Kinshasa

Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly named Léopoldville until 30 June 1966, is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of the world's fastest-growing megacities. Kinshasa's 2024 population was estimated at 17,032,322. It is the most densely populated city in the DRC, the most populous city in Africa, the world's fourth-most-populous capital city, Africa's third-largest metropolitan area, and the leading economic, political, and cultural center of the DRC. Kinshasa houses several industries, including manufacturing, telecommunications, banking, and entertainment. The city also hosts some of DRC's significant institutional buildings, such as the Palais du Peuple, Palais de la Nation, Court of Cassation, Constitutional Court, Cité de l'Union Africaine, Palais de Marbre, Stade des Martyrs, Immeuble du Gouvernement, Kinshasa Financial Center, and multiple federal departments and agencies.

Covering 9,965 square kilometers, Kinshasa stretches along the southern shores of the Pool Malebo, on the Congo River. It forms an expansive crescent across flat, low-lying terrain at an average altitude of about 300 meters. Situated between latitudes 4° and 5° and longitudes East 15° and 16°32, Kinshasa shares its borders with the Mai-Ndombe Province, Kwilu Province, and Kwango Province to the east; the Congo River delineates its western and northern perimeters, constituting a natural border with the Republic of the Congo; to the south lies the Kongo Central Province. Across the river sits Brazzaville, the smaller capital of the neighboring Republic of the Congo, forming the world's second-closest pair of capital cities despite being separated by a four-kilometer-wide unbridged span of the Congo River.

Kinshasa also functions as one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is administratively divided into 24 communes, which are further subdivided into 365 neighborhoods. With an expansive administrative region, over 90 percent of the province's land remains rural, while urban growth predominantly occurs on its western side. Kinshasa is the largest nominally Francophone urban area globally, with French being the language of government, education, media, public services and high-end commerce, while Lingala is used as a lingua franca in the street. The city's inhabitants are popularly known as ''Kinois'', with the term "Kinshasans" used in English terminology.

The Kinshasa site has been inhabited by Bantus ( Teke, ) for centuries and was known as ''Nshasa'' before transforming into a commercial hub during the 19th and 20th centuries. The city was named Léopoldville by Henry Morton Stanley in honor of Leopold II of Belgium. The name was changed to Kinshasa in 1966 during Mobutu Sese Seko's '' Zairianisation'' campaign as a tribute to ''Nshasa'' village.

The National Museum of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is DRC's most prominent and central museum, housing a collection of art, artifacts, historical objects, and modern work of arts. The College of Advanced Studies in Strategy and Defense is the highest military institution in DRC and Central Africa. The National Pedagogical University is DRC's first pedagogical university and one of Africa's top pedagogical universities. N'Djili International Airport is the largest airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and ranks 37th in Africa in terms of passengers carried, with 12 international flights per day. In December 2015, Kinshasa was designated as a City of Music by UNESCO and has been a member of the Creative Cities Network since then. Nsele Valley Park is the largest urban park in Kinshasa, housing a range of fauna and flora. According to the 2016 annual ranking, Kinshasa is Africa's most expensive city for expatriate employees, ahead of close to 200 global locations.

Toponymy

The origin of the name ''Kinshasa'' is rooted in multiple theories proposed by scholars. Paul Raymaekers, an anthropologist and ethnologist, suggests that the name derives from the combination of the Kikongo and Kihumbu languages. The prefix "''Ki(n)''" signifies a hill or inhabited area, while "''Nsasa''" or "''Nshasa''" refers to a bag of salt. According to Raymackers, ''Kinshasa'' was a significant trading site where people from the Lower Congo (now Kongo Central Province) and South Atlantic Ocean exchanged salt for goods like iron, slaves and ivory brought by those from the Upper Congo (now Tshopo Province). However, Hendrik van Moorsel, an anthropologist, historian and researcher, proposes that Bateke fishermen traded fish for cassava with locals along the riverbank, and the place of this exchange was called "''Ulio''". In Teke, "exchange" is "''Utsaya''", and "place of exchange" is "''Intsaya''". Thus, the name evolved from ''Ulio'' to ''Intsaya'', and later, under the influence of Kikongo, transformed into ''Kintsaya'', eventually becoming ''Kinshasa''. ''Kinshasa'', also known as ''N'shasa'', is regarded as the primary "place of exchange" on the southern bank of the Pool Malebo, where bartering occurred even before the commercial boom of Kintambo.

The name ''Nshasa'' is believed to originate from the Teke verb "''tsaya''" (''tsaa''), meaning "to exchange", and the noun "''intsaya''" (''insaa''), referring to any market or place of exchange. It was at this location that Teke brokers traded ivory and slaves from the Banunu slave traders, often mistaken for the Yanzi, for European trade items brought by the Zombo and Kongo people. Despite the various theories, the historical name of ''Kinshasa'' is known to have been ''Nshasa'', as documented by Henry Morton Stanley during his crossing of Africa from Zanzibar to Boma in 1874–1877 when he mentioned visiting "the king of Nshasa" on 14 March 1877.

History

Prior to the establishment of Kinshasa, the area was for a time part of the Anziku Kingdom. By about 1698, it had become an essentially independent domain known as Nkonkobela.

The city was established as a trading post by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881. It was named Léopoldville in honor of Stanley's employer King Leopold II of the Belgians. He would then proceed to take control of most of the Congo Basin as the Congo Free State, not as a colony but as his private property. The post flourished as the first navigable port on the Congo River above Livingstone Falls, a series of rapids over 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 from the coast. The completion of the Matadi-Kinshasa portage railway, in 1898, provided an alternative route around the rapids and sparked the rapid development of Léopoldville. In 1914, a pipeline was installed so that crude oil could be transported from Matadi to the upriver steamers in Leopoldville. By 1923, the city was elevated to capital of the Belgian Congo, replacing the town of Boma in the Congo estuary, pursuant to the Royal Decree of 1 July 1923, countersigned by the Minister of the Colonies, Louis Franc. Before this, Léopoldville was designated an "urban district", encompassing exclusively the communes of Kintambo and the current Gombe, which burgeoned around Ngaliema Bay. Then the communes of Kinshasa, Barumbu, and Lingwala emerged. In the 1930s, these communes predominantly housed employees of Chanic, Filtisaf, and Utex Africa.

In 1941, legislative ordinance n°293/AIMO of 25 June 1941, conferred Kinshasa the status of a city and established an Urban Committee (''Comité Urbain''), with an allocated area of 5,000 hectares and a population of 53,000. Concurrently, it became the colony's capital, the Congo-Kasaï Province's capital, and the Moyen Congo district. The city was demarcated into two zones: the urban zone, comprising Léo II, Léo-Ouest, Kalina, Léo-I, or Léo-Est, and Ndolo; and the indigenous zone to the south. The urban populace swelled in 1945 with the cessation of forced labor, facilitating the influx of native Africans from rural regions. Léopoldville then became predominantly inhabited by the Bakongo ethnic group.

In the 1950s, planned urban centers such as Lemba, Matete, and a segment of Ndjili were established to accommodate workers from the Limete industrial zone. Lovanium University, the colony's inaugural university, was founded in 1954. By 1957, Léopoldville comprised eleven communes and six adjunct regions: Kalamu, Dendale (present-day Kasa-Vubu commune), Saint Jean (now Lingwala), Ngiri-Ngiri, Kintambo, Limete, Bandalungwa, Léopoldville (current Gombe), Barumbu, Kinshasa, and Ngaliema; along with the adjunct regions of Lemba, Binza, Makala, Kimwenza, Kimbanseke, and Kingasani. Subsequently, the adjunct regions of Ndjili and Matete were incorporated.

After gaining its independence on 30 June 1960, following riots in 1959, the Republic of the Congo elected its first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba whose perceived pro-Soviet leanings were viewed as a threat by Western interests. This being the height of the Cold War, the U.S. and Belgium did not want to lose control of the strategic wealth of the Congo, in particular its uranium. Less than a year after Lumumba's election, the Belgians and the U.S. bought the support of his Congolese rivals and set in motion the events that culminated in Lumumba's assassination. In 1964, Moïse Tshombe decreed the expulsion of all nationals of Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Mali, as well as all political refugees from Rwanda. In 1965, with the help of the U.S. and Belgium, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu seized power in the Congo. He initiated a policy of "Authenticity", attempting to renativize the names of people and places in the country. On 2 May 1966, the government announced that the nation's major cities would be restored to their pre-colonial names, effective on 30 June, the sixth anniversary of independence. Léopoldville was renamed ''Kinshasa'', for a village named Kinshasa that once stood near the site. Kinshasa grew rapidly under Mobutu, drawing people from across the country who came in search of their fortunes or to escape ethnic strife elsewhere, thus adding to the many ethnicities and languages already found there.

In 1991 the city had to fend off rioting soldiers, who were protesting the government's failure to pay them. Subsequently a rebel uprising began, which in 1997 finally brought down the regime of Mobutu. Kinshasa suffered greatly from 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.

Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2001 to 2019, was not overly popular in Kinshasa. Violence broke out following the announcement of Kabila's victory in the contested election of 2006; the European Union deployed troops ( EUFOR RD Congo) to join the UN force in the city. The announcement in 2016 that a new election would be delayed two years led to large protests in September and December which involved barricades in the streets and left dozens of people dead. Schools and businesses were closed down.

Geography

Location

Kinshasa is strategically situated on the southern bank of the expansive Malebo Pool, spanning 9,965 square kilometers, configured in a grand crescent shape atop a low-lying, flat terrain with an average elevation hovering around 300 meters. Positioned between latitudes 4° and 5° and longitudinal coordinates 15° to 16°32 east, Kinshasa is flanked by the provinces of Mai-Ndombe, Kwilu, and Kwango to the east, while the Congo River delineates its western and northern boundaries, naturally demarcating the border with the Republic of the Congo. To the south, it is demarcated by the Kongo Central Province.

The Congo River is the second longest river in Africa after the Nile and has the continent's greatest discharge. As a waterway it provides a means of transport for much of the Congo Basin; it is navigable for river barges between Kinshasa and Kisangani; many of its tributaries are also navigable. The river is an important source of hydroelectric power, and downstream from Kinshasa it has the potential to generate power equivalent to the usage of roughly half of Africa's population.

Relief

Topographically, Kinshasa has a marshy, alluvial plain, with altitudes ranging from 275 to 300 meters, along with hilly terrain that elevates from 310 to 370 meters. The city has four principal features: the Malebo Pool, a vast expanse of water with islands and islets; the Kinshasa Plain, which is a highly urbanizable space, but susceptible to drainage issues; the Terrace, which is a series of low ridges overlooking the plain; and the Hills Area, which is characterized by deep valleys and cirque-shaped formations.

The Malebo Pool spans over 35 kilometers in length and 25 kilometers in width and is encircled by Ngaliema Municipality to the west and Maluku Municipality to the east, traversing through Gombe, Barumbu, Limete, Masina, and Nsele municipalities. The Kinshasa Plain has a banana-like shape and is surrounded by eastward-oriented hills. Its low sandy alluvial masses extend from Maluku Municipality in the east to the western foothills of Ngaliema, covering approximately 20,000 hectares.

The Terrace is mainly situated in the city's western expanse, between N'djili and Mount Ngafula. It comprises stony blocks of soft sandstone and silica-covered yellow clay, topped with brown silt, and ranges from 10 to 25 meters in height. It retains vestiges of an ancient surface. The Hills Area commences several kilometers from the Malebo Pool and is characterized by deep valleys and cirque-shaped formations. These hills reach heights surpassing 700 meters and exhibit gentle, rounded contours sculpted by local rivers. While their eastern counterparts may reflect remnants of the Batéké Plateau, their origins in the west and south remain enigmatic. Their natural erosion processes are exacerbated by human intervention, sometimes assuming catastrophic proportions.

Hydrography

Kinshasa's hydrographic network encompasses the Congo River and its principal left bank tributaries, traversing the city from south to north. These include the Lukunga, Ndjili, Nsele, Bombo, or Mai-Ndombe rivers and the Mbale. Unfortunately, these waterways are polluted due to the city's demographic pressures and inadequate sanitation.

Geology

Geologically, the soil in Kinshasa is of the Arenoferrasol category, characterized by fine sands with a clay content typically below 20%, low organic matter, and absorbent complex saturation. The basement is composed of Precambrian bedrock, featuring finely stratified red sandstone often infused with feldspar. This rock is visible at the rapids' base near Mount Ngaliema and south of the N'djili River, and effectively withstands erosive forces.

Vegetation

Kinshasa's vegetation comprises gallery forests, grassy formations, ruderal plant groups, and aquatic formations. These gallery forests, found along the main watercourses within humid valleys of the Congolese guinéo ombrophile type, have degraded into highly exploited pre-forest fallows, manifesting as reclusive foresters of varying ages. Ruderal plant groups line railway tracks within narrow strips, reflecting the region's vegetation cover's discontinuity and repetition. Kinshasa is home to diverse vegetation types, each intricately linked to specific ecological parameters.

Residential and commercial areas

Kinshasa is a city of sharp contrasts, with affluent residential and commercial areas and three universities alongside sprawling slums.Jean Flouriot,
Kinshasa 2005. Trente ans après la publication de l’Atlas de Kinshasa
", ''Les Cahiers d’Outre-Mer'' 261, January–March 2013; doi:10.4000/com.6770. The older and wealthier part of the city (''ville basse'') is located on a flat area of alluvial sand and clay near the river, while many newer areas are found on the eroding red soil of surrounding hills.Matthieu Kayembe Wa Kayembe, Mathieu De Maeyer et Eléonore Wolff,
Cartographie de la croissance urbaine de Kinshasa (R.D. Congo) entre 1995 et 2005 par télédétection satellitaire à haute résolution
", ''Belgeo'' 3–4, 2009; doi:10.4000/belgeo.7349.Joe Trapido,
Kinshasa's Theater of Power
", '' New Left Review'' 98, March/April 2016. Older parts of the city were laid out on a geometric pattern, with ''de facto'' racial segregation becoming ''de jure'' in 1929 as the European and African neighborhoods grew closer together. City plans of the 1920s–1950s featured a '' cordon sanitaire'' or buffer between the white and black neighborhoods, which included the central market as well as parks and gardens for Europeans.Luce Beeckmans & Liora Bigon, "The making of the central markets of Dakar and Kinshasa: from colonial origins to the post-colonial period”; ''Urban History'' 43(3), 2016; doi:10.1017/S0963926815000188.

Urban planning in post-independence Kinshasa has been limited. The ''Mission Française d'Urbanisme'' drew up some plans in the 1960s which envisioned a greater role for automobile transportation but did not predict the city's significant population growth. Thus much of the urban structure has developed without guidance from a master plan. According to UN-Habitat, the city is expanding by eight square kilometers per year. It describes many of the new neighborhoods as slums, built in unsafe conditions with inadequate infrastructure. Nevertheless, spontaneously developed areas have in many cases extended the grid street plan of the original city.

Administrative divisions

Kinshasa is both a city (''ville'' in French) and a province, one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nevertheless, it has city subdivisions and is divided into 24 communes (municipalities), which in turn are divided into 369 quarters and 21 embedded groupings. Maluku, the rural commune to the east of the urban area, accounts for 79% of the total land area of the city-province, with a population of 200,000–300,000. The communes are grouped into four districts which are not in themselves administrative divisions.

* Funa District
** Bandalungwa
** Bumbu
** Kalamu
** Kasa-Vubu
** Makala
** Ngiri-Ngiri
** Selembao
* Lukunga District
** Barumbu
** Gombe
** Kinshasa
** Kintambo
** Lingwala
** Mont Ngafula
** Ngaliema
* Mont Amba District
** Kisenso
** Lemba
** Limete
** Matete
** Ngaba
* Tshangu District
** Kimbanseke
** Maluku
** Masina
** Ndjili (N'Djili)
** Nsele (N'Sele)

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, Kinshasa has a tropical wet and dry climate (''Aw''). Its lengthy rainy season spans from October through May, with a relatively short dry season, between June and September. Kinshasa lies south of the equator, so its dry season begins around its winter solstice, which is in June. This is in contrast to African cities further north featuring this climate where the dry season typically begins around December. Kinshasa's dry season is slightly cooler than its wet season, though temperatures remain relatively constant throughout the year.

Parks and gardens

Kinshasa is home to a diverse range of parks and gardens:

* Nsele Valley Park, the largest urban park in the city situated along the Nsele River, offers a setting for outdoor activities. It features picnic areas, walking trails, and viewpoints overlooking the river.
* Parc Présidentiel, situated along the Congo River, is a park in Kinshasa. The park offers ponds, pools, and fountains, while the Théâtre de Verdure serve as venues for cultural performances. The park's mini zoo has a diverse array of animals.
* Jardin Zoologique, located in the heart of Gombe commune, is a zoo in Kinshasa. The zoo houses a wide variety of mammals, reptiles, and birds, offering an educational and entertaining experience.
* Jardin Botanique de Kinshasa, situated in Gombe, is a botanical garden that showcases the city's botanical treasures. The botanical garden houses an array of plants and colorful flowers.
* Lola ya Bonobo, located south of Kinshasa, is the world's only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos. Situated at the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya, it provides a safe and nurturing environment for endangered primates.

Demographics

An official census conducted in 1984 counted 2.6 million residents. Since then, all estimates are extrapolations. The estimates for 2005 fell in a range between 5.3 million and 7.3 million. In 2017, the most recent population estimate for the city, it has a population of 11,855,000.

According to UN-Habitat, 390,000 people immigrate to Kinshasa annually, fleeing warfare and seeking economic opportunity.Gianluca Iazzolino,
Kinshasa, megalopolis of 12 million souls, expanding furiously on super-charged growth
"; ''Mail & Guardian Africa'', 2 April 2016.

According to a projection (2016) the population of metropolitan Kinshasa will increase significantly, to 35 million by 2050, 58 million by 2075 and 83 million by 2100, making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world.

Language

The official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of which Kinshasa is the capital, is French (See: Kinshasa French vocabulary). Kinshasa is the largest officially Francophone city in the world, albeit that the vast majority of people either cannot speak French, or struggle in speaking it.
A third factor is simply a demographic one. At least one in ten Congolese live in Kinshasa. With its population exceeding eleven million, it is the second-largest city in sub-Saharan Africa (after Lagos). It is also the second-largest French-speaking city in the world, according to Paris (even though only a small percentage of Kinois speak French correctly), Although Lingala is widely used as a spoken language, French is the language of street signs, posters, newspapers, government documents, schools; it dominates plays, television, and the press, and it is used in vertical relationships among people of different social classes. People of the same class, however, speak the Congolese languages ( Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba or Swahili) among themselves.

While the culture is dominated by the Francophonie, a complex multilingualism is present in Kinshasa. Many in the francophonie of the 1980s labelled Zaïre as the second-largest francophone country, and Kinshasa as the second-largest francophone city. Yet Zaïre seemed unlikely to escape a complex multilingualism. Lingala was the language of music, of presidential addresses, of daily life in government and in Kinshasa. But if Lingala was the spoken language of Kinshasa, it made little progress as a written language. French was the written language of the city, as seen in street signs, posters, newspapers and in government documents. French dominated plays and television as well as the press; French was the language of the national anthem and even for the doctrine of authenticity. Zairian researchers found French to be used in vertical relationships among people of uneven rank; people of equal rank, no matter how high, tended to speak Zairian languages among themselves. Given these limits, French might have lost its place to another of the leading languages of Zaïre – Lingala, Tshiluba, or Swahili – except that teaching of these languages also suffered from limitations on its growth. Kinshasa hosted the 14th Francophonie Summit in October 2012.

Government and politics

The head of Kinshasa ''ville-province'' has the title of Gouverneur. has been governor since 21 June 2024. Each commune has its own Bourgmestre.

Although political power in the DRC is fragmented, Kinshasa as the national capital represents the official center of sovereignty, and thus of access to international organizations and financing, and of political powers such as the right to issue passports. Kinshasa is also the primate city of the DRC with a population several times larger than the next-largest city, Lubumbashi.

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known by its French acronym MONUSCO (formerly MONUC) has its headquarters in Kinshasa. In 2016, the UN placed more peacekeepers on active duty in Kinshasa in response to the unrest directed against Kabila, at that time. Critics, including recently the US ambassador to the UN, have accused the peacekeeping mission of supporting a corrupt government.

Other non-governmental organizations play significant roles in local governance. Since 2016, the Belgian development agency (''Coopération technique belge''; CTB) has sponsored the ''Programme d'Appui aux Initiatives de Développement Communautaire'' (Paideco), a 6-million-euro program aimed at economic development. It began work in Kimbanseke, a hill commune with population verging on one million.

Economy

Mining sector and export growth

In 2022, Kinshasa's GDP exceeded initial expectations by expanding 8.5%, as reported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The mining industry in the DRC has been instrumental in maintaining a positive economic outlook, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Raw material exports, particularly cobalt and copper, have experienced historically high prices, resulting in substantial investment in the industry. Parenthetically, production has increased, and Covid-related restrictions have eased, leading to sustained economic growth.

Fiscal performance and debt sustainability

Despite facing external challenges, including the repercussions of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the DRC has shown fiscal stability. In 2022, tax performance exceeded projections, showcasing improved revenue generation. However, increased expenditures related to security concerns and internal arrears resulted in a deterioration of the overall budget balance. Nevertheless, the DRC's debt risk remains moderate, with public debt at 24.7% of GDP. The approval of the third review of the IMF program reflects the satisfactory performance of the country's reform efforts.

Companies, foreign exchange reserves, international support

Big manufacturing companies such as Marsavco S.A., All Pack Industries and Angel Cosmetics are located in the center of town (Gombe) in Kinshasa.

There are many other industries, such as Trust Merchant Bank, located in the heart of the city. Food processing is a major industry, and construction and other service industries also play a significant role in the economy.

Although home to only 13% of the DRC's population, Kinshasa accounts for 85% of the Congolese economy as measured by gross domestic product.Innocent Chirisa, Abraham Rajab Matamanda, & Liaison Mukarwi, "Desired and Achieved Urbanisation in Africa: In Search of Appropriate Tooling for a Sustainable Transformation”; in Umar Benna & Indo Benna, eds., ''Urbanization and Its Impact on Socio-Economic Growth in Developing Regions''; IGI Global, 2017, ; pp
101
��102. A 2004 investigation found 70% of inhabitants employed informally, 17% in the public sector, 9% in the formal private sector, and 3% other, of a total 976,000 workers. Most new jobs are classified as informal.

By the end of 2022, Kinshasa's foreign exchange reserves had seen a significant improvement, soaring past $4.5 billion. The DRC benefits from support and partnerships with several global organizations and financial institutions, including the IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union, China and France.

The People's Republic of China has been heavily involved in the Congo since the 1970s, when they financed the construction of the Palais du Peuple and backed the government against rebels in the Shaba war. In 2007–2008 China and Congo signed an agreement for an $8.5 billion loan for infrastructure development. Chinese entrepreneurs are gaining an increasing share of local marketplaces in Kinshasa, displacing in the process formerly successful Congolese, West African, Indian, and Lebanese merchants.

Mean household spending in 2005 was the equivalent of US$2,150, amounting to $1 per day per person. The median household spending was $1,555, 66 cents per person per day. Among the poor, more than half of this spending goes to food, especially bread and cereal.

Education

Kinshasa is home to several higher-level education institutes, covering a wide range of disciplines, including civil engineering, nursing, and journalism. The city is also home to three large universities and an arts school:
* Académie de Design (AD)
* Institut Supérieur d'Architecture et Urbanisme
* Université Panafricaine du Congo (UPC)
* University of Kinshasa
* Université Libre de Kinshasa