Uíge (), formerly Carmona, is a provincial capital city in northwestern

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, with a population of 322,531 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 519,196 (2014 census), located in the province of the same name. It grew from a small market centre in 1945 to become a city in 1956. It is serviced by the Uíge Airport with daily flights to

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

Name

Uíge was renamed Vila Marechal Carmona in 1955 after the former Portuguese President Óscar Carmona, renamed simply Carmona after it became a city, but changed back to Uíge in 1975.

History

During Portuguese occupation it was a major center for coffee production in the 1950s. The city was the nerve center of rebel activity against Portuguese occupation. Consequently, the city faced frequent guerrilla war between Portuguese forces and the

National Front for the Liberation of Angola The National Front for the Liberation of Angola (; Abbreviation, abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the Angolan War of Independence, war of independence, ...

(Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; FNLA). It had the worst known ever outbreak of the

Marburg virus Marburg virus (MARV) is a hemorrhagic fever virus of the '' Filoviridae'' family of viruses and a member of the species '' Marburg marburgvirus'', genus '' Marburgvirus''. It causes Marburg virus disease in primates, a form of viral hemorrhag ...

in 2005. On February 10, 2017, there was a

stampede A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large animals suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Although the term is most often applied to animals, there are cases of humans stamped ...

at the 4 January Stadium in Uige, Angola. The incident caused the deaths of 17 people and injured 58 others.

Demographics

In 2010 it had a population of 119,815. In 2014 the population was 322,531. Projected to be the fourth fastest growing city on the African continent between 2020 and 2025, with a 5.92% growth.

References

Provincial capitals in Angola Populated places in Uíge Province Municipalities of Angola {{Angola-geo-stub