Brazzaville

Brazzaville (bʁazavil) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. It is also a department and a commune. It is the country's financial and administrative centre. The city sits on the north side of the Congo River, across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).

The capital has an estimated population of more than 2.1 million people. That is more than a third of everyone living in the country. About 40% of the people there work in jobs that are not farming. During World War II, Brazzaville was the de facto capital of Free France from 1940 to 1942.

In 2013, Brazzaville was named a City of Music by UNESCO. Since then, it has also been a member of the Creative Cities Network.

For other uses, see Brazzaville (disambiguation).

Toponymy

The prefix "Brazza" comes from the surname of the Italian-French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who worked on exploration trips for France and is credited with founding the town.

The name Brazzaville accidentally means 'city of the armed wing'. The surname Brazza refers to the village of Brazzacco, in the commune of Moruzzo, Italy, whose name comes from the Latin word bracchium, meaning 'armed wing'. In the Kongo language, the city has the names or variants Ntamo, Ntambo, Kintamo, Kintambo, Tandala, and Mavula. In the Teke languages, it has the names M'fa, Mfaa, Mfa, and Mfoa.

Geography

Brazzaville covers a large area north of the Congo River, just below the Pool Malebo. Mbamu, a large island in the Pool, is part of the Republic of Congo's territory. The city is 506 km (314 mi) inland from the Atlantic Ocean and about 474 km (295 mi) south of the equator. Large plains surround it. The town is fairly flat, at an altitude of 317 m (1,040 ft). Downriver, the Congo has many rapids called Livingston Falls, which keep boats from sailing upriver from the Atlantic Ocean to this point.

Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lies on the southern bank of the Congo, directly across from Brazzaville. To tell apart the two countries with "Congo" in their names, the Republic of the Congo is sometimes called Congo-Brazzaville. Kinshasa has more than five times the population of Brazzaville. This is the only place in the world where two national capital cities developed on opposite banks of a river, within sight of each other. In March 2018, the "Brazzaville Declaration" was signed to promote better care of the Cuvette Centrale, a region in the Congo Basin mostly in the DRC. This is the world's largest tropical peatland, made of swamp forests, and it is important for large animals and the world's climate. Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia, which also has peatlands, signed the declaration.

History

See also: Timeline of Brazzaville

Before colonial times, the place where Brazzaville stands today had two trading centres, Mfwa and Mpila, which were part of the Tio Kingdom (the Eastern Teke). The French colonial empire founded the city on the site of an existing Bateke settlement called Ncuna, during the Scramble for Africa, when European nations set up spheres of influence on the continent. The Italian-born explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who had been granted French citizenship in 1874, officially founded the settlement on 10 September 1880, and the city is named after him. Tio king Iloo I signed a treaty of protection with Brazza, placing his lands under the French Empire. From October 1880 until May 1882, a small group of troops led by Senegalese Sergeant Malamine Camara kept the site to stop it falling into Belgian hands. The French competed with Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), which Belgian colonists were developing across the river. The Berlin Conference of 1884 made French control of the area official. The city became capital of the French Congo in 1904, and remained capital when French Equatorial Africa was formed in 1910 as a federation that included Gabon, the Central African Republic, and Chad until 1960. In 1934, the Congo–Ocean Railway opened, linking Brazzaville with the Atlantic port of Pointe-Noire and bypassing the rapids on the Congo River. The people also revolted against the French in 1928.

During World War II, Brazzaville and the rest of French Equatorial Africa stayed outside the control of Vichy France, which served the Nazi occupation. The city was the capital of Free France from 1940 to 1943. In 1944, it hosted a meeting of French resistance forces and representatives of France's African colonies, which produced the Brazzaville Declaration, an attempt to redefine the relationship between France and its African colonies. Until the 1960s, the city was divided into a European centre and African areas (Poto-Poto, Bacongo, and Makélékélé). In 1980, it became a "commune" separate from the surrounding Pool Department, divided into nine "arrondissements" along the French model of administration. Since the late 20th century, the city has often been a staging ground for wars, including conflicts between rebel and government forces and between forces of the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Angola. During the 1990s, civil wars caused thousands of civilian deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee the city. More recently, thousands of people leaving the DRC have made their way to Brazzaville, and the local United Nations force and the DRC government have accused the city of deporting thousands of these refugees. In April 2016, fighting between police and local militia units killed at least 18 people.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, the city had a population of 2.15 million. The National Institute of Statistics gave a figure of 1.73 million for 2014, when Kinshasa in the DR Congo had more than 10 million people. Together with Kinshasa, the conurbation of Kinshasa-Brazzaville has about 12 million people. Major political and infrastructure challenges stop the two cities from working together in any meaningful way.

Since the mid-19th century, the two cities have been rivals in trade, sports and power. There have been proposals to connect the two capitals with a Brazzaville–Kinshasa Bridge. In 2018, with relative peace restored in the region, the African Development Bank and Africa50 signed a deal with both governments to develop the project.

Government

See also: List of mayors of Brazzaville

Brazzaville, like Pointe-Noire, is a commune (a town-level local area) inside a department with the same name. It has a municipal council and a departmental council. The mayor leads the municipal council.

The commune is split into nine arrondissements (districts), each with a number: 1. Makélékélé, 2. Bacongo, 3. Poto-Poto, 4. Moungali, 5. Ouenzé, 6. Talangaï, 7. Mfilou, 8. Madibou, and 9. Djiri. The department of Brazzaville includes the commune's area and, since 2011, the new district of Ile Mbamou. In October 2024, it also took in the commune of Kintélé, which had been part of the department of Pool.

Economy

Brazzaville's location near the pool of the Congo River helped it grow into an industrial, trading, and port settlement. Ships and boats traveling upriver linked it through trade to inland areas, which produced raw materials from the beginning of the colonial period. The construction of the railway to Pointe-Noire made it easier for city businesspeople to get their products to the port for export. Industries in Brazzaville include machine shops, textiles, tanning, and manufacturing. As a key port on the Congo River, Brazzaville still receives deliveries of raw materials, such as rubber, wood, and agricultural products. From there, these goods are generally sent on to Pointe-Noire for export.

Many companies, government organizations, and NGOs have regional offices in the capital, where they can work with government officials. The World Health Organization has its regional office for Africa in Brazzaville. Companies headquartered in Brazzaville include the country's flag carrier Equatorial Congo Airlines and the mobile operator Warid Congo.

Culture

Roger Erell, a highly regarded architect, designed a house in the city for Charles de Gaulle when he was the leader of Free France here. Other buildings include the Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Mausoleum, the Nabemba Tower, and the Congressional Palace.

The Marien Ngouabi Mausoleum, Brazzaville Zoo, and the Poto-Poto School of Painting are also places that visitors and city residents go to.

Places of worship

Many Congolese became Catholic during the French colonial period. Christian churches are most common in the city, where the Roman Catholic Church has an archdiocese.

Since then, new churches have been started by new immigrants and by local people who adopted evangelical Protestantism. Examples include the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-du-Congo in Brazzaville, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Brazzaville and Gabon (Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa), the Evangelical Church of Congo (World Communion of Reformed Churches), and Assemblies of God.

Education

The Marien Ngouabi University is a public university in Brazzaville. It is named after a former leader. The university was founded in December 1971, after independence, and today it has about 26,000 students.

The city also has international schools, including the Lycée Français Saint-Exupéry de Brazzaville (French) and the American International School of Brazzaville.

Climate

Brazzaville has a tropical wet and dry climate. Its wet season runs from October to May and is longer than its dry season, which covers the other months. The driest months, July and August, usually have almost no rain. Because Brazzaville is south of the equator, its dry season starts around June, which is the city's winter. Temperatures stay fairly steady throughout the year.

Transport

Brazzaville is home to Maya-Maya Airport, which is in the centre of the city. It has regular flights to Pointe-Noire and to destinations in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. A flight goes between Brazzaville and Kinshasa twice a week, and the trip takes only five minutes. The Congo-Ocean Railway has a station in the city, and in 2014 it was running the La Gazelle train every other day to Pointe-Noire and nearby stops. The city is also an important river port. Ferries sail to Kinshasa and to Bangui through Impfondo. Ferries and fast private boats are the main way to travel between Kinshasa and Brazzaville.

The Livingstone Falls are on the edge of the city, where the Djoué River meets the Congo. Because of the falls, boats cannot travel from the river to the coast, so the railway is called a portage railway. There is no organised public transport system, but privately owned buses are available in the capital. Taxis are found on every street and are easy to spot, with green bodies and white tops. A short trip costs CF700, and about twenty percent of the vehicles in Brazzaville are taxis. Shared taxis follow certain routes and charge CF150. A road-rail bridge is proposed to connect Brazzaville with Kinshasa.

Notable people

See Category:People from Brazzaville

Many people connected to Brazzaville have become well known. In politics and religion, they include Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the city's founder, and Prosper Philippe Augouard, a French Catholic priest, missionary and explorer who settled Brazzaville in 1887. Others are Ambroise Noumazalaye, who was Prime Minister of Congo-Brazzaville from 1966 to 1968, Antoinette Sassou Nguesso, who has been First Lady of the Republic of the Congo since 1997, and Charles Richard Mondjo, who was Chief of Staff of the Congo Armed Forces from 2002 to 2012. Also listed are Dominique Ntsiété, a senator, Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been the 3rd President of Gabon since 2009, Alain Akouala Atipault, a politician and government minister, Frédéric Bintsamou, also known as Pasteur Ntumi, a Protestant clergyman and leader of the "semi-religious" group The Ninjas, and Alice Badiangana, a trade unionist and politician. In the arts, people include Aurlus Mabélé, a Congolese singer and composer, Bill Kouélany, a Congolese artist, writer and set designer, Sardoine Mia, an artist, Jean Serge Essous, a Congolese saxophonist and clarinetist, and Patience Dabany, a singer and musician who was First Lady of Gabon from 1967 to 1987. Others are Gaitana, a Ukrainian singer who lived in Brazzaville for five years, Cyril Kongo, a French painter and graffiti artist who lived in Brazzaville in the 1980s, and Franklin Boukaka, a Congolese singer, guitarist and songwriter recognized as a pioneer of Congolese popular music.

In media and science, the list includes Emmanuel Dongala, a Congolese chemist and novelist, Alain Mabanckou, a novelist, journalist, poet and academic, Dominique Tchimbakala, a journalist and TV presenter who was a news anchor for TV5Monde, Scholastique Dianzinga, a professor and specialist in women's history, and Didier Roustan, a French sports journalist. In sport, people include André Merlin, a French tennis player, François M'Pelé, a former footballer, Rolf-Christel Guié-Mien and Oscar Ewolo, both former footballers, and Lorène Bazolo, a track and field athlete who was Congolese flag bearer at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Other sportspeople are Ladislas Douniama, a former footballer, Pamela Mouele-Mboussi, a long and triple jumper who was national flag carrier at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Serge Ibaka, a professional basketball player, Férébory Doré, a footballer, Brice Samba, a Congolese international soccer player, Darcel Yandzi, a French international judoka, and Guy Mbenza, a professional footballer for Liaoning Tieren.

Twin towns and sister cities

Brazzaville has sister cities in three places. They are Dresden in Germany, Weihai in China, and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.