Boulevard of 30 June, in Kinshasa
Today I would like to talk about Kinshasa, the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is located on the Congo River, which happens to be Africa’s largest river, the deepest river in the world, and the third largest in the world by the volume it discharges. Kinshasa is a city of over 9 million inhabitants and directly faces Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo: these two sister cities are separated only by the river Congo (the only place in the world where two capitals of two countries face each other). Residents of Kinshasa are known as Kinois.
When did it all start? Well, Kinshasa was founded in 1881 as a trading post by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley who named it Leopoldville in honor of the Belgian king Leopold II, who controled the immense territory of DRC as his private property and not just as a colony. Prior to 1920, all goods arriving by sea in Congo were carried by porters from Matadi (the main port city of Congo), and Leopoldville over 150 km from the coast. From 1886 to 1926, Boma (located on the Congo estuary) was the capital of the Belgian Congo; but after 1926, Leopoldville became the capital.
Kinshasa, seen from the Congo river
In 1965, Joseph-Desire Mobutu who had risen to power after coups d’etat against Patrice Lumumba in 1960, and a second one in 1965, renamed the city Kinshasa in an effort to africanize the names of the people and places in the country. Kinshassa was the name of a village which used to be near the site of the present city. In Kikongo, Kinshasa means “the salt market“: “nshasa = salt” and locator ‘ki‘.
The region of Pool Malebo, where Kinshasa is located, has been inhabited since at least the first millenium before our era. However, before colonization, different Bantu groups have occupied the area. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the region of Pool Malebo became a major commercial hub between the river basin and the coastal regions. The Bobangis (also called Bangala, or people of the river) managed the major part of the commerce with the equatorial forest by navigating the river up to the Téké villages of Pool. During the 18th and 19th centuries, more villages develop themselves in the area, which became known as the Batéké plateau. The principal Téké villages were Nsasa with almost 5,000 inhabitants, and Ntambo with at least 3,000. By the time Henry Morton Stanley reached the area on 12 March 1878, the region was already home to 66 villages, and a total population of over 30,000 inhabitants. Stanley chose this location as it was the area where the Congo river became navigable.
Map of the DRC
By the time the city changed its name from Leopoldville to Kinshasa in 1966, the city rapidly grew due to rural exodus of people coming from all parts of the country in search of a better life. In 1974, Kinshasa hosted ‘The Rumble in the Jungle‘ boxing match, a historic match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, in which Ali defeated Foreman to regain the World Heavyweight title. This has been one of Ali’s most famous matches: if you watch the movie Ali, you can see scenes of Kinshasa there.
Situated in an area belonging to the Batéké and Bahumbu people, the lingua franca of the city is the Lingala, while the administrative language is French. Kinshasa is also a province of DRC (a bit like the district of Columbia in the US), and is the second largest francophone city in the world, after Paris. Its current population is 9 million inhabitants, making it Africa’s second largest cities after Lagos in Nigeria. Please check out the website for the city of Kinshasa, and Kinshasa-Congo travel to learn about the great city of music and art; I also liked the blog kosubaawate which goes through the evolution of Kinshasa then and now (i.e. before independence and now). Enjoy the video below which I enjoyed for its quality, music, and of course its great content.
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By: naomisdad on March 28, 2013
at 2:26 pm
[…] autonomous, functioning with solar energy. It was first installed at the Boulevard Lumumba in Kinshasa. I just loved its Congolese accent… it was just music to my ears. Enjoy the Congolese […]
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By: The African Version of RoboCop | African Heritage on May 2, 2014
at 8:51 am
[…] passing by or after some European ruler. Examples are countless: Leopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa), Port Louis (capital of Mauritius, named after Louis XV), Northern and Southern Rhodesia […]
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By: Why the name: Brazzaville? | African Heritage on June 10, 2014
at 4:35 am
[…] largest city, and the third largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris and Kinshasa. The city is located in the Ébrié Lagoon on several converging peninsulas and islands connected […]
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By: Why the Name: Abidjan? | African Heritage on July 9, 2014
at 1:56 am
[…] be some Brazzaville-Kinshasa rivalry as the two Congos are set to face each other in the first quarter final on Saturday, […]
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By: CAN 2015: Who will win the African Cup of Nations? | African Heritage on January 30, 2015
at 4:58 am
good articles
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By: louis on February 3, 2015
at 5:18 pm
[…] Kinshasa. A rhythmic mass of 11 million people in burgeoning slums and high rises. Out there, the Kinois are quick to give a greeting and tell her what they need before selling her what they’ve got. […]
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By: To Congo, With Love: Send Us Your Lullabies on January 25, 2016
at 10:45 am
[…] Kinshasa. A rhythmic mass of 11 million people in burgeoning slums and high rises. Out there, the Kinois are quick to give a greeting and tell her what they need before selling her what they’ve got. […]
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By: To Congo, With Love: Send Us Your Lullabies | Interesting News on January 25, 2016
at 11:02 am
Thank you for linking to this article. I loved yours.
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By: Dr. Y. on January 26, 2016
at 4:51 am
[…] a Kongói Demokratikus Köztársaság fővárosát.[5] Léopoldville közelében feküdt a Kinshasa nevű falu is – jelentése: ki – hely, nshasa – só –, azaz „sópiac”; Mobutu […]
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By: Tragédiák a Kongó partjain | SUNYIVERZUM on March 23, 2016
at 2:53 pm
[…] de Brazzaville, por el explorador Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, del que tomó su nombre, en 1880 y Léopoldville (futura Kinshasa) fundada por el aventurero Henry Morton Stanley en 1881 y que la bautizó en honor al rey Leopoldo […]
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By: Una ciudad, dos capitales: evolución urbana de Kinshasa-Brazzaville - El Orden Urbano en el S.XXI on October 2, 2016
at 8:15 am
That was a very informative article about the DRC’s capital and largest city. I had to tell some WWE fans that it’s not just Shinsuke Nakamura’s finishing move and that it’s an actual city not too long ago. Haha!
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By: ospreyshire on March 20, 2019
at 4:09 am
Neat! How weird that people will think about it as someone’s finishing move!
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By: Dr. Y. on March 20, 2019
at 5:37 pm
Yes, and I had to differentiate that with my friends who are huge wrestling fans. I wondered if there was any connection with this Japanese wrestler and the DRC’s capital with that finishing move, and I found out that there is. The answer actually goes back to you mentioning the famous Rumble in the Jungle. https://www.thesouthafrican.com/wwes-shinsuke-nakamura-anatomy-of-the-kinshasa/
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By: ospreyshire on March 21, 2019
at 4:12 am
[…] has not heard of “The Rumble in the Jungle” the 1974 fight which took place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo)? This was a historic game not only because it was deemed […]
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By: Muhhamad Ali Quote: It is important to cultivate integrity in all our actions – Black History Month 4Life on November 3, 2019
at 12:14 pm