Lubumbashi


Lubumbashi, formerly Élisabethville, is the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, near the border with Zambia. The capital and principal city of the Haut-Katanga Province, Lubumbashi is the center of mining in the region, acting as a hub for many of the country's largest mining companies. No definite population figures are available, but the population of the city's urban area is estimated to be around 2,584,000 in 2021.

History

Élisabethville under Belgian rule

The Belgian government established the modern-day government in the city of Élisabethville in 1910, named in honour of Queen Elisabeth, consort to King Albert I of the Belgians. By that time, the government had taken over the colony from King Leopold II, and renamed it as the Belgian Congo. This site was chosen by Vice-Governor-General Emile Wangermée because of its proximity to the copper mine of Etoile du Congo and the copper ore smelting oven installed by Union Minière du Haut Katanga on the nearby Lubumbashi River.
The Comité Spécial du Katanga, a semi-private concessionary company set up in 1900, had its headquarters in Élisabethville throughout the colonial era. It enjoyed major privileges, mainly in terms of land and mining concessions, in the Katanga province.
The city prospered with the development of a regional copper mining industry. Huge investments in the 1920s, both in the mining industry and in transport infrastructure, developed the Katanga province into one of the world's major copper ore producers. The population of the city grew apace from approx. 30,000 in 1930, to 50,000 in 1943 and 180,000 in 1957. It was the second city of the Belgian Congo, after Léopoldville.
As was customary with European colonies, the city centre of Élisabethville was reserved for the minority white population. This consisted mainly of Belgian nationals, but the city also attracted important British and Italian communities, as well as Jewish Greeks. Congolese were allowed in the white city only during the day, except for the house servants who often lived in shanty dwellings located in the backyards of the European city houses.
Many men in the black population were labour immigrants from neighbouring regions in the Belgian Congo, from Belgian Rwanda and Burundi, and from British Northern Rhodesia. The black population lived initially in a so-called cité indigène called Quartier Albert, south of the city centre and separated from the white city by a 700-metres-wide neutral zone. With population growth, new indigenous quarters were created. These still form the main suburbs of present-day Lubumbashi: Kenia, Katuba, and Ruashi. The work and businesses related to the mines made Élisabethville the most prosperous region of the Congo during the last decade of Belgian rule. In 1954, there were 8,000 black homeowners in the city while thousands more were skilled workers. It was estimated that black Africans living in Élisabethville had a higher standard of living than anywhere else on the continent at that time.
Miners in Élisabethville conducted a strike in December 1941 to protest the increasingly severe forced-labour regime that the Belgians imposed on the population because of the "war efforts". A rally in the Union Minière football stadium got out of hand. Police opened fire and numerous protesters were killed. In early 1944, the city was again in the grip of severe tensions and fear of violent protests, following a mutiny of the Force Publique in Luluabourg.
Starting in 1933, the Belgian colonial authorities experimented with a limited form of self-governance by establishing the cité indigène of Élisabethville as a so-called centre extra-coutumier. It was administered by an indigenous council and presided over by an indigenous chief. But due to constant interference from the Belgian authorities, the experiment soon proved a failure. The first indigenous chief – Albert Kabongo – appointed in 1937, was dismissed in 1943 and not replaced.
In 1957, Élisabethville was established as a fully autonomous city; it held the first free municipal elections in which the Congolese could vote. The people of Élisabethville gave a vast majority to the nationalist Alliance des Bakongo, which demanded immediate independence from Belgium.
Élisabethville functioned as the administrative capital of the Katanga province. It was also an important commercial and industrial centre, and a centre of education and health services. The Benedictine Order and missionary Order of Salesians offered a wide range of educational facilities to Europeans and Congolese alike, including vocational training. The Belgians established the University of Élisabethville in 1954–1955.

Lubumbashi from 1960

Élisabethville served as the capital and centre of the secessionist independent state of Katanga during the 1960–1963 Congolese civil war. Moise Tshombe proclaimed Katangan independence in July 1960. Congolese leaders arrested him and charged him with treason in April 1961; however, he agreed to dismiss his foreign advisers and military forces in exchange for his release. Tshombe returned to Élisabethville but repudiated these assurances and began to fight anew. United Nations troops opposed Katangan forces and took control of the city in December 1961 under a strong mandate. Roger Trinquier, well known for his published works on counter-insurgency warfare, served as a French military advisor to President Tshombe until international pressure, led by Belgium, caused his recall to France.
Mobutu Sese Seko ultimately assumed power of the Congo, which he renamed Zaïre. He renamed Élisabethville as "Lubumbashi" in 1966 and in 1972 renamed Katanga as "Shaba."
In May 1990, the university campus of Lubumbashi was the scene of a brutal killing of students by Mobutu's security forces. In 1991–92 ethnic tensions between the Luba from Katanga and the Luba from Kasaï, resident in the city, led to violent confrontations and the forced removal from the city of the latter.
Congo entered another genocidal civil war in the late 1990s. The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo rebels captured Lubumbashi in April 1997. Rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila spoke from Lubumbashi to declare himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 17 May 1997 after Mobutu Sese Seko fled Kinshasa.
When Laurent-Désiré Kabila decided to appoint a transitional parliament, in 1999, he decided to install the Parliament in Lubumbashi, in order to consolidate the fragile unity of the country. The parliament was installed in the building of the National Assembly of secessionist Katanga, which had its capital in this city as well, in the 1960s. Lubumbashi was therefore the Legislative capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1999 to 2003, when all the country's central institutions were brought back to Kinshasa.
On 7 September 2010 a large prison break happened in Lubumbashi after gunmen attacked a prison on the outskirts of the city. 960 prisoners managed to escape, including the Mai-Mai leader Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga. On 23 March 2013 a militia group of 100 fighters attacked Lubumbashi and seized a United Nations compound, which was surrounded by Congolese soldiers and members of the president's Republican Guard.

Geography

Lubumbashi lies at around above sea level. The high altitude serves to cool the climate, which would otherwise be very hot. The Kafue River rises along the Zambian border near the city and meanders through north-central Zambia to the Zambezi River, cutting a long, deep panhandle into the country.

Climate

Lubumbashi has a dry-winter humid subtropical climate, with warm rainy summers and pleasant, dry winters, with most rainfall occurring during summer and early autumn. Annual average rainfall is 1,238 mm.
Maximum UV index for Lubumbashi-------------
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Average Ultraviolet index11+11+11+11+10991111+11+11+11+10.8
Source: weather2travel.com-------------

Demography

Languages

is the official language, but the main spoken lingua franca in Lubumbashi is Kiswahili. The dialect of Kiswahili spoken all down the east side of Congo and almost all the way across to the Katangan border with Angola is called Kingwana. As many people have moved into Lubumbashi for employment from rural areas, they have brought many other local languages including Kiluba, Chokwe, Bemba and Kisanga. Kiswahili has been the chief language shared by most people.

Religious expression

Religious places of worship in Lubumbashi are predominantly Christian: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lubumbashi, Kimbanguist Church, Baptist Community of Congo, Baptist Community of the Congo River, Assemblies of God, Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo, Presbyterian Community in Congo. On April 5, 2020, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans to construct a temple in Lubumbashi, its second temple in the country. There are also Muslim mosques.

Economy

Lubumbashi serves as an important commercial and national industrial centre. Manufactures include textiles, food products and beverages, printing, bricks, and copper smelting. The city is home to the Simba brewery, producing the famous Tembo beer.
The city hosts the headquarters of one of the country's largest banks, Trust Merchant Bank. The area also has a daily newspaper.