and grandfather had headed Banc One and predecessors. Dimon was brought in to head the company. JPMorgan Chase completed the acquisition of Bank One in the third quarter of 2004. The former Bank One and First Chicago headquarters in Chicago serve as the headquarters of Chase, JPMorgan Chase's commercial and retail banking subsidiary.
At the end of 2007, Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. was the fifth largest investment bank in the United States but its market capitalization had deteriorated through the second half of 2007. On Friday, March 14, 2008, Bear Stearns lost 47% of its equity market value to close at $30.00 per share as rumors emerged that clients were withdrawing capital from the bank. Over the following weekend, it emerged that Bear Stearns might prove insolvent, and on or around March 15, 2008, the Federal Reserve engineered a deal to prevent a wider systemic crisis from the collapse of Bear Stearns.

On March 16, 2008, after a weekend of intense negotiations between JPMorgan, Bear, and the federal government, JPMorgan Chase announced that it had plans to acquire Bear Stearns in a stock swap worth $2.00 per share or $240 million pending shareholder approval scheduled within 90 days. In the interim, JPMorgan Chase agreed to guarantee all Bear Stearns trades and business process flows. Two days later on March 18, 2008, JPMorgan Chase formally announced the acquisition of Bear Stearns for $236 million. The stock swap agreement was signed in the late-night hours of March 18, 2008, with JPMorgan agreeing to exchange 0.05473 of each of its shares upon closure of the merger for one Bear share, valuing the Bear shares at $2 each.

On March 24, 2008, after considerable public discontent by Bear Stearns shareholders over the low acquisition price threatened the deal's closure, a revised offer was announced at approximately $10 per share. Under the revised terms, JPMorgan also immediately acquired a 39.5% stake in Bear Stearns (using newly issued shares) at the new offer price and gained a commitment from the board (representing another 10% of the share capital) that its members would vote in favor of the new deal. With sufficient commitments to ensure a successful shareholder vote, the merger was completed on May 30, 2008.

On September 25, 2008, JPMorgan Chase bought most of the banking operations of Washington Mutual from the receivership of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. That night, the Office of Thrift Supervision, in what was by far the largest bank failure in American history, had seized Washington Mutual Bank and placed it into receivership. The FDIC sold the bank's assets, secured debt obligations and deposits to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.836 billion, which re-opened the bank the following day. As a result of the takeover, Washington Mutual shareholders lost all their equity.

JPMorgan Chase raised $10 billion in a stock sale to cover writedowns and losses after taking on deposits and branches of Washington Mutual. Through the acquisition, JPMorgan now owns the former accounts of Providian Financial, a credit card issuer WaMu acquired in 2005. The company announced plans to complete the rebranding of Washington Mutual branches to Chase by late 2009.

Chief executive Alan H. Fishman received a $7.5 million sign-on bonus and cash severance of $11.6 million after being CEO for 17 days.

On November 19, 2013, the Justice Department announced that JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $13 billion to settle investigations into its business practices pertaining to mortgage-backed securities. Of that amount, $9 billion was penalties and fines and the remaining $4 billion was consumer relief. This was the largest corporate settlement to date. Conduct at Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual prior to their 2008 acquisitions accounted for much of the alleged wrongdoing. The agreement did not settle criminal charges.

In 2006, JPMorgan Chase purchased Collegiate Funding Services, a portfolio company of private equity firm Lightyear Capital, for $663 million. CFS was used as the foundation for the Chase Student Loans, previously known as Chase Education Finance.

In April 2006, JPMorgan Chase acquired Bank of New York Mellon's retail and small business banking network. The acquisition gave Chase access to 339 additional branches in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

In March 2008, JPMorgan acquired the UK-based carbon offsetting company ClimateCare.

In November 2009, JPMorgan announced it would acquire the balance of JPMorgan Cazenove, an advisory and underwriting joint venture established in 2004 with the Cazenove Group, for GBP1 billion.

In January 2013, JPMorgan acquired Bloomspot, a San Francisco-based startup in the "deals" space for $35 million. Shortly after the acquisition, the service was shut down and Bloomspot's talent was left unused.

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list):

In October 2014, JPMorgan sold its commodities trader unit to Mercuria for $800 million, a quarter of the initial valuation of $3.5 billion, as the transaction excluded some oil and metal stockpiles and other assets.

In March 2016, JPMorgan decided not to finance coal mines and coal power plants in wealthy countries.

In September 2016, JPMorgan made an equity investment in InvestCloud.

In September 2016, JPMorgan announced that they had been working on a private, permissioned version of the Ethereum network called Quorum.

In December 2016, 14 former executives of the Wendel investment company faced trial for tax fraud while JP Morgan Chase was to be pursued for complicity. Jean-Bernard Lafonta was convicted last December for spreading false information and insider trading, and fined 1.5 million euros.

In March 2017, Lawrence Obracanik, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co employee, pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he stole more than $5 million from his employer to pay personal debts.

In June 2017, Matt Zames, the now former COO of the bank decided to leave the firm.

In December 2017, JP Morgan was sued by the Nigerian government for $875 million, which Nigeria alleges was transferred by JP Morgan to a corrupt former minister. Nigeria accused JP Morgan of being "grossly negligient".

In October 2018, Reuters reported that JP Morgan "agreed to pay $5.3 million to settle allegations it violated Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Iranian sanctions and Weapons of Mass Destruction sanctions 87 times, the U.S. Treasury said".

JPMorgan Chase was the biggest bank at the end of 2008 as an individual bank (not including subsidiaries). As of 2018, JPMorgan Chase is ranked #20 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

For the first time in 2018, a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule mandated under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform requires publicly traded companies to disclose how their CEOs are compensated in comparison with their employees. In public filings, companies have to disclose their "Pay Ratios," or the CEO's compensation divided by the median employee's. According to SEC filings, JPMorgan Chase & Co. paid its CEO $28,320,175 in 2017. The average worker employed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. was paid $77,799 in 2017; thus marking a CEO-to-worker Pay Ratio of 364 to 1. As of April 2018, steelmaker Nucor represented the median CEO-to-worker Pay Ratio from SEC filings with values of 133 to 1."Bloomberg BusinessWeek" on May 2, 2013 found the ratio of CEO pay to the typical worker rose from about 20-to-1 in the 1950s to 120-to-1 in 2000.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. owns five bank subsidiaries in the United States: JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association; Chase Bank USA, National Association; Custodial Trust Company; JPMorgan Chase Bank, Dearborn; and J.P. Morgan Bank and Trust Company, National Association.

For management reporting purposes, JPMorgan Chase's activities are organized into a corporate/private equity segment and four business segments; consumer and community banking, corporate and investment bank, commercial banking, and asset management. The investment banking division at J.P. Morgan is divided by teams: industry, M&A and capital markets. Industry teams include consumer and retail, healthcare, diversified industries and transportation, natural resources, financial institutions, metals and mining, real estate and technology, media and telecommunications.

The company, known previously as Chase Manhattan International Limited, was founded on September 18, 1968.

In August 2008, the bank announced plans to construct a new European headquarters at Canary Wharf, London. These plans were subsequently suspended in December 2010, when the bank announced the purchase of a nearby existing office tower at 25 Bank Street for use as the European headquarters of its investment bank. 25 Bank Street had originally been designated as the European headquarters of Enron and was subsequently used as the headquarters of Lehman Brothers International (Europe).

The regional office is in London with offices in Bournemouth, Glasgow, and Edinburgh for asset management, private banking, and investment.

Earlier in 2011, the company announced that by the use of supercomputers, the time taken to assess risk had been greatly reduced, from arriving at a conclusion within hours to what is now minutes. The banking corporation uses for this calculation Field-Programmable Gate Array technology.

The Bank began operations in Japan in 1924, in Australia during the later part of the nineteenth century, and in Indonesia during the early 1920s. An office of the Equitable Eastern Banking Corporation (one of J.P. Morgan's predecessors) opened a branch in China in 1921 and Chase National Bank was established there in 1923. The bank has operated in Saudi Arabia and India since the 1930s. Chase Manhattan Bank opened an office in Korea in 1967. The firm's presence in Greece dates to 1968. An office of JPMorgan was opened in Taiwan in 1970, in Russia (Soviet Union) in 1973, and Nordic operations began during the same year. Operations in Poland began in 1995.

JP Morgan Chase's PAC and its employees contributed $2.6 million to federal campaigns in 2014 and financed its lobbying team with $4.7 million in the first three quarters of 2014. JP Morgan's giving has been focused on Republicans, with 62 percent of its donations going to GOP recipients in 2014. Still, 78 House Democrats received campaign cash from JPMorgan's PAC in the 2014 cycle at an average of $5,200 and a total of 38 of the Democrats who voted for the 2015 spending bill took money from JPMorgan's PAC in 2014. JP Morgan Chase's PAC made maximum donations to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the leadership PACs of Steny Hoyer and Jim Himes in 2014.

In December 2002, Chase paid fines totaling $80 million, with the amount split between the states and the federal government. The fines were part of a settlement involving charges that ten banks, including Chase, deceived investors with biased research. The total settlement with the ten banks was $1.4 billion. The settlement required that the banks separate investment banking from research, and ban any allocation of IPO shares.

Chase paid out over $2 billion in fines and legal settlements for their role in financing Enron Corporation with aiding and abetting Enron Corp.'s securities fraud, which collapsed amid a financial scandal in 2001. In 2003, Chase paid $160 million in fines and penalties to settle claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Manhattan district attorney's office. In 2005, Chase paid $2.2 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by investors in Enron.

JPMorgan Chase, which helped underwrite $15.4 billion of WorldCom's bonds, agreed in March 2005 to pay $2 billion; that was 46 percent, or $630 million, more than it would have paid had it accepted an investor offer in May 2004 of $1.37 billion. J.P. Morgan was the last big lender to settle. Its payment is the second largest in the case, exceeded only by the $2.6 billion accord reached in 2004 by Citigroup. In March 2005, 16 of WorldCom's 17 former underwriters reached settlements with the investors.

In November 2009, a week after Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Larry Langford was convicted for financial crimes related to bond swaps for Jefferson County, Alabama, JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to a $722 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to end a probe into the sales of derivatives that allegedly contributed to the near-bankruptcy of the county. JPMorgan had been chosen by the county commissioners to refinance the county's sewer debt, and the SEC had alleged that JPMorgan made undisclosed payments to close friends of the commissioners in exchange for the deal and made up for the costs by charging higher interest rates on the swaps.

In June 2010, J.P. Morgan Securities was fined a record £33.32 million ($49.12 million) by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to protect an average of £5.5 billion of clients' money from 2002 to 2009.
FSA requires financial firms to keep clients' funds in separate accounts to protect the clients in case such firm becomes insolvent. The firm had failed to properly segregate client funds from corporate funds following the merger of Chase and J.P. Morgan, resulting in a violation of FSA regulations but no losses to clients. The clients' funds would have been at risk had the firm become insolvent during this period. J.P. Morgan Securities reported the incident to the FSA, corrected the errors, and cooperated in the ensuing investigation, resulting in the fine being reduced 30% from an original amount of £47.6 million.

In January 2011, JPMorgan Chase admitted that it wrongly overcharged several thousand military families for their mortgages, including active duty personnel in Afghanistan. The bank also admitted it improperly foreclosed on more than a dozen military families; both actions were in clear violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act which automatically lowers mortgage rates to 6 percent, and bars foreclosure proceedings of active duty personnel. The overcharges may have never come to light were it not for legal action taken by Captain Jonathan Rowles. Both Captain Rowles and his spouse Julia accused Chase of violating the law and harassing the couple for nonpayment. An official stated that the situation was "grim" and Chase initially stated it would be refunding up to $2,000,000 to those who were overcharged, and that families improperly foreclosed on have gotten or will get their homes back. Chase has acknowledged that as many as 6,000 active duty military personnel were illegally overcharged, and more than 18 military families homes were wrongly foreclosed. In April, Chase agreed to pay a total of $27 million in compensation to settle the class-action suit. At the company's 2011 shareholders' meeting, Dimon apologized for the error and said the bank would forgive the loans of any active-duty personnel whose property had been foreclosed. In June 2011, lending chief Dave Lowman was forced out over the scandal.

In 2008 and 2009, 14 lawsuits were filed against JPMorgan Chase in various district courts on behalf of Chase credit card holders claiming the bank violated the Truth in Lending Act, breached its contract with the consumers and committed a breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The consumers contended that Chase, with little or no notice, increased minimum monthly payments from 2% to 5% on loan balances that were transferred to consumers' credit cards based on the promise of a fixed interest rate. In May 2011, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California certified the class action lawsuit. On July 23, 2012, Chase agreed to pay $100 million to settle the claim.

In July 2013, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a stipulation and consent agreement under which JPMorgan Ventures Energy Corporation (JPMVEC), a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., agreed to pay $410 million in penalties and disgorgement to ratepayers for allegations of market manipulation stemming from the company's bidding activities in electricity markets in California and the Midwest from September 2010 through November 2012. JPMVEC agreed to pay a civil penalty of $285 million to the U.S. Treasury and to disgorge $125 million in unjust profits. JPMVEC admitted the facts set forth in the agreement, but neither admitted nor denied the violations.

The case stemmed from multiple referrals to FERC from market monitors in 2011 and 2012 regarding JPMVEC's bidding practices. FERC investigators determined that JPMVEC engaged in 12 manipulative bidding strategies designed to make profits from power plants that were usually out of the money in the marketplace. In each of them, the company made bids designed to create artificial conditions that forced California and Midcontinent Independent System Operators (ISOs) to pay JPMVEC outside the market at premium rates.

FERC investigators further determined that JPMVEC knew that the California ISO and Midcontinent ISO received no benefit from making inflated payments to the company, thereby defrauding the ISOs by obtaining payments for benefits that the company did not deliver beyond the routine provision of energy. FERC investigators also determined that JPMVEC's bids displaced other generation and altered day ahead and real-time prices from the prices that would have resulted had the company not submitted the bids.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress directed FERC to detect, prevent and appropriately sanction the gaming of energy markets. According to FERC, the Commission approved the settlement as in the public interest.

FERC's investigation of energy market manipulations led to a subsequent investigation into possible obstruction of justice by employees of JPMorgan Chase. Various newspapers reported in September 2013 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US Attorney's Office in Manhattan were investigating whether employees withheld information or made false statements during the FERC investigation. The reported impetus for the investigation was a letter from Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, in which they asked FERC why no action was taken against people who impeded the FERC investigation. At the time of the FBI investigation, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was also looking into whether JPMorgan Chase employees impeded the FERC investigation. Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase was facing over a dozen investigations at the time.

On August 25, 2011, JPMorgan Chase agreed to settle fines with regard to violations of the sanctions under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regime. The U.S. Department of Treasury released the following civil penalties information under the heading: "JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. Settles Apparent Violations of Multiple Sanctions Programs":

On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest mortgage servicers (Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) agreed to a historic settlement with the federal government and 49 states. The settlement, known as the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), required the servicers to provide about $26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and in direct payments to the states and federal government. This settlement amount makes the NMS the second largest civil settlement in U.S. history, only trailing the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The five banks were also required to comply with 305 new mortgage servicing standards. Oklahoma held out and agreed to settle with the banks separately.

In 2012, JPMorgan Chase & Co was charged for misrepresenting and failing to disclose that the CIO had engaged in extremely risky and speculative trades that exposed JPMorgan to significant losses.

In August 2013, JPMorgan Chase announced that it was being investigated by the United States Department of Justice over its offerings of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the financial crisis of 2007–08. The company said that the Department of Justice had preliminarily concluded that the firm violated federal securities laws in offerings of subprime and Alt-A residential mortgage securities during the period 2005 to 2007.

In November 2016, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $264 million in fines to settle civil and criminal charges involving a systematic bribery scheme spanning 2006 to 2013 in which the bank secured business deals in Hong Kong by agreeing to hire hundreds of friends and relatives of Chinese government officials, resulting in more than $100 million in revenue for the bank.

Bernie Madoff opened a business account at Chemical Bank in 1986 and maintained it until 2008, long after Chemical acquired Chase.

In 2010, Irving Picard, the SIPC receiver appointed to liquidate Madoff's company, alleged that JPMorgan failed to prevent Madoff from defrauding his customers. According to the suit, Chase "knew or should have known" that Madoff's wealth management business was a fraud. However, Chase did not report its concerns to regulators or law enforcement until October 2008, when it notified the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency. Picard argued that even after Morgan investment bankers reported its concerns about Madoff's performance to UK officials, Chase's retail banking division did not put any restrictions on Madoff's banking activities until his arrest two months later. The receiver's suit against J.P. Morgan was dismissed by the Court for failing to set forth any legally cognizable claim for damages.

In the fall of 2013, JPMorgan began talks with prosecutors and regulators regarding compliance with anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer banking regulations in connection with Madoff.

On January 7, 2014, JPMorgan agreed to pay a total of $2.05 billion in fines and penalties to settle civil and criminal charges related to its role in the Madoff scandal. The government filed a two-count criminal information charging JPMorgan with Bank Secrecy Act violations, but the charges will be dismissed within two years provided that JPMorgan reforms its anti-money laundering procedures and cooperates with the government in its investigation. The bank agreed to forfeit $1.7 billion.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of shareholders against Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and other high-ranking JPMorgan employees, used statements made by Bernie Madoff during interviews conducted while in prison in Butner, North Carolina claiming that JPMorgan officials knew of the fraud. The lawsuit stated that, "JPMorgan was uniquely positioned for 20 years to see Madoff's crimes and put a stop to them... But faced with the prospect of shutting down Madoff's account and losing lucrative profits, JPMorgan - at its highest level - chose to turn a blind eye."

JPMorgan also agreed to pay a $350 million fine to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and settle the suit filed against it by Picard for $543 million.

On March 26, 2014, the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption seized computer records and documents after searching the office of Fang, the company's outgoing chief executive officer for China investment banking.

A cyber-attack, disclosed in September 2014, compromised the JPMorgan Chase accounts of over 83 million customers. The attack was discovered by the bank's security team in late July 2014, but not completely halted until the middle of August.

In January 2017, the United States sued the company, accusing it of discriminating against "thousands" of black and Hispanic mortgage borrowers between 2006 and at least 2009.

On 26 December, 2018, as part of an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into abusive practices related to American depositary receipts (ADRs), JPMorgan agreed to pay more than $135 million to settle charges of improper handling of "pre-released" ADRs without admitting or denying the SEC's findings. The sum consisted of $71 million in ill-gotten gains plus $14.4 million in prejudgment interest and an additional penalty of $49.7 million.

Although the old Chase Manhattan Bank's headquarters were located at One Chase Manhattan Plaza (now known as 28 Liberty Street) in downtown Manhattan, the current world headquarters for JPMorgan Chase & Co. are located at 270 Park Avenue, Chemical Bank's former headquarters. In 2018, JPMorgan announced they would demolish the current building on site at 270 Park Avenue to make way for a newer building that will be 500 feet (150 m) taller than the existing building. Demolition is expected to begin in early 2019, and the new building will be completed in 2024. The replacement 70-story headquarters will be able to fit 15,000 employees, whereas the current building fits 6,000 employees in a space that has a capacity of 3,500. The new headquarters is part of the East Midtown rezoning plan.

The bulk of North American operations take place in four buildings located adjacent to each other on Park Avenue in New York City: the former Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Avenue, the hub of sales and trading operations, and the original Chemical Bank building at 277 Park Avenue, where most investment banking activity took place. Asset and wealth management groups are located at 245 Park Avenue and 345 Park Avenue. Other groups are located in the former Bear Stearns building at 383 Madison Avenue.

Chase, the U.S. and Canada, retail, commercial, and credit card bank is headquartered in Chicago at the Chase Tower, Chicago, Illinois.

The Asia Pacific headquarters for JPMorgan is located in Hong Kong at Chater House.

Approximately 11,050 employees are located in Columbus at the McCoy Center, the former Bank One offices.

The bank moved some of its operations to the JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston, when it purchased Texas Commerce Bank.

The Global Corporate Bank's main headquarters are in London, with regional headquarters in Hong Kong, New York and Sao Paulo.

The Card Services division has its headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, with Card Services offices in Elgin, Illinois; Springfield, Missouri; San Antonio, Texas; Mumbai, India; and Cebu, Philippines.

Additional large operation centers are located in Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles, California, Newark, Delaware; Orlando, Florida; Tampa, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Brooklyn, New York; Rochester, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Fort Worth, Texas; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Operation centers in Canada are located in Burlington, Ontario; and Toronto, Ontario.

Operations centers in the United Kingdom are located in Bournemouth, Glasgow, London, Liverpool, and Swindon. The London location also serves as the European headquarters.

Additional offices and technology operations are located in Manila, Philippines; Cebu, Philippines; Mumbai, India; Bangalore, India; Hyderabad, India; New Delhi, India; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico, and Jerusalem, Israel.

In the late autumn of 2017, JPMorgan Chase opened a new global operations center in Warsaw, Poland.

The derivatives team at JPMorgan (including Blythe Masters) was a pioneer in the invention of credit derivatives such as the credit default swap. The first CDS was created to allow Exxon to borrow money from JPMorgan while JPMorgan transferred the risk to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. JPMorgan's team later created the 'BISTRO', a bundle of credit default swaps that was the progenitor of the Synthetic CDO. As of 2013 JPMorgan had the largest credit default swap and credit derivatives portfolio by total notional amount of any US bank.

In April 2012, hedge fund insiders became aware that the market in credit default swaps was possibly being affected by the activities of Bruno Iksil, a trader for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., referred to as "the London whale" in reference to the huge positions he was taking. Heavy opposing bets to his positions are known to have been made by traders, including another branch of J.P. Morgan, who purchased the derivatives offered by J.P. Morgan in such high volume. Early reports were denied and minimized by the firm in an attempt to minimize exposure. Major losses, $2 billion, were reported by the firm in May 2012, in relation to these trades and updated to $4.4 billion on July 13, 2012. The disclosure, which resulted in headlines in the media, did not disclose the exact nature of the trading involved, which remains in progress and as of June 28, 2012, was continuing to produce losses which could total as much as $9 billion under worst-case scenarios. The item traded, possibly related to CDX IG 9, an index based on the default risk of major U.S. corporations, has been described as a "derivative of a derivative". On the company's emergency conference call, JPMorgan Chase Chairman, CEO and President Jamie Dimon said the strategy was "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored". The episode is being investigated by the Federal Reserve, the SEC, and the FBI.

On September 18, 2013, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a total of $920 million in fines and penalties to American and UK regulators for violations related to the trading loss and other incidents. The fine was part of a multiagency and multinational settlement with the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States and the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. The company also admitted breaking American securities law. The fines amounted to the third biggest banking fine levied by US regulators, and the second largest by UK authorities., two traders face criminal proceedings. It is also the first time in several years that a major American financial institution has publicly admitted breaking the securities laws.

A report by the SEC was critical of the level of oversight from senior management on traders, and the FCA said the incident demonstrated "flaws permeating all levels of the firm: from portfolio level right up to senior management."

On the day of the fine, the BBC reported from the New York Stock Exchange that the fines "barely registered" with traders there, the news having been an expected development and the company having prepared for the financial hit.

The collection was begun in 1959 by David Rockefeller, and comprises over 30,000 objects, of which over 6,000 are photographic-based, as of 2012 containing more than one hundred works by Middle Eastern and North African artists. The One Chase Manhattan Plaza building was the original location at the start of collection by the Chase Manhattan Bank, the current collection containing both this and also those works that the First National Bank of Chicago had acquired prior to assimilation into the JPMorgan Chase organization. L. K. Erf has been the director of acquisitions of works since 2004 for the bank, whose art program staff is completed by an additional three full-time members and one registrar. The advisory committee at the time of the Rockefeller initiation included A. H. Barr, and D. Miller, and also J. J. Sweeney, R. Hale, P. Rathbone and G. Bunshaft.Jamie Dimon is the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. The acquisition deal of Bank One in 2004, was designed in part to recruit Dimon to JPMorgan Chase. He became chief executive at the end of 2005. Dimon has been recognized for his leadership during the 2008 financial crisis. Under his leadership, JPMorgan Chase rescued two ailing banks during the crisis. Although Dimon has publicly criticized the American government's strict immigration policies, as of July 2018, his company has $1.6 million worth of stocks in Sterling Construction (the company contracted to build a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border).


What is the deepest river in the world?

The great Congo River (; ; ), formerly known as the Zaire River under the Mobutu regime, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge volume, following only the Amazon. It is also the world's deepest recorded river, with measured depths in excess of.
The Congo-Lualaba-Chambeshi River system has an overall length of, which makes it the world's ninth-longest river. The Chambeshi is a tributary of the Lualaba River, and "Lualaba" is the name of the Congo River upstream of Boyoma Falls, extending for.

Congo River

Measured along with the Lualaba, the main tributary, the Congo River has a total length of. It is the only river to cross the equator twice. The Congo Basin has a total area of about, or 13% of the entire African landmass.

The name Congo/Kongo river originates from the Kingdom of Kongo once located on the southern bank of the river. The kingdom in turn was named for the indigenous Bantu Kongo people, known in the 17th century as "Esikongo". South of the Kingdom of Kongo proper lay the similarly named Kakongo kingdom, mentioned in 1535. Abraham Ortelius in his world map of 1564 labeled as "Manicongo" the city at the mouth of the river.

The tribal names in "Kongo" possibly derive from a word for a public gathering or tribal assembly. The modern name of the Kongo people or "Bakongo" was introduced in the early 20th century.

The name "Zaire" is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word, ("river"), a truncation of ("river swallowing rivers"). The river was known as "Zaire" during the 16th and 17th centuries; "Congo" seems to have replaced "Zaire" gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and "Congo" is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to "Zahir" or "Zaire" as the name used by the inhabitants remained common.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo are named after it, as was the previous Republic of the Congo which had gained independence in 1960 from the Belgian Congo.

The Republic of Zaire during 1971–1997 was also named after the river, after its name in French and Portuguese.

The Congo's drainage basin covers, an area larger than India. The Congo's discharge at its mouth ranges from, with an average of.

The river and its tributaries flow through the Congo Rainforest, the second largest rain forest area in the world, second only to the Amazon Rainforest in South America. The river also has the second-largest flow in the world, behind the Amazon; the third-largest drainage basin of any river, behind the Amazon and Plate rivers; and is one of the deepest rivers in the world, at depths greater than. Because its drainage basin includes areas both north and south of the equator, its flow is stable, as there is always at least one part of the river experiencing a rainy season.

The sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of the East African Rift, as well as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru, which feed the Lualaba River, which then becomes the Congo below Boyoma Falls. The Chambeshi River in Zambia is generally taken as the source of the Congo in line with the accepted practice worldwide of using the longest tributary, as with the Nile River.

The Congo flows generally toward the northwest from Kisangani just below the Boyoma falls, then gradually bends southwestwards, passing by Mbandaka, joining with the Ubangi River, and running into the Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool). Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) and Brazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool, where the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons (collectively known as the Livingstone Falls), running by Matadi and Boma, and into the sea at the small town of Muanda.

The Congo River Basin is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the larger Mid-African province, which in turn is part of the larger African massive physiographic division.

The drainage basin of the Congo River includes most of Central Africa. The main river and tributaries are:
"Sorted in order from the mouth heading upstream."
Downstream of Kinshasa, from the river mouth at Banana, there are a few major tributaries, all on the left side.

Upstream of Boyoma Falls near Kisangani, the river Congo is known as the Lualaba River.

Although the Livingstone Falls prevent access from the sea, nearly the entire Congo above them is readily navigable in sections, especially between Kinshasa and Kisangani. Large river steamers worked the river until quite recently. The Congo River still is a lifeline in a land with few roads or railways.

Railways now bypass the three major falls, and much of the trade of Central Africa passes along the river, including copper, palm oil (as kernels), sugar, coffee, and cotton. The river is also potentially valuable for hydroelectric power, and the Inga Dams below Pool Malebo are first to exploit the Congo river.

The Congo River is the most powerful river in Africa. During the rainy season over of water per second flow into the Atlantic Ocean. Opportunities for the Congo River and its tributaries to generate hydropower are therefore enormous. Scientists have calculated that the entire Congo Basin accounts for 13 percent of global hydropower potential. This would provide sufficient power for all of sub-Saharan Africa's electricity needs.

Currently there are about forty hydropower plants in the Congo Basin. The largest are the Inga dams, about southwest of Kinshasa. The project was launched in the early 1970s, when the first dam was completed. The plan as originally conceived called for the construction of five dams that would have had a total generating capacity of 34,500 megawatts. To date only the Inga I and Inga II dams have been built, generating 1,776 MW.

In February 2005, South Africa's state-owned power company, Eskom, announced a proposal to expand generation through improvements and the construction of a new hydroelectric dam. The project would bring the maximum output of the facility to, twice that of China's Three Gorges Dam.

It is feared that these new hydroelectric dams could lead to the extinction of many of the fish species that are native to the river.

The current course of the Congo River formed 1.5–2 million years BP, during the Pleistocene.

The Congo's formation may have led to the allopatric speciation of the bonobo and the common chimpanzee from their most recent common ancestor. The bonobo is endemic to the humid forests in the region, as are other iconic species like the Allen's swamp monkey, dryas monkey, aquatic genet, okapi, and Congo peafowl.

In terms of aquatic life, the Congo River Basin has a very high species richness, and among the highest known concentrations of endemics. Until now, almost 700 fish species have been recorded from the Congo River Basin, and large sections remain virtually unstudied. This is by far the highest diversity of any African river system (in comparison, the next richest are the Niger, Volta and Nile with about 210, 140 and 130 fish species, respectively). Due to this and the great ecological differences between the regions in the Congo basin, it is often divided into multiple ecoregions (instead of treating it as a single ecoregion). Among these ecoregions, the Lower Congo Rapids alone has more than 300 fish species, including approximately 80 endemics while the southwestern part (Kasai Basin) alone has more than 200 fish species, of which about a quarter are endemic. The dominant fish families – at least in parts of the river – are Cyprinidae (carp/cyprinids, such as "Labeo simpsoni"), Mormyridae (elephantfishes), Alestidae (African tetras), Mochokidae (squeaker catfishes), and Cichlidae (cichlids). Among the natives in the river is the huge, highly carnivorous giant tigerfish. Three of the more unusual endemics are the whitish (non-pigmented) and blind "Lamprologus lethops", which is believed to live as deep as below the surface, "Heterochromis multidens", which appears to be more closely related to cichlids of the Americas than other African cichlids, and "Caecobarbus geertsii", the only known cavefish in Central Africa. There are also numerous endemic frogs and snails. Several hydroelectric dams are planned on the river, and these may lead to the extinction of many of the endemics.

Several species of turtles, and the slender-snouted, Nile and dwarf crocodile are native to the Congo River Basin. African manatees inhabit the lower parts of the river.

The entire Congo basin is populated by Bantu peoples, divided into several hundred ethnic or tribal groups (see ethnic groups of the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Bantu expansion is estimated to have reached the Middle Congo by about 500 BC, and the Upper Congo by the first century AD. Remnants of the aboriginal population displaced by the Bantu migration, Pygmies/"Abatwa" of the Ubangian phylum, remain in the remote forest areas of the Congo basin.

The Kingdom of Kongo was formed around 1400 on the left banks of the lower Congo River. Its territorial control along the river remained limited to what corresponds to the modern Bas-Congo province. European exploration of the Congo begins in 1482, when Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão discovered the river estuary (likely in August 1482), which he marked by a Padrão, or stone pillar (still existing, but only in fragments) erected on Shark Point. Cão also sailed up the river for a short distance, establishing contact with the Kingdom of Congo. The full course of the river remained unknown throughout the early modern period.

The upper Congo basin runs west of the Albertine Rift. Its connection to the Congo was unknown until 1877.
The extreme northeast of the Congo basin was reached by the Nilotic expansion at some point between the 15th and 18th centuries, by the ancestors of the Southern Luo speaking Alur people.
Francisco de Lacerda following the Zambezi reached the uppermost part of the Congo basin (the Kazembe in the upper Luapula basin) in 1796.

The upper Congo River, known as the Lualaba was first reached by the Arab slave trade by the 19th century. Nyangwe was founded as a slavers' outpost around 1860.
David Livingstone was the first European to reach Nyangwe in March 1871. Livingstone proposed to prove that the Lualaba connected to the Nile, but on 15 July, he witnessed a massacre of about 400 Africans by Arab slavers in Nyangwe, which experience left him too horrified and shattered to continue his mission to find the sources of the Nile, so he turned back to Lake Tanganyika.

The middle reaches of the Congo remained unexplored from either the east or west, until Henry Morton Stanley's expedition of 1876–77.
At the time one of the last open questions of the exploration of Africa (or indeed of the world)
whether the Lualaba River fed the Nile (Livingstone's theory), the Congo or even the Niger.
Financed in 1874, Stanley's first trans-Africa exploration
started in Zanzibar, and reached the Lualaba on October 17, 1876.
Overland he reached Nyangwe, the centre of a lawless area containing cannibal tribes at which Tippu Tip based his trade in slaves. Stanley managed to hire a force from Tippu Tip, to guard him for the next or so, for 90 days. The party left Nyangwe overland through the dense Matimba forest. On November 19 they reached the Lualaba again. Since the going through the forest was so heavy, Tippu Tip turned around with his party on December 28, leaving Stanley on his own, with 143 people, including 8 children and 16 women. They had 23 canoes. His first encounter with a local tribe was with the cannibal Wenya. In total Stanley would report 32 unfriendly meetings on the river, some violent, even though he attempted to negotiate a peaceful thoroughfare. But the tribes were wary as their only experience of outsiders was of slave traders.

On January 6, 1877, after, they reached Boyoma Falls (called Stanley Falls for some time after), consisting of seven cataracts spanning which they had to bypass overland. It took them to February 7 to reach the end of the falls. Here Stanley learned that the river was called "Ikuta Yacongo", proving to him that he had reached the Congo, and that the Lualaba did not feed the Nile.

From this point, the tribes were no longer cannibals, but possessed firearms, apparently as a result of Portuguese influence. Some four weeks and later he reached Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo), the site of the present day cities Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Further downstream were the Livingstone Falls, misnamed as Livingstone had never been on the Congo: a series of 32 falls and rapids with a fall of over.
On 15 March they started the descent of the falls, which took five months and cost numerous lives. From the Isangile Falls, five falls from the foot, they beached the canoes and "Lady Alice" and left the river, aiming for the Portuguese outpost of Boma via land. On August 3 they reached the hamlet Nsada. From there Stanley sent four men with letters forward to Boma, asking for food for his starving people. On August 7 relief came, being sent by representatives from the Liverpool trading firm Hatton & Cookson. On August 9 they reached Boma, 1,001 days since leaving Zanzibar on November 12, 1874. The party then consisted of 108 people, including three children born during the trip. Most probably (Stanley's own publications give inconsistent figures), he lost 132 people through disease, hunger, drowning, killing and desertion.

Kinshasa was founded as a trading post by Stanley in 1881 and named Léopoldville in honour of Leopold II of Belgium. The Congo basin was claimed by Leopold II as Congo Free State in 1885.

The Congo river basin is notable for the lack of bridges crossing the main rivers, although there are a number of ferries available for crossing the great "Congo river" and the major tributaries. The main reasoning is the mere width of the Congo river and main rivers, and the second is the lack of funds to set up permanent river crossings, this is however slowly changing to the better.

There are only two bridges on the Congo river proper and main tributaries, which both are found in the DR Congo:

There is one bridge on the Uele River, and two on the Kibali River, which all lies in the northern province Haut-Uele of DR Congo:

There are at least four bridges on the Lulua river in the province of Kasai of DR Congo:

Angola - DR Congo border:
Lower Congo (Matadi - Pioka):
DR Congo - Congo Republic border:
Upper Congo (Irebu - Ubundu):
On the minor tributaries of the great Congo there are numerous river crossings, which cannot be included here.


What is the largest basketball stadium in Puerto Rico?

By the 1949-50 season, several new ballparks were built, each containing 6,000 or more seats. The largest new stadium was Ponce's Estadio Francisco Montaner with 9,718 seats. Montaner has the distinction of being the first stadium in Puerto Rico that installed an artificial surface field. The installation of lights, which allowed for night games, further boosted stadium attendances. The Stadium was named to honor Francisco "Paquito" Montaner, one of the greatest Puerto Rican pitchers of all times.

Baseball in Puerto Rico

Baseball is the most popular sport in Puerto Rico. In terms of spectators and active participants, it is the premier sport on the island.

The game was introduced to the island in the late 19th century and the first two baseball clubs were founded in 1897, before the American invasion of 1898 known as the Spanish–American War. The sport was initially ridiculed as an effete, unmanly exhibition. However, when local Puerto Rican teams regularly defeated and embarrassed the more "experienced" American teams, the sport began to catch on.

As of 2016, over 100 Major League Baseball players were active in the Puerto Rico Baseball League, in addition to the many hundreds who participated in the past.

Some of the most famous baseball players from Puerto Rico include Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Alomar, and Iván Rodríguez; as well as Jose "Cheo" Cruz; Edgar Martínez; Juan González; Victor Pellot; Yadier Molina; and Bernie Williams.

The game of baseball was introduced to the island in the late 19th century, by Puerto Ricans and Cubans who had learned the game in the United States. At first the sport was poorly received by the hard-working farmers, tobacco workers and sugarcane cutters of the island, who considered it an effete, unmanly game.

The first two baseball clubs were founded in 1897: the "Almendares" Baseball Club owned by Francisco Alamo Armas, and the "Borinquen" Baseball Club owned by Santos Filippi.

According to "El País" newspaper, the first organized baseball game was played on January 11, 1898 at the old velodrome in Santurce, San Juan. The "Borinquen" beat the "Almendares" by a score of 3 to 0. The first game to go a complete nine innings was played on January 30, 1898, when the "Borinquen" beat the "Almendares" again, by a score of 9 to 3.

Later that same year, Puerto Rico became an American territory when the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish–American War. By way of recreation, the American soldiers stationed in Puerto Rico were permitted to organize a baseball club to play against the local Puerto Rican clubs. On November 4, 1900 the "Almendares" Baseball Club trounced the American Baseball Club of the Second Regiment of Infantry, by a score of 32 to 18.

In the early 1920s teams from Puerto Rico, such as the San Juan Baseball Club and the Porto Rican Stars, would travel to New York City to play against some of the professional American teams.Puerto Rico has a winter baseball league named the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente, formerly known as "Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico" (LBPPR) and Puerto Rico Baseball League, that has operated since the early 20th century. The champion of the Puerto Rico league represents Puerto Rico in the annual Caribbean World Series.

The LBPRC currently has six teams:

In 2007, the LBPPR recessed for the first time since its creation. In 2008, the organization resumed operations, but with several structural changes. These included reducing the league to only four teams, renaming the league as the "Puerto Rico Baseball League", and establishing a website.

Currently, the league's champion also participates in the Caribbean Series.

In 2008, the LBPPR participated in the first inter-league series with the LBPDR, otherwise known as the "Liga de Beisbol Profesional de la Republica Dominicana" (Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic).

Enrique Huyke, a professor from Mayagüez, originally suggested the establishment of an organized baseball league in Puerto Rico. The idea was adopted by Teofilo Maldonado, president of the Commission on Recreation and Sports. Gabriel Castro helped Huyke with the scouting of organizations, which had to pay $1,000 prior to being admitted. The Guayama Rotary Club collaborated in raising funds for the teams. The "Liga de Béisbol Semiprofesional de Puerto Rico" (LBSPR) was founded in 1938, as a semi-professional league. The new league consisted of six teams: the Senadores de San Juan ("San Juan Senators"), Leones de Ponce ("Ponce Lions"), Indios de Mayagüez ("Mayagüez Indians"), Criollos de Caguas ("Caguas Creoles"), Brujos de Guayama ("Guayama Witch Doctors"), and Grises Orientales de Humacao ("Humacao Oriental Grays").

Maldonado was named the league's commissioner. The league set deadlines for changes in the rosters, which were allowed only during the first half of the season, and the number of games played has historically varied from 40 to 80 games per season. The All-Star game was scheduled to coincide with the traditional Three Kings Day, January 6, an idea suggested by Angel Colón so that the proceeds could be used to buy toys. This date was used for decades, until the emergence of television forced the league to comply with dates requested by the networks..The first Puerto Rican players to play in U.S. Major League Baseball, Hiram Bithorn and Luis Olmo, were active in the rosters of San Juan and Caguas. Bithorn became the youngest manager in the league's history, named to the position in 1938 at the age of 22. Enrique Huyke served as manager for Mayagüez for less than a month, because the team‘s owner threatened to remove its entry if he did not take the office. One of the main figures of the league in its early stage was Negro leagues’ veteran, Emilio Navarro.

In the 1939-40 season, the Cangrejeros de Santurce ("Santurce Crabbers") and Tiburones de Aguadilla ("Aguadilla Sharks") joined the original teams. On January 8, 1939, Humacao and San Juan played an 18-inning game that lasted four hours, establishing a record.

Between 1938 and 1941, the LBSPR was part of the National Semi-Professional Baseball Congress, with titleholder Guayama facing the champions of the Congress’ United States branch in best-of-seven series in 1939, where they defeated the Duncan Cementers, and again in 1940.

In 1939-40, Perucho Cepeda won the league's batting championship over Josh Gibson, who managed to win it the following season. The "Criollos de Caguas" won their first championship in 1940/41, defeating the "Cangrejeros" in the final series. Santurce's Luis Cabrera was the last player to win the LBSPR’ Most Valuable Player award.

In October, 1940, Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige arrived in Puerto Rico, four weeks after the start of the 1939/40 winter season. He joined the "Brujos de Guayama" (Guayama Witch Doctors), who also featured shortstop Perucho Cepeda and outfielder Tetelo Vargas. On November 5, Paige pitched a shut out against rival Santurce, which featured player-manager Josh Gibson, by a lopsided score of 23 to 0.

In a December game against Mayagüez, Paige set a league record by striking out 17 batters. He ended the season with a 19–3 record, a 1.93 ERA, and 208 strikeouts in 205 innings. The 19 wins and 208 strikeouts set single-season league records, that have never been broken. Paige helped his team win the league championship playoff series, winning two games against the "San Juan Senadores." Paige went on to win the league‘s Most Valuable Player award in 1940. The town of Guayama is widely known for its Santería, Palo (religion), and other spiritualist religious practices. In a legendary game in Guayama, Paige walked off the mound, because he saw a ghost standing next to him.

On September 14, 1941, Rafael Delgado Márquez proposed that the league recognize a move from semi-professional to professional status by renaming itself to "Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico" (LBPPR).

The league used a format of "vueltas" (halves), where the winners of each half facing each other for the championship. However, Ponce managed to win four consecutive championships (1941–45), and in three of those seasons (1941/42, 1943/44, 1944/45) they won both halves and were declared champions without participating in a final. Consequently, once the other teams were eliminated from winning the second-half title, their fans tended to lose interest. Some players also dropped out after their teams were eliminated. To deal with this issue, in 1948/49 the league established a new playoff format that included the top four teams.
Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1941, Hiram Bithorn was the first Puerto Rican to ever play major league baseball. The world took notice in 1943, when Bithorn went 18–12 with an earned run average of 2.60, and completed 19 of his 30 starts. He also led the league in shutouts (seven), setting a record for Puerto Rican pitchers that stands to this day.

Francisco Coímbre was a key member of Ponce's success, winning two batting championships and a Most Valuable Player award. He went three consecutive seasons (1939–42) without striking out. Other players that participated for Ponce included Juan Guilbe and Griffin Tirado. In 1943/44 and 1944/45, Ponce pitcher Tomás "Planchardón" Quiñones won back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards.

World War II affected the league directly, reducing the 1942/43 season's length to 36 games and the number of active teams to four.The league continued with four teams through 1945/46, but they played 48 games from 1943–46. From 1942 to 1944, teams were not allowed to bring in imported players. In the 1944/45 season, Luis "Canena" Márquez debuted in the league and hit.361, setting the record for highest batting average by a rookie.

The "Senadores de San Juan" won their first championship in 1945/46, defeating the Indios in the finals. During this season, Joe Buzas became the first foreign MLB player to manage in the LBPPR.

Victor Pellot, also known as Vic Power, made his debut for the "Criollos" on the 1947-48 season, when the team won the league title. The team roster included Rafaelito Ortiz, the only pitcher to win ten or more games for three different LBPPR teams.

In 1947, the New York Yankees participated in a five-game series against teams from the Caribbean leagues. In Puerto Rico, Ponce and an All-Star LBPPR team defeated the Yankees on consecutive nights. José "Pantalones" Santiago debuted in this season, earning the Rookie of the Year recognition while Canena Marquez broke Josh Gibson's home run record of 13.

In 1948-49, the LBPPR joined the Caribbean Series, beginning a rivalry with Cuba that lasted throughout the next decade, until Cuba ceased to participate in the event.

Leon Day, a member of the U.S. Negro Leagues, also played for "Los Triburones de Aguadilla" (the Aguadilla Sharks) in Puerto Rico. When Day was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he became the only Hall of Famer to be enshrined with a cap of a team outside the mainland U.S. – his plaque depicts him as a "Tiburon de Aguadilla."

A decade after its foundation the league was employing an 80-game schedule, with an average season attendance of 750,000.

Estadio Sixto Escobar was the oldest stadium, built in San Juan in 1935. It was also the largest, with 13,135 seats and a maximum capacity of over 15,000.

Perucho Cepeda was one of the league's dominant figures during the 1940s, winning two batting championships.

Natalio Irizarry won the league's Rookie of the Year recognition in 1949-50. From 1949–1955, the league featured the participation of new MLB players, including Johnny Logan, Harvey Haddix and Hank Aaron among several others.

The MLB players kept returning, and encouraged more MLB to join them, began of the calibre of league play and because of the warm climate during winter months. Players from the Negro leagues preferred it due to a lack of racism towards the players, as opposed to the United States.

In 1952, Roberto Clemente made his debut with the "Cangrejeros" hitting.234. He was signed by Pedrin Zorilla, debuting in the league as a teenager. The team won that year's title and Cot Deal was named MVP. Clemente improved this average to.288 the following season, but Santurce finished last in the league. The league's champions were the "Criollos", who also won the Caribbean Series. With a roster that also included Luis Olmo, Willie Mays and Rubén Gómez, the "Cangrejeros" won the 1954-55 championship defeating Caguas in the finals, 4-1.
During this season, Clemente became the first Puerto Rican player to hit two home runs in the league's All-Star game. The team also went on to win the Caribbean Series, which were held in Venezuela. Jim Rivera had an average of.450 and was named MVP. Puerto Rican fans received the team with a parade upon landing and Luis Muñoz Marín welcomed them in La Fortaleza.

In 1955-56, the "Criollos" won the league's championship, in a season that marked Orlando Cepeda's debut in the league. Clemente won the season's batting championship with an average of.396. In 1956-57, the league's championship was won by the Indios. During this season, Clemente went on to break the league's record for most games with hits, previously established by Francisco Coimbre in 1943-44.
The following season, the "Criollos" defeated the "Cangrejeros" to win the championship. Clemente who now played for Caguas, hit.529 during the final series. Juan "Terin" Pizarro won the Most Valuable Player Award, leading the league in wins, ERA, best win-to-loss margin and pitched the LBPPR's seventh no-hitter. In the Caribbean Series, he defeated Carta Vieja of Panama (8:0), recording 17 strikeouts. Both teams traded the final two championships of the decade.

In 1958-59, Orlando Cepeda, coming from his first season in the Majors where he was selected Rookie of the Year in the National League, kept things on fire with Santurce winning the batting title and MVP award, helping the Crabbers win their fourth championship. The 1959-60 season marked the first instance that LBPPR games were transmitted in two languages through radio. The Criollos won the championship, while Mayagüez's Ramón Luis Conde won the Most Valuable Player Award.

In 1961-62, coming from his best season in the big leagues, Cepeda was also LBPPR leader in home runs and RBIs, and won his second MVP Award guiding Santurce to its fifth championship.

During the 1950s, Puerto Rico's economy grew significantly, and this encouraged baseball-related gambling. This tendency experienced a notable increase in the early 1960s. Other changes carried in the game's style, with the introduction of more player-managers such as Luis Olmo, who became the first to consistently employ pitching coaches and closers in the league.

After the Cuban Revolution, hotels and casinos in San Juan benefited from Havana’ economic decay. During this timeframe, Puerto Rico expanded its presence in the Caribbean, and a native team frequently played again a representation of St. Thomas and Saint Croix in February. Julio Navarro was drafted from one of these exhibitions, eventually becoming one of the league's dominant pitchers.
In 1961-62, due to political tension between the U.S. and Cuba, the Caribbean Series planned for in Havana's "Estadio Latinoamericano" (Latin American Stadium) was cancelled. The event was replaced by the Interamerican Series, which San Juan attended with a roster that included pitcher Florentino Rivera.

During the 1960s the Dominican Winter League was still not a member of the Caribbean Confederation, which allowed uncommon interleague trades between it and the LBPPR, which would have more trouble negotiating such deals with member leagues. During this decade, some of the league's teams would provide import players with houses and taxis for transportation. The "Senadores de San Juan", led by Clemente, who had just won the MLB World Series with Pittsburgh, won the league's 1960–61 season, as well as José Santiago, who posted a record of 10-2 with an ERA of 2.44 for the team. Luis Arroyo won the season's Most Valuable Player award, registering a record of 10-2 with an ERA of 1.64.

The Interamerican Series were held three more times, with each team winning on their home field. Mayagüez did so in 1963, in a series where Terin Pizarro recorded the only no-hitter in the history of the event, in a win over Valencia at the opening night.
In 1961-62, the "Lobos de Arecibo" joined the league as an expansion team. On January 14, 1962, Julio Navarro pitched the first regular season no-hitter.

For the 1962-63 season, Estadio Sixto Escobar was replaced by the Hiram Bithorn Stadium, with a larger capacity of 20,000 seats. The field dimensions were set to match the Olympic Stadium of the Montreal Expos: 325 feet (99 m) down the left field line, 325 feet (99 m) down the right field line and 404 feet (123 m) to center field. The outfield fences were set 8 feet (2.5 m) high.

In 1963-64, Clemente finished second with a batting average of.345, leading the Senadores to the title. San Juan once again played in the Interamerican Series, held in Nicaragua. In 1964-65, Orlando Cepeda joined the "Cangrejeros", replacing Jim Beauchamp and helping the team win the league championship. During this season, Clemente was named San Juan's player-manager, leading them to the playoffs.

The following season featured the debut of Jerry Morales, who won the league's Rookie of the Year award. Carlos Bernier retired in 1966, having won five stolen base titles for a total of 285 stolen bases. On November 20, 1966, San Juan's Luis de Leon pitched the first perfect game in the league's history.

Caguas won the league championship in 1967-68. Nino Escalera, who finished his career third on the league's hit list, replaced Vic Power as the team's manager during this season. On December 20, 1969, Santurce and Arecibo participated in the only LBPPR game played outside of Puerto Rico, held in the United States Virgin Islands to honor Elrod Hendricks.

Ponce won the second of back-to-back championships in 1969-70 as well as the Caribbean Series’ title being led in both by Conde's offensive. The "Cangrejeros" won the 1970-71 championship, defeating the "Criollos" in the finals.
The 1972 All-Star game was dedicated in honor of Roberto Clemente, who had died a week before, while transporting supplies to victims of the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake. Both native and foreign-born players wore a black band on their arms, as a symbol of mourning. The "Criollos" won the 1973-74 championship, possessing the league's strongest native lineup.

The "Indios" won the 1973–74 title and the Caribbean Series held in Mexico that year. Caguas won its ninth championship in the 1978-79 season and Bayamón won the last championship of the decade, with a roster that included batting champion Dave Bergman.

Coming back from a fourth-place regular season finish, the "Criollos" won their tenth championship in the 1980–81 season, but the Caribbean Series were not held that year. On January 2, 1981, Rickey Henderson established a new stolen bases record with 42.
Orlando Gómez made his debut as a manager for Mayagüez and won the Manager of the Year award. Dickie Thon won the first of two back-to-back batting titles this season. This also marked Alomar, Sr.'s last active season, retiring forth on the fourth place of league's all-time hit leaders.

In 1981-82, the "Lobos de Arecibo" recessed and their native star players, Edwin Núñez, Candy Maldonado and Ramón Avilés were drafted by the remaining teams. The team returned the following season, winning the franchise's first championship. The team won the 1983 Caribbean Series, receiving a large welcoming ceremony at Luis Muñoz Marín Airport that included a parade from San Juan to Arecibo.
From 1974 to 1983, the team hosted their games in Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel, which has 12,500 seats. Located at Route 2 and Route 5, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, the stadium has easy access with a metro station (known as "Deportivo Station)" on the stadium premises.

In 1982-83, Bayamón's Carmelo Martínez was selected MVP. Mayagüez won the 1983-84 season, with Santurce's Jerry Willard being selected MVP. Besides this, the players were rewarded with a cruise trip and met the Governor of Puerto Rico. Eduardo Figueroa led the league in ERA, winning the recognition of Comeback Player of the Year.

For the 1984–85 season, the "Vaqueros" were moved back to San Juan and re-adopted their original name, the "Senadores de San Juan". However, one year later they were rechristened as the "Metros de San Juan", a name that they conserved until 1994. The team won the LBPPR title that season.
The "Metros de San Juan" also won the Caribbean Series being led by Francisco Javier Oliveras, who won a game in the series and had previously recorded eight regular season wins and one in the semifinals. Henry Cotto of Caguas was selected the league's MVP. Rubén Sierra debuted for Santurce and won the league's Rookie of the Year award.

One of Puerto Rico's most successful managers, Mako Oliveras, made his managing debut in December 1984, subsequently becoming responsible for giving playing time to unknown prospects such as Benito Santiago, Edgar Martínez and Carlos Baerga, all of which would go on to become stars. Mayagüez won the 1985-86 championship.

This marked Roberto Alomar's debut in the LBPPR, debuting for the Criollos after being drafted by Arecibo while in high school. Caguas won the 1986-87 championship, the team went on to win the Caribbean Series, featuring a native lineup that included Alomar, Carmelo Martínez, Edgar Díaz, Germán Rivera, Henry Cotto, Orlando Mercado and Heidi Vargas. This was José Cruz's final year in the league, having amassed 119 home runs, 40 for the "Leones" and 70 with Caguas, finishing second in the all-time list.

The "Indios de Mayagüez" won the 1985-86 season, led by Luis Quiñones’ three home runs in the finals over San Juan. Caguas won the 1986-87 championship and their third Caribbean Series‘ title, being led by a lineup that included Cotto and Oliveras. Mayagüez won the first of back to back titles in 1987-88.

The 1988 All-Star Game commemorated the league's 50th anniversary, and the game was dedicated to Angel Colon. That year, the Metro region defeated the Island region, 1-0. Mayagüez went on to win the 1988-89 title, once again led by Quiñones' clutch hitting. Javier López debuted in 1988, winning the league's Rookie of the Year recognition.

San Juan won the championship in the 1989–90 season. The season featured the debut of Juan González, who under the initiative of that season's Manager of the Year, Ramón Avilés, played every game with Caguas, finishing second in home runs with 9 and RBIs with 34. He was traded for Roberto Alomar during the off-season. González also reinforced San Juan, recording two home runs in the Caribbean Series.

Carlos Baerga and Edgar Martínez were the co-MVP players of the 1989-90 season.

Martínez became the first player in 41 seasons to win the batting crown with an average above.400, registering.424.

Santurce won the title the following year, which featured the debut of Wil Cordero, who was named Rookie of the Year.

In the 1991–1992 season, the "Criollos de Caguas" franchise was moved to Bayamón, but experienced low attendance in that municipality. Due to this their star players, Juan González and Iván Rodríguez, were drafted by Santurce and Mayagüez respectively.

The "Indios" won that season's championship and the Caribbean Series held in Mexico, with Chad Kreuter winning the series’ MVP award.

Roberto Hernandez won a tie-breaker with Venezuela to secure the series, and Cordero was recognized as the league MVP.
The 1992-93 season featured the return of Dickie Thon to the league, who led Santurce to a championship over San Juan in the finals as well as the debut of José "Cheo" Cruz as a manager. The finals series featured both Thon and Juan González, which attracted 90,369 fans throughout six games, including a record of 23,701 in the last game.

González had won consecutive batting titles in Major League Baseball and was selected the MVP after recording an average of.333 with seven home runs and 14 RBIs. Other MLB players, including Iván Rodríguez, Sandy Alomar, Jr. and Omar Olivares returned to the league during that season.

The "Cangrejeros" went on to win their fourth Caribbean Series’ title. Cordero won the league's batting championship.

Until 1993, all of the ballparks featured natural grass, with Ponce being the first to install artificial turn during that year.

The "Senadores de San Juan" defeated the Cuban national baseball team on December 1, 1993, with a walk-off home run by Javier López.

The 1993–94 championship was won by San Juan, led by Carmelo Martínez in his second MVP season.

The "Criollos" rejoined the league for the 1994-95 season and González returned to the team. The "Cangrejeros" won that year's championship, repeating Puerto Rico's title in the Caribbean Series.
The 1994-95 season however, is most famous for the once-in-a-lifetime Dream Team, that has been compared to the Murderer's Row of the New York Yankees during the Babe Ruth era.

That year, the "Senadores de San Juan" managed by Luis "Torito" Meléndez won the title, subsequently assembling one of the strongest teams in the history of the Caribbean Series.
The group was dubbed the "Dream Team" and featured Major League Baseball players in most positions, including Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga, Bernie Williams, Juan González, Edgar Martínez, Carlos Delgado, Rubén Sierra, Rey Sánchez and Carmelo Martínez.
Puerto Rico's offensive dominated the tournament, eventually winning the Caribbean Series championship with an undefeated record of 6–0.

The team won against Pedro Martínez and José Rijo in the third and sixth games respectively.

Roberto Alomar, who had been traded to the team from Ponce for Javier López during the off-season, was named the series’ Most Valuable Player after batting 560 with two home runs. Later in 2011, Alomar was inducted into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame.

In August 2007, it was announced that the 2007–2008 season was cancelled due to shrinking attendance and profits over the last 10 years, and the league would instead work on a marketing plan and reorganization.

In May 2008, it was announced that the league would come back for the 2008-09 season, and that the Manatí Athenians would be moved once again to Santurce, and become the Santurce Crabbers. As part of the restructuring, Major League Baseball offered to work to increase publicity.

On July 15, 2008, personnel from the league and Major League Baseball participated in a meeting where details about the league's merchandising were discussed.

Iván Rodríguez (also known as "Pudge") is recognized as one of the greatest catchers to ever play the game. In preparation for the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Pudge returned to the Puerto Rico Baseball League during the offseason, following ten years of absence.
On January 8, 2008, the Leones de Ponce had reclaimed Rodríguez in the last turn of a special post-season draft, where players from eliminated teams were selected to reinforce those that qualified. However, in the first week of December 2009, Rodríguez re-joined the "Criollos de Caguas" in the PRBL.

Playing for the Criollos de Caguas, he posted a batting average of.370, three RBIs and one home run in six games during the regular season. Upon leaving the team on vacation, Rodríguez announced his intention to return if the "Criollos" advanced to the playoffs.

He returned to action in a "sudden death" game for the final postseason space, but the team lost and was eliminated.

On October 19, 2009, the league announced a contract with WIPR-TV to broadcast its games.

The 2009–10 season was inaugurated on November 20, 2009, with games between Ponce and Carolina, and Arecibo versus Mayagüez-Aguadilla. This marked the first year that the league had only five active participants since 1993–94 due to the "Cangrejeros"' recess. During this season, the inter-league games with the Dominican Winter Baseball League continued being included in the official record books of both organizations.

"Indios de Mayagüez" won the 2009-10 season, their 16th championship (the mostst in LPBPR history) when they beat the "Criollos de Caguas", four games to one. Three games in this series went to extra innings.

In this same season, the board of directors elected Sadi Antonmattei to succeed Garcia as the president of the league.

The Criollos de Caguas are currently the dominant team in the Puerto Rico Baseball League. They were the league champs in 2010–2011 and 2012–2013, and the Indios de Mayagüez won in 2011–2012.

On November 27, 2012, in a friendly softball game between nine professional ballplayers from the Puerto Rico Baseball League and nine prisoners from the Bayamón Correctional Institution, the prisoners won convincingly by a score of 10-3.

The Puerto Rico National Baseball Team has participated in the World Cup of Baseball winning one gold (1951), four silver and four bronze medals. The team has also won the Caribbean Series fourteen times.