Copper capital of Congo — art deco colonial heart, mining wealth, and Katanga pride
Lubumbashi is the DRC's second city and the capital of Haut-Katanga — a copper and cobalt mining city that generates a large share of the DRC's mineral export revenue. Unlike Kinshasa, Lubumbashi has a colonial-era grid of wide avenues and Art Deco buildings from the Belgian Congo's interwar peak. The University of Lubumbashi (founded 1955) is one of central Africa's oldest universities; the open-air Marché ya Zando, the Grand Mosque, and Lubumbashi Zoo (central Africa's largest) anchor daily city life.
Lubumbashi (called Élisabethville under Belgian rule, after Queen Elisabeth of Belgium) was founded in 1910 specifically to serve Katanga's copper mines. The Union Minière du Haut-Katanga — a Belgian chartered mining company — developed the city as a company town with racially segregated residential quarters. In 1960, mineral-rich Katanga declared independence under Moïse Tshombe with Belgian and Union Minière backing — the 'Katanga secession' lasted until 1963 and was one of the defining Cold War crises in Africa. The city was renamed Lubumbashi during Mobutu's Zaïrianisation in 1966.