Cities of West and Central Africa

Boma

Boma (Mboma) is a port city in Kongo Central, DR Congo, on the north bank of the Congo River estuary; first capital of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo (1886 to 1926/1929), slave-trade hub until about 1868, one of three seagoing ports with Matadi and Banana.

Bondoukou

Bondoukou, also rendered Bonduku, is a town in northeastern Côte d'Ivoire and the capital of the Zanzan Autonomous District, nicknamed the city of a thousand mosques.

Bouaké

Bouaké, formerly Gbékékro, is Côte d'Ivoire's second-largest city, capital of Gbêkê region and Bandama Valley district; founded 1898 around a French military post, railway town and trade hub.

Bouna

Bouna is a town in northeastern Côte d'Ivoire, chief town of the Bounkani region near the Ghana border and the historic center of the Koulango kingdom.

Brazzaville

Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, founded 1880 by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza; capital of French Equatorial Africa and Free France 1940-1943; population 2,145,783 in 2023.

Bunia

Bunia is the capital of Ituri Province in northeastern DR Congo, on a 1,275 m plateau near Lake Albert. Population estimates range from about 328,000 to 944,000; it faces armed-group conflict, displacement, and a 2026 Ebola outbreak.

Butembo

Butembo, a commercial city in northern North Kivu, DRC, on the RN2 between Beni and Lubero; Nande merchant hub, city status 2003, over 1.2 million residents by 2024, 11.85% annual urbanization.

Cabinda

Cabinda is an exclave province of Angola separated from the rest of the country by Democratic Republic of the Congo territory, known for its oil production and FLEC separatist conflict.

Calabar

Calabar (Akwa Akpa) is a port city and capital of Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria. Founded by the Efik, it was a major slave and palm oil port, first Oil Rivers Protectorate capital, and hosts the Calabar Festival.

Calumbo

Calumbo (Kalumbo, Калумбо) is a municipality and town in Icolo e Bengo province, Angola, on the right bank of the Kwanza River; former colonial post São José do Calumbo, 1925 railway branch, GeoNames population 652,270.

Cape Coast

Cape Coast (Oguaa) is a coastal city in southern Ghana and capital of the Central Region, population 189,925 (2021). Former Gold Coast capital until 1877, home to Cape Coast Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a major education and tourism center.

Chinguetti

Chinguetti (شنقيط) is a medieval caravan town on the Adrar plateau of central Mauritania, founded in the twelfth century and best known for its ancient family libraries of Islamic manuscripts.

Chitato

Chitato is a municipality in Lunda Norte Province, Angola, near Dundo, in diamond country; communes Luachimo and Dundo-Chitato, population estimates 195,136 to 277,884, economy of artisanal diamond mining and subsistence agriculture.

Conakry

Conakry, capital and chief port of Guinea on the Tombo peninsula, Atlantic West Africa. Colonial port under Noël Ballay; urban area grew from 63 km² (1986) to 206.58 km² (2016); near 50% of urban population.

Cotonou

Cotonou, Benin's economic capital and largest city (about 2.4 million), founded 1830 by King Guézo; its Autonomous Port handles 90% of national foreign trade and serves landlocked Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

Dakar

Dakar (Ndakaaru) is the capital and largest city of Senegal, on the Cap-Vert peninsula, founded by France in 1857 and former capital of French West Africa.

Daura

Daura is a city and traditional emirate in Katsina State, northern Nigeria, regarded in Hausa tradition as the oldest of the Hausa states and setting of the Bayajidda legend.

Djenné

Djenné, an ancient mud-brick trading city in Mali's Inner Niger Delta, inhabited since 250 B.C. and a trans-Saharan gold trade hub; home of the Great Mosque of Djenné, the world's largest adobe building, replastered annually in the crépissage festival.