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Kinshasa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is located on the Congo River.
Once a site of fishing villages, Kinshasa is now a bustling city with a population of more than 7 million in 2004.[1] The city of Brazzaville (about 1.5 million inhabitants in 2007 with its suburbs),[2] capital of the Republic of Congo, lies just across the Congo River from Kinshasa. Together with Brazzaville, the combined connurbation of Kinshasa-Brazzaville has thus nearly 9 million inhabitants.
Kinshasa ties with Johannesburg for the status of the second largest city in sub-Saharan Africa and the third largest in the whole continent after Lagos and Cairo, and it is the second largest francophone city in the world after Paris, although Montreal, Canada is still considered more "important" as a hub of the French language. If current demographic trends continue, Kinshasa will surpass Paris as the largest francophone city in the world by the end of the 2010s.[3] [4] However, it is to be noted that local African languages especially the Lingala are by far more spoken in the city than the French language.
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Kinshasa is a city of sharp contrasts, with affluent residential and commercial areas and three universities coexisting side by side with sprawling slums.
It is located along the south bank of the Congo River, directly opposite the city of Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo. This is the only place in the world where two national capital cities are on opposite banks of a river, in sight of each other.
The Congo river is the second longest river in Africa after the Nile, and is the largest in terms of discharge. As a waterway it provides a means of transport for much of the Congo basin, being navigable for large river barges between Kinshasa and Kisangani, and many of its tributaries are navigable too. The river is an important source of hydroelectric power, and downstream of Kinshasa it has the potential to generate enough power equivalent to the usage by the whole continent.
Kinshasa is both a city (ville in French) and a province (province in French), one of the 11 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its status is thus similar to Paris which is both a city and one of the 100 departments of France.
The city-commune (ville-province) of Kinshasa is divided into 24 communes (municipalities). The commercial and administrative heart of Kinshasa is the commune of La Gombe. The commune of Kinshasa gave its name to the whole city, but it is neither the commercial nor the administrative heart of the metropolis.
Here are the 24 communes of the city-province of Kinshasa with their land area and their official population in 2004 from the Institut National de la Statistique (INS) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1]
| Commune | Land area | Inhabitants (2004) |
Density |
| Bandalungwa | 6.82 km² (2.63 sq mi) | 202,341 | 29,669/km² (76,842.4/sq mi) |
| Barumbu | 4.72 km² (1.82 sq mi) | 150,319 | 31,847/km² (82,483.4/sq mi) |
| Bumbu | 5.3 km² (2.0 sq mi) | 329,234 | 62,120/km² (160,890.1/sq mi) |
| La Gombe | 29.33 km² (11.32 sq mi) | 32,373 | 1,104/km² (2,859.3/sq mi) |
| Kalamu | 6.64 km² (2.56 sq mi) | 315,342 | 47,491/km² (123,001.1/sq mi) |
| Kasa-Vubu | 5.05 km² (1.95 sq mi) | 157,320 | 31,152/km² (80,683.3/sq mi) |
| Kimbanseke | 237.78 km² (91.81 sq mi) | 946,372 | 3,980/km² (10,308.2/sq mi) |
| Kinshasa | 2.87 km² (1.11 sq mi) | 164,857 | 57,441/km² (148,771.5/sq mi) |
| Kintambo | 2.72 km² (1.05 sq mi) | 106,772 | 39,254/km² (101,667.4/sq mi) |
| Kisenso | 16.6 km² (6.4 sq mi) | 386,151 | 23,262/km² (60,248.3/sq mi) |
| Lemba | 23.70 km² (9.15 sq mi) | 349,838 | 14,761/km² (38,230.8/sq mi) |
| Limete | 67.6 km² (26.1 sq mi) | 375,726 | 5,558/km² (14,395.2/sq mi) |
| Lingwala | 2.88 km² (1.11 sq mi) | 94,635 | 32,859/km² (85,104.4/sq mi) |
| Makala | 5.6 km² (2.2 sq mi) | 253,844 | 45,329/km² (117,401.6/sq mi) |
| Maluku | 7,948.8 km² (3,069.0 sq mi) | 179,648 | 23/km² (59.6/sq mi) |
| Masina | 69.93 km² (27.00 sq mi) | 485,167 | 6,938/km² (17,969.3/sq mi) |
| Matete | 4.88 km² (1.88 sq mi) | 268,781 | 55,078/km² (142,651.4/sq mi) |
| Mont Ngafula | 358.92 km² (138.58 sq mi) | 261,004 | 727/km² (1,882.9/sq mi) |
| Ndjili | 11.4 km² (4.4 sq mi) | 442,138 | 38,784/km² (100,450.1/sq mi) |
| Ngaba | 4.0 km² (1.54 sq mi) | 180,650 | 45,163/km² (116,971.6/sq mi) |
| Ngaliema | 224.3 km² (86.60 sq mi) | 683,135 | 3,046/km² (7,889.1/sq mi) |
| Ngiri-Ngiri | 3.4 km² (1.31 sq mi) | 174,843 | 51,424/km² (133,187.5/sq mi) |
| Nsele | 898.79 km² (347.02 sq mi) | 140,929 | 157/km² (406.6/sq mi) |
| Selembao | 23.18 km² (8.95 sq mi) | 335,581 | 14,477/km² (37,495.3/sq mi) |
| Ville-Province de Kinshasa |
9,965.21 km² (3,847.59 sq mi) | 7,017,000 | 704/km² (1,823.4/sq mi) |
Source : Institut National de la Statistique (INS)
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Abbreviations : Kal. (Kalamu), Kin. (Kinshasa), K.-V. (Kasa-Vubu), Ling. (Lingwala), Ng.-Ng. (Ngiri-Ngiri)
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Major areas of the city include the Cité de l'OUA, home to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Commune de Matonge, known regionally for its nightlife, L'ONATRA, the impressive building of the Ministry of Transport and the residential area of Gombe.
Notable features of the city include the SOZACOM Building and Hotel Memling skyscrapers, the central market, the Kinshasa Museum and the Kinshasa Fine Arts Academy. The Boulevard du 30 Juin (Boulevard of the 30th June) links main the areas of the city. Kinshasa is home to the country's national stadium, the Stade des Martyrs (Stadium of the Martyrs).
Kinshasa is home to several higher-level education institutes, covering a wide range of specialties, from civil engineering to nursing and journalism. The city is also home to three large universities and an arts school:
The city was founded as a trading post by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881 and named Léopoldville in honor of King Léopold II of Belgium, who controlled the vast territory that is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as a colony. The post flourished as the first navigable port on the Congo River above Livingstone Falls, a series of rapids over 300 km below Leopoldville. At first, all goods arriving by sea or being sent by sea had to be carried by porters between Léopoldville and Matadi, the port below the rapids and 150 km from the coast. The completion of the Matadi-Kinshasa portage railway in 1898 provided a faster and more efficient alternative route around the rapids and sparked the rapid development of Léopoldville. By 1920, the city was elevated to capital of the Belgian Congo, replacing the town of Boma in the Congo estuary.
When the Belgian Congo became independent of Belgium in 1960, Dutch was dropped as an official language.[citation needed] In 1965 Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in the Congo in his second coup and initiated a policy of "Africanizing" the names of people and places in the country. In 1966, Léopoldville was renamed Kinshasa for a village named Kinchassa that once stood near the site. The city grew rapidly under Mobutu, drawing people from across the country who came in search of their fortunes or to escape ethnic strife elsewhere. This inevitably brought about a change to the city's ethnic and linguistic composition as well. Although it is situated in territory that traditionally belongs to the Bateke and Bahumbu people, the lingua franca in Kinshasa today is Lingala.
In 1974, Kinshasa hosted the 'Rumble in the Jungle' boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, in which Ali defeated Foreman to regain the World Heavyweight title.
Kinshasa suffered greatly due to Mobutu's excesses, mass corruption, nepotism and the civil war that led to his downfall. Nevertheless, it is still a major cultural and intellectual center for Central Africa, with a flourishing community of musicians and artists. It is also the country's major industrial center, processing many of the natural products brought from the interior. The city has recently had to fend off rioting soldiers who were protesting the government's inability to pay them.
Kinshasa had the earliest documented HIV-1 infection, which dates from 1959 and was discovered in the preserved blood sample of a local man (see AIDS origin).
Kinshasa is home to a large number of radio and TV stations. The National TV is housed in the city. Its two channels reach more or less the entire country.[citation needed] In addition to these stations, there are nearly a dozen terrestrial stations reaching the environs of the city, and sometimes a bit beyond. Most of the media uses French and Lingala to a large extent; very few use the other national languages.
Kinshasa is the major river port of the Congo. The port, called 'Le Beach Ngobila' extends for about 7 km along the river, comprising scores of quays and jetties with hundreds of boats and barges tied up. Ferries cross the river to Brazzaville, a distance of about 4 km. River transport also connects to dozens of ports upstream, such as Kisangani and Bangui.
There are road and rail links to Matadi, the sea port in the Congo estuary 150 km from the Atlantic Ocean.
There are no rail links from Kinshasa further inland, and road connections to much of the rest of the country are few and in poor condition.
The city has two airports, N'Djili International Airport with connections to other African countries as well as to Brussels, Paris, and Madrid; and N'Dolo Airport.
- NBA player Dikembe Mutombo.
- former Sheffield Wednesday footballer Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu
- Current Premier League, Reading F.C. footballer Leroy Lita
- Splinter Cell: Double Agent, a video game, has one level in Kinshasa
- Tim Butcher: Blood River - A Journey To Africa's Broken Heart, 2007. ISBN 0-701-17981-3
- ^ a b c d (French) Website of the Unité de Pilotage du Processus d'Elaboration et de mise œuvre de la Stratégie pour la Réduction de la Pauvreté (UPPE-SRP). Monographie de la Ville de Kinshasa (SWF). Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
- ^ (French) Republic of Congo, Centre National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (CNSEE). Répartition de la population par Départements et Communes en 1984 et projetée de 2000 à 2015. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
- ^ Demographia. Demographia World Urban Areas Projections 2007 & 2020 (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
- ^ United Nations, Population Division. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision Population Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
- Official website of the city of Kinshasa
- Kinshasa Tourism
- Travel information and city guide for Kinshasa
- Kim Gjerstad, a blog and photos from Kinshasa
- University of Kinshasa
- SDAROVIA Hospital in Kinshasa, DR Congo
- Detailed Map of Kinshasa (PDF of 7.5 MB)
- Detailed Map of Kinshasa from l'UNJLC prior to being replaced by MONUC (this map contains more information on buildings than the MONUC map) (smaller PDF than MONUC map of 4.8 MB)
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| Bandalungwa · Barumbu · Bumbu · La Gombe · Kalamu · Kasa-Vubu · Kimbanseke · Kinshasa (commune) · Kintambo · Kisenso · Lemba · Limete · Lingwala · Makala · Maluku · Masina · Matete · Mont Ngafula · NDjili · Ngaba · Ngaliema · Ngiri-Ngiri · Nsele · Selembao |  |
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| Sankuru • Bas-Uele • Kongo Central • Kwango • Kwilu • Mai-Ndombe • Kinshasa • Kasaï • Lulua • Kasaï oriental • Lomami • Maniema • Sud-Kivu • Nord-Kivu • Ituri • Haut-Uele • Tshopo • Nord-Ubangi • Mongala • Sud-Ubangi • Équateur • Tshuapa • Tanganyika • Haut-Lomami • Lualaba • Haut-Katanga |
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| 2006 Constitution (to take effect in 2009) |
Bas-Uele · Équateur · Haut-Lomami · Haut-Katanga · Haut-Uele · Ituri · Kasaï · Kasaï oriental · Kongo central · Kwango · Kwilu · Lomami · Lualaba · Lulua · Mai-Ndombe · Maniema · Mongala · Nord-Kivu · Nord-Ubangi · Sankuru · Sud-Kivu · Sud-Ubangi · Tanganyika · Tshopo · Tshuapa · Kinshasa | |
| 1966-2006 | Bandundu · Bas-Congo · Équateur · Kasai-Occidental · Kasai-Oriental · Katanga · Kinshasa · Maniema · Nord-Kivu · Orientale · Sud-Kivu | |
| 1962-1966 | Cuvette-Centrale · Ubangi Province · Moyen-Congo · Lomami · Luluabourg · Sankuru · Sud-Kasaï · Unité Kasaïenne · Lualaba · Katanga Oriental · Nord-Katanga · Congo Central · Kwango · Kwilu · Mai-Ndombe · Maniema · Kivu Central · Nord-Kivu · Kibali-Ituri · Uele · Haut-Congo | |
| 1966 | Sud-Katanga | |
Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since December 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since June 2007 | Kinshasa | Capitals in Africa | Cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo | Subdivisions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | Capitals serving as first-level administrative divisions | Settlements established in 1881