Which African capital was formerly known as Léopoldville?

The African capital formerly known as Léopoldville is Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city was called Léopoldville from 1881 until 1966.

Henry Morton Stanley established a trading post at the site in 1881 and named it after King Leopold II of Belgium. The settlement grew because it occupied a valuable position on the Congo River above Livingstone Falls, where river transport became possible. A railway completed in 1898 connected the river port with Matadi and helped accelerate the city's expansion.

Léopoldville became the capital of the Belgian Congo in 1923, replacing Boma. After the country gained independence, the city was renamed Kinshasa in 1966 during a wider campaign to replace colonial-era names with African ones. The new name referred to a historic settlement in the area.

Kinshasa lies across the Congo River from Brazzaville, the capital of the neighbouring Republic of the Congo. The two capitals are unusually close geographically, but they belong to different countries. Brazzaville was never Léopoldville; it developed on the opposite bank.