Kinshasa
Capital district
Kinshasa ( until May 3, 1966 French Léopoldville - short form Leoville, Dutch Leopoldstad ) is the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The city has over 9.4 million inhabitants, the agglomeration of Kinshasa - Brazzaville 10.3 million (2010) and is thus behind Lagos and Cairo in front of the second largest in Africa.
The capital district of the neutral city (French Ville neutre ) has the status of a province and is governed by a Governor, who is appointed by the President. Kinshasa is the political, economic and cultural center of the country. The city is the seat of the Congolese Government, the Parliament, all State central authorities as well as numerous diplomatic missions.
Kinshasa is the most important transport hub in the country and the international airport Aéroport international de Ndjili and has many universities, colleges and museums.
- 2.1 Historical Overview
- 2.2 Population development
- 3.1 Museums
- 3.2 Art
- 3.3 Structures
- 3.4 Sport
- 4.1 Economics
- 4.2 traffic
- 4.3 Education
- 4.4 Twin towns
Geography
Geographical location
Kinshasa is located at the pool Malebo the Congo opposite Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, 350 meters above sea level.
Prior to breaking through the Lower Guinea threshold, the water-rich Congo dammed to form a lake, the pool Malebo, on which is about 30 kilometers long, 21 kilometers wide and up to 16 meters deep.
The Congo is only navigable above the pool Malebo.
The administrative area of the capital city has an area of 9,965 square kilometers. Of which alone has the river in the eastern predominantly rural municipality Maluku with 7948.8 square kilometers, accounting for around 80 per cent.
Boroughs
Kinshasa is divided into 24 municipalities ( communes).
- Bandalungwa
- Barumbu
- Bumbu
- Gombe
- Kalamu
- Kasavubu
- Kimbanseke
- Kinshasa
- Kintambo
- Kisenso
- Lemba
- Limete
- Lingwala
- Makala
- Maluku
- Masina
- Matete
- Mont Ngafula
- Ndjili
- Ngaba
- Ngaliema
- Ngiri - Ngiri
- Nsele
- Selembao
Climate
The city is located in the tropical climate zone. The annual average temperature is 25.3 degrees Celsius, the annual average rainfall of 1,378 millimeters.
The average temperatures throughout the year from 22 to 26.8 degrees. The hottest months are March and April, with an average of 26.7 to 26.8 degrees Celsius, the coldest July with 22.0 degrees Celsius on average.
Main rainy season is from October to May Most precipitation falls in November with an average of 236 millimeters, least from June to August with one to five millimeters on average.
History
Historical Overview
The town was founded on December 3, 1881 by Henry Morton Stanley as a trading post and named in honor of the then Belgian King Leopold II Leopoldville. 1885-1908 was the Congo Basin, together with its hinterland Leopold's private property and the scene of the infamous Congo atrocities. 1898, the railroad to the coastal town of Matadi was completed. After the transfer of the capital of the Belgian Congo from Boma to Leopoldville in 1923, the city experienced a rapid growth.
Leopoldville had the mid-1930s about 40,000 inhabitants, of whom about 2,500 Europeans. 1945, the population was estimated at 100,000. Until the early 1950s, the number rose to 250,000, of which 15,000 Europeans, also the town received a university. Administratively, the University Lovanium was affiliated with the Catholic University of Leuven.
Before independence Leopoldville consisted of a European city and one African city ( district Indigène ), where the inhabitants of one part after 21 clock in the evening were not allowed to enter without a special pass to others. In 1950, the city received the largest with 70,000 seats stadium of Congo.
A Canadian study identified Leopoldville and Brazzaville as the cradle of the AIDS epidemic; from there comes the oldest positive blood test (1959).
In 1960 Leopoldville with about 400,000 inhabitants, the largest city in Central Africa. With independence, it became the capital of the independent Democratic Republic of Congo. After the seizure of power in 1965 by Mobutu Sese Seko Léopoldville was renamed in 1966 after the name of a former village of Kinshasa, which was in the city.
In September 1996 began, intensified inter alia, by refugees from Rwanda and Burundi in the east of the country, a rebellion led by Laurent- Désiré Kabila, who was supported militarily by Rwanda and Uganda. Although he was not long taken seriously, Kabila succeeded on 16 May 1997, the fall of the old, seriously ill and available internationally isolated Mobutu, he moved with his troops in Kinshasa and agreed on 29 May 1997 as the new President.
On the morning of December 30, 2013 committed with knives armed supporters of the Christian leader Mutombo attacks on state television studios, the Ndjili airport and the Tshatshi military base. Here, a colonel in the army and 54 of the attackers were killed.
Population Development
The following table shows the official population figures for the respective territorial status, based on the administrative city area. As in many other cities are also formed in Kinshasa increasingly large suburbs and satellite towns out, in which there is the main population growth. The city has over 9.4 million inhabitants, the agglomeration of Kinshasa - Brazzaville 10.3 million (2010). Transport and trade language of the population is Lingala.
Culture and sights
Museums
In the National Museum of the City (Musee National de Kinshasa) are seen works of traditional Congolese art. The museums of the University ( Musée de l' Université de Kinshasa) harboring prehistoric and ethnographic exhibitions. The university buildings are situated in a rectangular area close to a slope on which a chapel. Between the hills is the lake Ma Vallée, which is surrounded by tropical rainforest.
Art
Center for the arts in Kinshasa, the Académie des Beaux- Arts de Kinshasa, the only art academy at the university level in Central Africa. On the grounds of the academy numerous sculptures on display. The well-known artists in the country as Lema Kusa, Alfred Liyolo, Rogers Botembe, Henri Kalama Akulez teach here. Deeper insight into their work to win at visiting their private studios. Other well-known artists in Kinshasa are Nshole, Mavinga, Freddy Tsimba, Claudy Khan.
Structures
The Cité de l' OUA houses the ministries of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The embassy district is located in the Gombe district. In the Zone de Matonge takes place the night life of the capital with many restaurants and bars.
Worth seeing include the building of the Societé de Zairois Commercialization ( SOZACOM ), the high-rise hotel Memling, the Central Market and the Académie des Beaux -Arts. Also worth mentioning are the fishing port Kinkole and pagodas in the gardens of the Presidential Palace in Nsele. Among the historic buildings are erected in 1891 the building of the American Baptist Missionary Society, and completed in 1914 Roman Catholic cathedral.
One of the most important street of the Boulevard du 30 Juin is named after the day the country gained independence on 30 June 1960., Which includes numerous political and economic institutions. The five kilometer road connects the district of Gombe in the south with Kintambo and the Baie de Ngaliema in the West. Built in 1967, dismantled on the orders of then President Mobutu Sese Seko six meter high equestrian statue of Leopold II is located in the museum at Mont Ngaliema under the Ministry of Defense.
Sports
In the capital, the National Stadium Stade des Martyrs is having a capacity of 80,000 spectators. For special games (eg Derby ) partially come up to 100,000 spectators in the stadium was renovated in 2008. It's venue for the twelve -time Congolese football champion DC Motema Pembe and AS Vita Club elfmaligen master. The Stade du 24 septembre with a capacity of 24,000 seats is home to the three-time winner of the Congolese football championship AS Dragons.
The Stade des Martyrs was built in 1994 with Chinese assistance and replaced the old one kilometer away Stade Tata Raphaël, in the 1974, known as the Rumble in the Jungle fight had become Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held, as the National Stadium, the DR Congo. The "Battle in the Jungle" was a historic boxing match, which took place on 30 October 1974. It was organized financed by boxing promoter Don King and mostly by dictator Joseph -Désiré Mobutu as a promotional measure for his country and all of Africa. Together with the framework program ( a large concert in which appeared, among others, Miriam Makeba, James Brown, BB King, The Spinners and The Crusaders). The entire event was for the self-esteem of the indigenous people of Africa of immense importance, as other major events such as the Olympics or the World Cup had not occurred on this continent until the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
One of the best known abroad Congolese athletes born in Kinshasa Claude Makélélé. He was French and Spanish football champions, and won in 2002 with Real Madrid the Champions League. 2005 and 2006 came with the Chelsea added the English Championship.
One of the best defenders of the U.S. Basketball League National Basketball Association was born in Kinshasa Dikembe Mutombo part. He won four NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. Mutombo began his career in basketball club BC Onatra in Kinshasa.
Economy and infrastructure
Economy
The industrial sector of the capital has been developed primarily to the processing of mineral resources. Important are also the oil refineries, the production of cement and sulfuric acid. Important products are building materials, paper, tires, shoes, textiles, cigarettes, food and beer.
The entire area was damaged severely in 1990 by the economic decline and especially the high inflation. Are widespread mismanagement and corruption. There is a great shortage of foreign exchange, which prevents the import of raw materials and spare parts.
Traffic
The international airport of the city is the Ndjili airport. It is home to the three largest airlines in the country, the flyCongo, Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation and Wimbi Dira Airways. 2004 516.345 passengers were handled at the airport. The runway is in very fair condition. The complex includes aircraft wrecks. A portion of the airport is leased to the UN.
The ship traffic on the Congo ends because of the many rapids downstream that make a boat trip impossible in the capital. People and goods are transported from there to the port of Matadi on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Transportation capital is very underdeveloped. The public transport (PT ) is operated almost exclusively by collective taxis and 200 diesel-powered buses. These are usually grossly overcrowded and in extremely poor technical condition. The roads are mostly in poor condition, and in the city there is no efficient public transport system with high capacity, such as a subway, light rail or tram, which would relieve the road. On the web, the Matadi - Kinshasa Railway and two branch lines, the state transport company Onatra operates a rail -called suburban traffic from the East Railway Station to the airport, and Kimwenza Ngaliema. 2005, there were to two decrepit trains available, which went on the first two lines of four courses per day. There are reports that this service will be expanded with Belgian aid.
Education
The city is home to many universities, colleges and technical schools, research institutes and libraries. Among the most important universities include: Université de Kinshasa ( UNIKIN ), Université de Kinshasa américaine, Université cardinal Maloula, Université de Kinshasa chrétienne ( UCKIN ), Université de centrale Kinshasa, Kinshasa Binza Université, Université libre de Kinshasa ( ULK ), Université Pédagogique national (UPN), Université protest ante du Congo (UPC ), Université Simon Kimbangu and Université William Booth (UWB ).
Other important educational institutions are: Académie des Beaux -Arts, Centre pour l' éducation interdisciplinaires permanent ( CIDEP ), Institute of bâtiments et des travaux publics ( ibtp ), Institut des sciences de l'information facultaire et de la communication ( IFASIC ), Institute national des Arts ( INA), Institut Supérieur de Commerce ( ISC), Institut Supérieur des techniques appliquées (ISTA ), Institut Supérieur de Statistique de Kinshasa ( ISS / KIN), Institut supérieur des arts et métiers ( ISAM ), the Institut supérieur pédagogique ( ISP) and Facultés catholiques de Kinshasa ( FACAKIN ).
Twin Cities
- Dakar, Senegal
Sons and daughters of the town
- Joseph -Albert Maloula (1917-1989), Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal and
- Hugo Sigal ( born 1947 ), Belgian singer
- Koffi Olomide ( born 1956 ), Congolese singer
- Sabine de Bethune (born 1958 ), Belgian politician (CD & V)
- Elombo Bolayela (* 1965), German politician ( SPD)
- Dikembe Mutombo (born 1966 ), Congolese basketball player (NBA)
- Musemestre Bamba (born 1971 ), the Congolese football player
- Claude Makelele (born 1973 ), French national football team
- Blaise Nkufo ( b. 1975 ), Swiss football player
- Hervé Nzelo - Lembi (* 1975), Congolese- Belgian footballer
- Alain Masudi (born 1978 ), the Congolese football player
- Emil Noll (born 1978 ), German - Congolese football player
- Peguy Luyindula ( b. 1979 ), French national football team
- Didier Ilunga - Mbenga ( born 1980 ), Belgian basketball player
- Gaby Mudingayi ( b. 1981 ), Belgian footballer
- Ariza Makukula (* 1981), Congolese- Portuguese football player
- Jessy Matador (* 1982 ), Congolese singer and dancer
- Addy - Waku Menga ( b. 1983 ), the Congolese football player
- Patrick Tshinozola Batshi (* 1984), the Congolese football player
- Domi Kumbela (* 1984), German - Congolese football player
- Cédric Makiadi (* 1984), German football player
- Safi Nyembo (* 1984), German - Congolese football player
- Mbala Mbuta Biscotte (* 1985), the Congolese football player
- Steve Mandanda ( born 1985 ), French national football team
- Maitre Gim's (* 1986), French rapper
- Mohombi ( born 1986 ), Swedish - Congolese pop singer
- Geoffrey Mujangi Bia (* 1989), Belgian footballer
- Danny Mwanga (* 1991), the Congolese football player
- Wilson Kamavuaka (* 1990), German - kongolesicher football player