Brazzaville

Brazzaville, city (1984 pop. 585,812), capital of the Republic of the Congo, on Pool Malebo of the Congo River. It is the nation's largest city and its administrative, communications, and economic center. The chief industries are beverage processing, tanning, and the manufacture of construction materials, matches, and textiles. There are also machine shops. An important port on the Congo River, Brazzaville receives wood, rubber, agricultural products, and other items and sends them by railroad to Pointe-Noire, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. Motorboats connect Brazzaville with Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, across Pool Malebo. The city was founded in 1880 by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the Italian-French explorer; his remains were reburied there in 2006. It was the capital of French Equatorial Africa from 1910 to 1958 and was the center of Free French forces in Africa during World War II. The city's main growth began after 1945. It has a national university and a school of African art. It is also the regional headquarters of the World Health Organization. At a conference in Brazzaville in 1944, African leaders from French West and Equatorial Africa for the first time publicly called for reforms in French colonial rule, thus starting the colonies on the road to independence. In late 1960 leaders of newly independent French-speaking African nations met in the city; the "Brazzaville group" of states, which adopted a moderate political stance on most African and international issues of the time, took its name from this meeting.

River port (pop., 2007 est.: 1,355,000), capital of Republic of the Congo. Lying on the north bank of the Congo River across from Kinshasa, it was founded in 1883 by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. Developed as a European administrative and residential centre, it was used as a base for later claims of France to lands to the northeast; it became the capital of French Equatorial Africa. The river port forms the terminus of the Congo-ocean transport system, with steamer service to the Congo's upper reaches and a railroad to Pointe-Noire 245 mi (394 km) west.

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Brazzaville is the capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo and is located on the Congo River. As of the 2001 census, it has a population of 1,018,541 in the city proper, and about 1.5 million in total when including the suburbs located in the Pool Region. The populous city of Kinshasa (more than 7 million inhabitants in 2004), capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lies just across the Congo River from Brazzaville. Together with Kinshasa, the combined conurbation of Kinshasa-Brazzaville has thus nearly 9 million inhabitants.

Brazzaville was founded in 1880 on the site of a village named Nkuna by an Italian born French explorer, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, after whom the city was named. Over a third of the population of the Republic of Congo lives in the capital, and it is home to 40% of non-agricultural employment. It is also a financial and administrative capital.

Geography

Brazzaville is located at In order to distinguish between the two African countries with "Congo" in their names, the Republic of the Congo is sometimes called Congo-Brazzaville, as opposed to Congo-Kinshasa (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known from 1971 to 1997 as Zaire, the capital of which is Kinshasa). Kinshasa lies on the southern bank of the Congo, across from Brazzaville. This is the only place in the world where two national capital cities are situated on opposite banks of a river, within sight of each other.

While Kinshasa lies to the south, Brazzaville lies to the north of the Congo River. The city is inland from the Atlantic Ocean and south of the equator. The city is a commune that is separated from the other regions of the republic; it is surrounded by the Pool Region. Around the city is a large savanna. The town is relatively flat, and situated at an altitude of .

History

The city was founded on 10 September, 1880 on the site of a village named Nkuna by a Franco-Italian explorer, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, after whom the city was named. The local leader, Makoko of the Téké signed a treaty of protection with de Brazza which subjugated his lands to the French Empire. The city was built four years later in order to become a competitor with Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) which was built by the Belgians on the other side of the river. The site was occupied from October 1880 until May 1882 by a small squad of troops led by Senegalese Sergeant Malamine Camara, who prevented the land from falling into Belgian hands.

French control over the area was made official by the Berlin Conference of 1884. The city became the capital first of the French Congo, and then of French Equatorial Africa, a federation of states which encompassed Gabon, the Central African Republic and Chad. In 1924, the Congo-Océan railway was brought into service which linked Brazzaville with the port of Pointe-Noire.

In 1944, Brazzaville hosted a meeting of the Free French forces and representatives of France's African colonies. The resulting Brazzaville Declaration was intended to redefine the relationship between France and its African colonies after World War II.

Until the 1960s, the city was divided into European (the center of the city) and African sections (Poto-Poto, Bacongo, and Makélékélé). In 1980 it became a "commune" separated from the Pool Region and divided into seven "arrondissements": Makélékélé (1), Bacongo (2), Poto-Poto (3), Moungali (4), Ouenzé (5), Talangaï (6) and Mfilou (7).

The city has frequently been a staging ground for regional conflicts, including conflicts between rebel and government forces and between forces of the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola. It was also the scene of bloody civil wars throughout the 1990s which resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and which forced hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee the city.

Industry

Industries present in Brazzaville include: machine shops, textiles, tanning, and manufacturing. As a key port on the Congo River, the city takes deliveries of raw materials, such as: rubber, wood and agricultural products. From here they are generally sent onward to Pointe-Noire for export.

Buildings and institutions

Notable buildings in the city include St Anne's Basilica, built in 1949 by Roger Erell, and known for its green tiled roof; Erell also designed a house in the city for Charles de Gaulle. Other buildings include the Nabemba Tower and the Congressional Palace. Other features include the Marien Ngouabi Mausoleum, Brazzaville Zoo and the Poto-Poto School of Painting.

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa is based in Brazzaville on a vast campus at the Cité du Djoué.

Transport

The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo. The port for ferries to Kinshasa is known locally as "The Beach". The Congo River Rapids lie on the outskirts of the city, where the Djoué River meets the Congo, rendering river transport to the coast impossible, qualifying the railway as a portage railway.
Taxis are available on every street, and the fare for a short trip is CF700, although foreigners will usually be expected to pay CF1,000. Walking is quite safe, even while carrying expensive equipment and money, and since Brazzaville is a relatively small "ville" it is easy enough to get around on foot.

Sister Cities

• Dresden, Germany
• Washington, D.C., United States
• Olathe, Kansas, USA

References

• Chavannes, Charles de. (1929) “Le Sergent Sénégalais Malamine.” Annales de l’Académie des Sciences Coloniales, vol. 3:159-187.
• Petringa, Maria. (2006) Brazza, A Life for Africa (2006) ISBN 9781-4259-11980
• Tiepolo, M. (1996) "City Profile: Brazzaville" in Cities v. 13, pp. 117-124
• Brisset-Guibert, Hervé (2007) Brazzavile petit guide historique, in the site www.presidence.cg ("palais presidentiel")

External links