The city of Lubumbashi is the second biggest and populated city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, behind the capital Kinshasa. Additionally, Lubumbashi is the capital of the Haut-Katanga province, which is the southernmost province in the entire country that borders the country of Zambia on two sides.
During the period of Belgium’s colonial rule, Lubumbashi was of particular importance due to its rich natural resources in the surrounding areas.
In this article, we are going to be discussing all of the key points in regards to planning an interesting trip to the city of Lubumbashi, Republic of the Congo.
Population of Lubumbashi.
Lubumbashi has a population of now over 2.5 million people with the population of the city booming with the growth of close to 500,000 people in the last five years.
This population growth is due to a mix of natural population growth as well as internal migration from within the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
People coming to take advantage of the much higher living standards and infrastructure in the city that has been built mainly by the Belgium’s during their colonial rule due to the city’s importance as a distribution hub of natural resources which required the building of railroads and airports.
Increasingly the city has started to attract a large amount of foreign direct investment thanks to it being one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa based on population creating a large market for services and goods.
Notable People from Lubumbashi.
Many notable people come from the city of Lubumbashi such as Bismack Biyombo who is a professional basketball player born in DR Congo.
Who started out his career playing for the Spanish basketball team Fuenlabrada-Getafe Madrid before playing for other Spanish teams such as CB Illescas and Baloncesto Fuenlabrada and eventually being recruited 2011 to play in the United States where he has played ever since.
Furthermore, Lubumbashi is the birthplace of politician Oscar Kashala, who is a Harvard University graduate that worked for decades in the pharmaceutical industry but is best known for being a presidential candidate in 2006 where he did not manage to get to the run-offs in the election.
A rapper known as Baloji is another famous figure that comes from Lubumbashi; Baloji is one of the most famous modern musical artists in Africa.
History of Lubumbashi.
The city of Lubumbashi was officially established by the Belgian Empire in the year 1910, with the city being named Elisabethville after the Queen of Belgium at the time.
However, native people have lived in the area of the city for thousands of years, but the city came to particular attention to the Belgian colonial authorities after they discovered the natural reserves of key resources such as zinc, tin, coal, and copper among other types of metals.
City of Lubumbashi being essentially built to home the workers involved in the mining industry as well as to build the necessary infrastructure which at that time was railroads to allow the transportation of the extracted resources to the coast where they can be loaded to ships and sent to Europe.
Lubumbashi is also very famous for the rights that were provided in the city to the black population, who unlike most of the other regions in the colonial province of Congo were allowed to own property and live their lives with more freedom.
Climate of Lubumbashi.
Another aspect to highlight in this interesting trip to the city of Lubumbashi, Republic of the Congo is the climate of this city. The climate of Lubumbashi is classed as a dry-winter humid subtropical climate which means that during the summer the city and its surrounding areas experience high volumes of rain while in the winter there is virtually no rain and snow with the weather remaining warm.
The average temperature in the city all year round is 20 degrees Celsius with 126 rainy days a year which takes place mostly in the summer, but there can also be heavy rain during the early autumn.
The hottest months throughout the year are September, October, and November with temperatures ranging between 22 and 24 degrees Celsius on average with temperatures being able to be as high as 32 degrees Celsius.
The Culture of the City of Lubumbashi.
The culture of Lubumbashi and the surrounding areas are heavily influenced by French culture due to French being the official language in the Belgian Empire with the language being used for official correspondence in the Congo colony and in formal education with French continuing to be an official language in the DR of Congo.
Music and cinema from the French-speaking world are very popular in the city with many famous actors and musical artists hailing from Lubumbashi able to make a lucrative career for themselves thanks to the estimated 275 million people who speak French around the world.
Lubumbashi is also home to some of the most modern cinemas in the whole country, with the most famous and popular cinema being Cine Betamax that airs a variety of films including popular English language Hollywood films, French-speaking films as well as films created by African studios.
Transportation Options in Lubumbashi.
Some of the best transportation links in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are built in the city of Lubumbashi, due to the economic importance of this provincial capital to the African country.
These transportation options provide tourists with a lot of different ways to get to the city, a popular option is to have a road trip through the country with Lubumbashi being connected to the Trans-African Highway 9 that is better known as TAH 9 that runs across the country.
Other options include traveling the railroad and airport which are much faster than traveling by road however you will end up seeing and experiencing less of the diverse country that is the DR of Congo.
Although there is just one airport in Lubumbashi there are, in fact, multiple railroads running through the city with the most famous one being the Cape to Cairo Railway that is the longest railway on the continent of Africa running from one end to the other through 12 countries in the continent.
The Popularity of Football in Lubumbashi.
Furthermore, is like a religion in the city of Lubumbashi, so it is no surprise we have to cover the importance of the sport in our interesting trip to the city of Lubumbashi, Republic of the Congo article.
It is the most popular sport in the city by far with the second most popular sport being basketball. Currently, there are three football teams from Lubumbashi that compete at the very level of Congolese football; these teams are TP Mazembe, CS Don Bosco and FC Saint Eloi Lupopo.
TP Mazembe is the most popular and successful team out of the three, in fact, it is the most successful team in Congolese history with 5 African Champions League wins as well as being one of the only African teams to ever get to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Read the article: Travel To The City Of Kinshasa, Republic Of The Congo
