Timeline of Kinshasa

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

14th -18th Century Kongo Kingdom reigned victorious throughout the land
1881 - Léopoldville founded as a trading post by Henry Morton Stanley of the UK.
1885 - Town becomes part of Congo Free State.^[1]^[2]
1898 - Matadi–Kinshasa Railway built.

1900s-1950s

1908 - Town becomes part of Belgian Congo.
1909 - Banque du Congo Belge headquartered in Léopoldville (approximate date).^[3]
1914 - Grand Hotel ABC built.^[4]
1917 - Collège Saint-Joseph founded.
1920 - Ligne Aérienne du Roi Albert (airline) begins operating.
1923 - Capital of Belgian Congo relocated to Leopoldville from Boma.^[5]
1928 - Elima [fr] newspaper begins publication.^[3]
1935 - Association Sportive Vita Club formed.
1936 - Daring Club Motema Pembe (football club) formed.
1937
- Stade Reine Astrid (stadium) opens.
- Radio Leo begins broadcasting.^[6]
- Hotel Memling built.^[4]
1938 - Amicale Sportive Dragons football club formed.
1939 - Albert I of Belgium monument inaugurated on Place de la Gare.^[4]
1940 - Radio Congo Belge begins broadcasting.^[7]
1940s - Ngoma recording studio in business.^[7]
1943 - École Saint-Luc à Gombe Matadi founded.
1952 - Stade Roi Baudouin (stadium) inaugurated.
1953
- N'djili Airport inaugurated.
- African Jazz (musical group) formed.^[7]^[8]
1954 - Lovanium University established.^[9]
1955
- Boulevard Albert I constructed.^[4]
- Presbyterian Community in Kinshasa founded.
1956
- OK Jazz musical group formed.^[7]
- Colonial Governor-General residence built.
1957 - Académie des Beaux-Arts (school) active.
1958
- Trico Center for nuclear studies established.^[10]
- Plantations Lever au Congo (part of Unilever) headquartered in city.
1959
- Anti-colonial riots led by the ABAKO political party.^[11]
- L'independance newspaper begins publication.^[12]

1960s-1990s

1960
- City becomes capital of independent Republic of the Congo.
- Joseph Kulumba becomes bourgmestre, succeeded by Daniel Kanza.
1961 - American School founded.
1962
- National School of Law and Administration founded.^[13]
- Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile based in Léopoldville.
1963
- Boulevard Albert I renamed "Boulevard du 30 Juin".^[4]
- Zoao Boniface becomes bourgmestre.
1964
- City becomes capital of Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Hotel Memling built.
- Banque du Congo headquartered in city.^[3]
1965 - Centre d'etudes pour l'action sociale established.^{[citation needed]}
1966 - Léopoldville renamed "Kinshasa."^[14]
1967
- September: Organisation of African Unity summit held.
- National Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art established.
1969
- Kinshasa International Fair begins.
- Zaiko Langa Langa musical group formed.
1971
- City becomes capital of Republic of Zaire.
- Office National des Transports headquartered in city.
- Inter Continental hotel in business.
1972 - École d'Informatique d'Électronique founded.^{[citation needed]}
1974
- September: Zaire 74 music festival held.
- 30 October: The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match held.^[15]
- Population: 2,008,352.^[16]
1975 - Sozacom building constructed.^[17]
1976 - Voix du Zaire broadcasting complex^[13] and BCZ building constructed.^[17]
1977 - Zekete-zekete musical style developed.^[7]
1979 - Palais du Peuple built.
1981 - University of Kinshasa established.^[9]
1982 - Le Potentiel newspaper begins publication.^[3]^[18]
1984 - Population: 2,664,309.^[19]
1985 - Meeting of the Association Internationale des Maires Francophones held in city.
1988 - Madiaba musical style developed.^[7]
1989
- Athletic Club Sodigraf formed.
- La Référence Plus newspaper begins publication.^[3]
1990 - Population: 3,564,000 (urban agglomeration).^[20]
1991
- Fundu Kota becomes governor.
- September: "Riots...by unpaid soldiers."^[11]^[21]
- October: Anti-Mobutu demonstrations.^[22]
1992 - Kibabu Madiata Nzau becomes governor, succeeded by Bernardin Mungul Diaka.
1994
- Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste founded.
- Kamanyola Stadium opens.
1996
- Mujinga Swana becomes governor, succeeded by Nkoy Mafuta.
- L'Avenir (Newspaper) begins publication.
- 8 January: Airplane crash.
1997
- Théophile Mbemba Fundu becomes governor.
- April: General Gabriel Amela Lokima Bahati becomes governor.^{[citation needed]}
- May: City taken by anti-Mobutu forces led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila.^[11]^[23]
- Central Bank of the Congo headquartered in city.
1998
- August: Second Congo War begins; rebel forces move toward city.^[11]
- September: Food shortage.^[24]
1999 - United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo headquartered in Kinshasa.
2000 - Population: 5,611,000 (urban agglomeration).^[20]

2001
- Christophe Muzungu becomes governor, succeeded by Loka Ne Kongo [fr].
- January: President Laurent-Désiré Kabila assassinated.^[25]
2002
- David Nku Imbié becomes governor.
- Lola ya Bonobo animal sanctuary located near city.
2004
- March: Coup attempt.^[11]
- May: Jean Kimbunda becomes governor.
2005
- Kimbembe Mazunga becomes governor.
- Population: 7,106,000 (urban agglomeration).^[20]
2006
- Post-election unrest.^[26]
- Baudoin Liwanga becomes governor.
2007
- March: Conflict between Bemba supporters and government forces.^[11]^[27]
- 16 March: André Kimbuta becomes governor.
- City website online (approximate date).^[28]^{[chronology citation needed]}
2010 - 2 June: Activist Floribert Chebeya killed.^[11]
2011 - 27 February: Coup attempt.
2012
- October: Organisation internationale de la Francophonie summit held.
- Population: 9,046,000.
2013 - 30 December: December 2013 Kinshasa attacks by supporters of religious leader Mukungubila.^[11]
2014
- 11 May: Stade Tata Raphaël stampede.
- Hôpital du Cinquantenaire [fr] (hospital) opens.
- It's discovered that the origin of the HIV virus traces back to Léopoldville in the 1920s.^[29]
2015 - January: 2015 Congolese protests.^[30]
2023: The 2023 Jeux de la Francophonie.

History of Kinshasa
Urban history of Kinshasa (in French)
List of governors of Kinshasa
Communes of Kinshasa
List of television stations in Kinshasa
Timelines of other cities in DR Congo: Bukavu, Goma, Kisangani, Lubumbashi
History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Timeline and history of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo (across Congo River from Kinshasa)

[1]
Henry Phillips, Jr. (1889). "An Account of the Congo Independent State". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 26.
[2]
Muriel E. Chamberlain (2013) [1998]. "Chronology of Decolonisation: the French Empire: French Equatorial Africa". Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 163+. ISBN 978-1-317-89744-6.
[3]
"Democratic Republic of the Congo: Directory". Africa South of the Sahara 2004. Regional Surveys of the World. Europa Publications. 2004. ISBN 1857431839.
[4]
Mwana Mboka (ed.). "Kinshasa Then and Now (blog)". Retrieved 30 September 2014 – via Blogspot.
[5]
"Kinshasa – national capital, Democratic Republic of the Congo". britannica.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
[6]
Gary Stewart (2003). Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos. Verso. ISBN 978-1-85984-368-0.
[7]
Ruth M. Stone, ed. (2010). Garland Handbook of African Music (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-90001-4.
[8]
Jesse Samba Wheeler (2005), "Rumba Lingala as Colonial Resistance", Image & Narrative, vol. 10, ISSN 1780-678X – via Internet Archive
[9]
"Université de Kinshasa". Southern African Regional Universities Association. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
[10]
"Congo arrest over missing uranium". BBC News. 8 March 2007.
[11]
"Democratic Republic of Congo Profile: Timeline". BBC News. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
[12]
"Kinshasa (Congo) Newspapers". WorldCat. US: Online Computer Library Center. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
[13]
Emizet Francois Kisangani; Scott F. Bobb (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3rd ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6325-5.
[14]
Didier Gondola (2002). "Timeline of Historical Events". History of Congo. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-31696-8.
[15]
Quintard Taylor, ed. (31 March 2011), "Kinshasa, Congo", BlackPast.org, retrieved 30 September 2014
[16]
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistical Office (1976). "Population of capital city and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants". Demographic Yearbook 1975. New York. pp. 253–279.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
[17]
Pain 1984.
[18]
"Kinshasa (Congo) -- Newspapers". Global Resources Network. Chicago, US: Center for Research Libraries. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
[19]
United Nations Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, Statistics Division (1997). "Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants". 1995 Demographic Yearbook. New York. pp. 262–321. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
[20]
"The State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequalities and Urban Land Markets". United Nations Human Settlements Programme. 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-06-17.
[21]
"Thousands of Troops on Rampage of Looting and Violence in Zaire", New York Times, 24 September 1991
[22]
"Mobutu's Militia Confronts Protesters in Kinshasa". New York Times. 22 October 1991.
[23]
"Mobutu Gives Up, Leaving Kinshasa and Ceding Power". New York Times. 17 May 1997.
[24]
Kinshasa 'four days from starvation', BBC, 9 September 1998
[25]
"Congo leader Kabila 'killed'". The Guardian. UK. 17 January 2001.
[26]
Andreas Mehler; et al., eds. (2007). "Democratic Republic of the Congo". Africa Yearbook: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara in 2006. Koninklijke Brill. p. 236+. ISBN 978-90-04-20556-7.
[27]
"DRC". Global Voices Online. 23 March 2007.
[28]
"Ville de Kinshasa - Le Site officiel" (in French). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
[29]
James Gallagher (2 October 2014). "Aids: Origin of pandemic 'was 1920s Kinshasa'". BBC.
[30]
"Congo's #Telema protests", The Guardian, UK, 21 January 2015

This article incorporates information from the French Wikipedia.

in English

Okwui Enwezor, ed. (2002). Under Siege: Four African Cities, Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz [de]. ISBN 978-3-7757-9090-1. Documenta11 + website
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza; Dickson Eyoh, eds. (2003). "Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo". Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History. Routledge. ISBN 0415234794.
Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, ed. (2005). "Kinshasa". Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517055-9.
Kevin Shillington, ed. (2005). "Kinshasa". Encyclopedia of African History. Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 978-1-57958-245-6.
Pascal Kapagama; Rachel Waterhouse (2009), Portrait of Kinshasa: A City on (the) Edge, London: Crisis States Research Centre – via International Relations and Security Network
Filip De Boeck (2010), Spectral Kinshasa: building the city through an architecture of words, Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute

in French

"Léopoldville", L'État indépendant du Congo: documents sur le pays et ses habitants, Annales du Musée du Congo (in French), Brussels, 1904, hdl:2027/pst.000022332363 – via HathiTrust{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Marc Pain (1984). Kinshasa: la ville et la cité (in French). IRD Editions. ISBN 978-2-7099-0728-6.
Léon de Saint Moulin [in Lingala] (2010). Villes et organisation de l'espace en République Démocratique du Congo (in French). L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-296-25787-0. (Includes information about Kinshasa)
Futé, Petit (2012). "Histoire". Kinshasa. Le Petit Futé (in French). p. 30+. ISBN 9782746959279.

Flickr. Kinshasa in the '70s (set of photos)
"(Kinshasa)". Directory of Open Access Journals. UK. (Bibliography of open access articles)
"(Kinshasa)" – via Europeana. (Images, etc.)
"(Kinshasa)" – via Digital Public Library of America. (Images, etc.)
"(Kinshasa)". Internet Library Sub-Saharan Africa. Germany: Frankfurt University Library. 15 January 2019. (Bibliography)
"(Kinshasa)". Connecting-Africa. Leiden, Netherlands: African Studies Centre. (Bibliography)
"(Kinshasa)". AfricaBib.org. (Bibliography)
"(Kinshasa)". Mukanda: ressources documentaires sur l'Afrique centrale (in French). France: University of Lorraine. (Bibliography)
"(Kinshasa)". Contemporary History Library Catalogue. Belgium: Royal Museum for Central Africa. (Bibliography) (see also "Leopoldville")

Kinshassa village, circa 1912
View of Kinshasa, 1972
US official Kissinger visits zoo at president's palace, April 1976
View of Kinshasa, 2009

[1] [1]
Henry Phillips, Jr. (1889). "An Account of the Congo Independent State". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 26.

[Chamberlain1998-2] [2]
Muriel E. Chamberlain (2013) [1998]. "Chronology of Decolonisation: the French Empire: French Equatorial Africa". Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 163+. ISBN 978-1-317-89744-6.

[europa2004-3] [3]
"Democratic Republic of the Congo: Directory". Africa South of the Sahara 2004. Regional Surveys of the World. Europa Publications. 2004. ISBN 1857431839.

[mboka-4] [4]
Mwana Mboka (ed.). "Kinshasa Then and Now (blog)". Retrieved 30 September 2014 – via Blogspot.

[britannica.com-5] [5]
"Kinshasa – national capital, Democratic Republic of the Congo". britannica.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2021.

[Stewart2003-6] [6]
Gary Stewart (2003). Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos. Verso. ISBN 978-1-85984-368-0.

[Stone2010-7] [7]
Ruth M. Stone, ed. (2010). Garland Handbook of African Music (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-90001-4.

[8] [8]
Jesse Samba Wheeler (2005), "Rumba Lingala as Colonial Resistance", Image & Narrative, vol. 10, ISSN 1780-678X – via Internet Archive

[Sarua-9] [9]
"Université de Kinshasa". Southern African Regional Universities Association. Retrieved 22 February 2013.

[10] [10]
"Congo arrest over missing uranium". BBC News. 8 March 2007.

[bbc-timeline-11] [11]
"Democratic Republic of Congo Profile: Timeline". BBC News. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2013.

[worldcat-12] [12]
"Kinshasa (Congo) Newspapers". WorldCat. US: Online Computer Library Center. Retrieved 22 February 2013.

[Kisangani2009-13] [13]
Emizet Francois Kisangani; Scott F. Bobb (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3rd ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6325-5.

[Gondola2002-14] [14]
Didier Gondola (2002). "Timeline of Historical Events". History of Congo. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-31696-8.

[BlackPast-15] [15]
Quintard Taylor, ed. (31 March 2011), "Kinshasa, Congo", BlackPast.org, retrieved 30 September 2014

[16] [16]
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistical Office (1976). "Population of capital city and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants". Demographic Yearbook 1975. New York. pp. 253–279.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[FOOTNOTEPain1984-17] [17]
Pain 1984.

[CRLnewspapers-18] [18]
"Kinshasa (Congo) -- Newspapers". Global Resources Network. Chicago, US: Center for Research Libraries. Retrieved 30 September 2014.

[19] [19]
United Nations Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, Statistics Division (1997). "Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants". 1995 Demographic Yearbook. New York. pp. 262–321. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[unhabitat2010-20] [20]
"The State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequalities and Urban Land Markets". United Nations Human Settlements Programme. 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-06-17.

[21] [21]
"Thousands of Troops on Rampage of Looting and Violence in Zaire", New York Times, 24 September 1991

[22] [22]
"Mobutu's Militia Confronts Protesters in Kinshasa". New York Times. 22 October 1991.

[23] [23]
"Mobutu Gives Up, Leaving Kinshasa and Ceding Power". New York Times. 17 May 1997.

[24] [24]
Kinshasa 'four days from starvation', BBC, 9 September 1998

[25] [25]
"Congo leader Kabila 'killed'". The Guardian. UK. 17 January 2001.

[mehler2006-26] [26]
Andreas Mehler; et al., eds. (2007). "Democratic Republic of the Congo". Africa Yearbook: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara in 2006. Koninklijke Brill. p. 236+. ISBN 978-90-04-20556-7.

[27] [27]
"DRC". Global Voices Online. 23 March 2007.

[28] [28]
"Ville de Kinshasa - Le Site officiel" (in French). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.

[29] [29]
James Gallagher (2 October 2014). "Aids: Origin of pandemic 'was 1920s Kinshasa'". BBC.

[30] [30]
"Congo's #Telema protests", The Guardian, UK, 21 January 2015

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Timeline of Kinshasa

1900s-1950s

1960s-1990s

in English

in French

Wikiwand in your browser!

Timeline of Kinshasa

1900s-1950s

1960s-1990s

in English

in French

Wikiwand in your browser!

19th century

20th century

21st century

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Images