Kinshasa-Brazzaville
Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has ten million residents and is located along the Zaïre (Congo) River in the nation's southwest. When you add in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, on the other side of the river, the metropolis approaches 11 million.1 The city is dominated by the Boulevard du 30 Juin,2 with roadside landmarks like the 22-storey Gecamines Commercial Building3 building (1977). The Immeuble CCIC is Kinshasa's tallest at 259 feet (22 stories), but is shorter than the Tour (Tower) Nabemba in Brazzaville (348 feet, 30 stories, 1986).4 Kinshasa's attractions (in city and nearby) include Lola ya Bonobo (a bonobo sanctuary); Lac de ma Vallée (Lake of my Valley), a recreational lake; the Cercle de (Circle of) Kinshasa (an outdoor sports and dining area); the Kwilu Bar; Congoloisirs (an amusement park); the Musée National de (National Museum of) Kinshasa; the Symphonie des Arts (Symphony of the Arts); Eglise (Church) CBFC-Gombe; and the Symphonies Naturelles (Natural Symphonies), a forested natural area.5 The larger city is served by one of Africa's busiest airports: N'djili.6
Brazzaville is only a century old, and only grew beyond a minor colonial center when it became the headquarters of the Free French in Africa during World War II.
External references
Overview of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Footnotes
1. 10.928 million (2012 calculation) per world-gazetteer.com, accessed 2/6/2013. The Kinshasa city-region has 10.125 million in 2014 according to the side banner of en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinshasa, accessed 9/15/2015. Brazzaville has a population of 1.827 million in 2014 according to the side banner of en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazzaville, accessed 9/15/2015. The difference between the sum of the 2014 figures and the 2013 combined figure is mostly a difference in estimation methods and conclusions.
2. June 30 in English.
3. Formerly the SOZACOM Building, after the mineral company.
4. Information about the buildings is from emporis.com, accessed 9/15/2015.
5. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g294187-Activities-Kinshasa.html, accessed 7/18/2015.
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Africa, 2009 table (>100k passengers), accessed 7/18/2015.
