III.

Population and Culture

Kinshasa’s population has increased dramatically since the 1940s. Totaling only 400,000 in 1960, the inhabitants of the urbanized area centered on the city were estimated to number 5.3 million in 2003, constituting one-tenth of the DRC’s total population. The increase in city residents is due to a number of factors, including a high birth rate, a tendency for investment and government spending to concentrate in the capital, and Kinshasa’s reputation as a place of wealth, power, and culture.

The inhabitants of Kinshasa are known as Kinois (plural, Kinoise). Located in the area traditionally dominated by the Bakongo ethnic group, the city has been the destination of hundreds of thousands of migrants from other parts of the DRC; often these migrants are fleeing turmoil. Kikongo, the language of the Bakongo, has largely been supplanted by Lingala, which serves as a common language for the city’s diverse population. Kinshasa is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop. It is also the headquarters of the Baptist Church and of Kimbanguism, a Congolese sect that fuses Christianity and traditional African religions and is particularly strong in the region.

Kinshasa is a center of traditional and modern African culture, and the city’s artists are noted for their sculpture, oil painting, woodcarving, and jewelry making. The city is also known throughout Africa for its lively Congolese music scene, and several of its music and dance groups have achieved international recognition. Soukous, a popular guitar- and percussion-based music and dance style, developed in Kinshasa.

Kinshasa has two universities: the University of Kinshasa and the University Ambakart. Cultural institutions include the National Museum of Kinshasa, which contains archaeological and ethnological exhibits; the Academy of Fine Arts, which displays and sells paintings and sculpture; and a museum of prehistory at the University of Kinshasa. The city is also home to a zoo and several large sports complexes.