Masina is a municipality (''
commune'') in the
Tshangu District of
Kinshasa
Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...
, the
capital city
A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...
of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
.
It is bordered by the
Pool Malebo in the north and ''Boulevard Lumbumba'' to the south.
Masina shelters within it the ''
Marché de la Liberté "M’Zee Laurent-Désiré Kabila''”, one of the largest markets of Kinshasa, which was built under the presidency of
Laurent-Désiré Kabila
Laurent-Désiré Kabila (; 27 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) usually known as Laurent Kabila or Kabila the Father (American English, US: ), was a Congolese rebel and politician who served as the third president of the Democratic Republic of t ...
to repay the inhabitants of the district of Tshangu who had resisted the rebels in August 1998.
The area is known by the nickname "''
Chine Populaire''" ("People's China").
Geography
Masina, together with the communes of
Ndjili and
Kimbanseke, belong to the district of
Tshangu 20 km east of central Kinshasa.
Relief Web copy of RDC public works map
/ref>
Most of the municipality is occupied by a wetland
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
bordering the Pool Malebo, which explains the low population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
relative of the municipality. The urban area, stretching along Boulevard Lumumba, however, reaches population densities comparable to those of other municipalities in the heart of Kinshasa (about 50,000 inhabitants per km).
See also
References
External links
City Map of Kinshasa
(2001)
Map of Léopoldville
(1954)
Communes of Kinshasa
Tshangu District
{{DRCongo-geo-stub