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Concept
Kinshasa
Summary
Kinshasa (kɪnˈʃɑːsə; kinʃasa; Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville, is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of the world's fastest growing megacities.
The city of Kinshasa is also one of the DRC's 26 provinces. Because the administrative boundaries of the city-province cover a vast area, over 90 per cent of the city-province's land is rural in nature, and the urban area occupies a small but expanding section on the western side.
Kinshasa is Africa's third-largest metropolitan area after Cairo and Lagos. It is also the world's largest nominally Francophone urban area, with French being the language of government, education, media, public services and high-end commerce in the city, while Lingala is used as a lingua franca in the street. Kinshasa hosted the 14th Francophonie Summit in October 2012.
Residents of Kinshasa are known as Kinois (in French and sometimes in English) or Kinshasans (English). The indigenous people of the area include the fr and Teke.
The city faces Brazzaville, the capital of the neighbouring Republic of the Congo. Although the river span is between 2 and 3 km wide at this point, the two cities are the world's second-closest pair of capital cities (after Vatican City and Rome).
The origin of the name Kinshasa is rooted in multiple theories proposed by scholars. Paul Raymaekers, an anthropologist and ethnologist, suggests that the name derives from the combination of the Kikongo and Kihumbu languages. The prefix "Ki(n)" signifies a hill or inhabited area, while "Nsasa" or "Nshasa" refers to a bag of salt. According to Raymackers, Kinshasa was a significant trading site where people from the Lower Congo's river and ocean exchanged salt for goods like iron, slaves and ivory brought by those from the Upper Congo's river. However, Hendrik van Moorsel, an anthropologist, historian and researcher, proposes that Bateke fishermen traded fish for cassava with locals along the riverbank, and the place of this exchange was called "Ulio.
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