11°40S 27°28E, pop (2000e) 862 500. Capital of Katanga region, SE Democratic Republic of Congo; on R Lualaba, close to the Zambian frontier; founded, 1910; airport; railway; university (1955); copper mining and smelting, food processing; cathedral.
| Ville de Lubumbashi | |||
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| Location in the Congo | |||
| Province | Katanga | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor | Floribert Kaseba | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 747 km² | ||
| - Land | 747 km² | ||
| Population | |||
| - City (2001) | 1,139,064 | ||
| - Density | 1,525/km² | ||
| Time zone | DRC2 (UTC+2) | ||
Lubumbashi (formerly Elisabethville) is ranked as the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (capital Kinshasa, formerly Zaire) and the hub of the southeastern part of the country.
Geography
Lubumbashi lies at around 1,000 metres above sea level.
The Belgians established the University of Elizabethville in 1954-1955 (now the University of Lubumbashi).
Elisabethville served as the capital and center of the secessionist independent state of Katanga during the bloody 1960-1963 Congolese civil war.
When Laurent-Désiré Kabila decided to appoint a transitional parliament, in 1999, a decision was made to install the Parliament in Lubumbashi, in order to consolidate the fragile unity of the country.
Culture and economy
Lubumbashi serves as an important commercial and national industrial center.
Lubumbashi lies at the centre of railway lines to Ilebo, Kindu, Sakania and Kolwezi, however, because of the underinvestments, the railway lines aren't very reliable.
Attractions in the city include a botanical garden, a zoo, a brewery, and the regional archaeological and ethnological National Museum of Lubumbashi.
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