A City A Day

Gondar  or  Gonder  ( Amharic :  ጎንደር ? ,  Transliteration :  Gondär ,  Gonder ; older ጐንደር  Gʷandar , modern pronunciation Gʷender ) is a city and separate  woreda  in  Ethiopia . Located in the  Semien Gondar Zone  of the  Amhara Region , Gondar is north of  Tana Lake  on the  Lesser Angereb River  and southwest of the  Simien Mountains . It has a latitude and longitude of  12°36′N   37°28′E  with an elevation of 2133 meters above sea level. Gondar previously served as the capital of both the Ethiopian Empire and the subsequent  Begemder Province . The city has been referred to as the "Camelot of Africa" due to the presence of several royal castles. [1]

Dire Dawa  is one of two  chartered cities  ( astedader akabibi ) in  Ethiopia  (the other being the capital,  Addis Ababa ). This chartered city is divided administratively into two  woredas , the city proper and the non-urban woreda of Gurgura . Dire Dawa lies in the eastern part of the nation, on the  Dechatu River , at the foot of a ring of cliffs that has been described as "somewhat like a cluster of tea-leaves in the bottom of a slop-basin." [2]  With a latitude and longitude of 9°36′N   41°52′E Coordinates :  9°36′N   41°52′E , this city is the second largest in Ethiopia. The city is an industrial centre, home to several  markets  and the  Aba Tenna Dejazmach Yilma International Airport . Haramaya University  is 40 kilometers away from the city.

Addis Ababa  ( Amharic :  አዲስ አበባ ? ,  Addis Abäba ,  IPA:  [adis aβəβa]  (   listen ) , “new flower”;  Oromo :  Finfinne , [3] [4]  " Natural Spring(s)"), sometimes spelled  Addis Abeba  (the spelling used by the official  Ethiopian Mapping Authority ), is the capital city of  Ethiopia  . It is the largest city in Ethiopia, with a population of 3,384,569 according to the 2007 population census with annual growth rate of 3.8%. Based on this estimation, the population in the year 2013 would be 4,156,251. This number has been increased from the originally published 2,738,248 figure and appears to be still largely underestimated. [2] [5] As a  chartered city  ( ras gez astedader ), Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a  state . It is where the  African Union and its predecessor the  OAU  are based. It also hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commissio...

Djibouti  ( Arabic :  جيبوتي‎ ,  French :  Ville de Djibouti ,  Somali :  Magaalada Jabuuti ,  Afar :  Gabuuti ) is the  capital  of and most populous settlement in the  Republic of Djibouti , which is named after it. It is located in the coastal Djibouti Region on the  Gulf of Tadjoura . Home to around 600,000 inhabitants, the city contains over 60% of the nation's population. The settlement was founded in 1888 by the French, on land leased from the ruling Somali and Afar Sultans. During the ensuing period, it served as the capital of  French Somaliland  and its successor the  French Territory of the Afars and Issas . The city acts as a gateway between the  Horn of Africa  and the  Arabian Peninsula , and is a regional and national administrative, cultural, educational and financial hub.  Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport  is the main airport in Djibouti city, connecting the c...

Asmara  ( Arabic :  أسمرة‎ ,  Tigrinya :  ኣስመራ ? ,  Asmera ), known locally as  Asmera  (meaning "The four (feminine plural) made them unite" in  Tigrinya ), is the  capital city  and largest settlement in  Eritrea . Home to a population of around 649,000 inhabitants, [1] it sits at an elevation of 2,325 metres (7,628 ft). The city is located at the tip of an  escarpment  that is both the northwestern edge of the  Eritrean highlands  and the  Great Rift Valley  in neighbouring  Ethiopia . Asmara is situated in Eritrea's central  Maekel Region . It is known for its well-preserved colonial Italian  modern architecture , [2] and is divided into thirteen districts or administrative areas: Acria, Abbashaul,  Edaga Hamus , Arbaete Asmara, Mai Temenai, Paradiso ,  Sembel , Godaif, Maekel Ketema or Downtown, Tiravolo, Gejeret, Tsetserat and Gheza Banda.

Khartoum  ( kar- toom  ) [1] [2] [note 1]  is the  capital  and second largest city of the  Republic of Sudan  and of  Khartoum State . It is located at the confluence of the  White Nile  flowing north from  Lake Victoria  and the  Blue Nile  flowing west from  Ethiopia . The location where the two Niles meet is known as the " al-Mogran ", meaning the  Confluence . The main  Nile  continues to flow north towards  Egypt  and the  Mediterranean Sea . Divided by the Niles, Khartoum is a tripartite metropolis with an estimated overall population of over five million people consisting of Khartoum proper, [ clarification needed ]  and linked by bridges to  Khartoum North  called ( al-Kharṭūm Baḥrī  ) and Omdurman  ( Umm Durmān  ) to the west.

Matadi  is the chief sea port of the  Democratic Republic of the Congo  and the capital of the  Bas-Congo  province. It has a population of 245,862 (2004). Matadi is situated on the left bank of the  Congo River  148 km (92 mi) from the mouth and 8 km (5.0 mi) below the last navigable point before rapids make the river impassable for a long stretch upriver. It was founded by Sir  Henry Morton Stanley  in 1879. The word  Matadi  means stone in the local  Kikongo  language. The town is built on steep hills and there is local saying that to live in Matadi, you must know the verbs " to go up ", " to go down " and " to sweat ". Upstream is a series of caves known as the "rock of  Diogo Cão ", after  graffiti  carved by the Portuguese explorer in 1485 marking the limit of his travels up the Congo River. Mount Cambier  and the  Yelala Rapids  also lie near the city.

Tshikapa  is a city in  Kasaï District  in the  Democratic Republic of the Congo . The city is located about 40 miles north of the Angolan  border and 120 miles west of province capital  Kananga  at the confluence of the Tshikapa and Kasai rivers. According to records published by the Utrecht University library, the population of the city has grown from 38,900 in 1970 to 180,900 in 1994. However the two recent  Congo wars  have caused great flux in population rendering current figures unreliable. Tshikapa has been a site of diamond mining since its founding in the early twentieth century. The city was founded by Forminere, an American/Belgian mining consortium which discovered diamonds near this location in the early 1900s.  Outside post-war Iraq, Tshikapa has the densest source of satellite phone communications in the world due to the exploitation of the diamond mines.

Kinshasa  (formerly  French   Léopoldville , and  Dutch     Leopoldstad   ( help · info ) ) is the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The city is located on the  Congo River . Once a site of fishing villages, Kinshasa is now an urban area with a population of 9 million inhabitants. [2]  It faces the capital of the neighbouring  Republic of Congo ,  Brazzaville , which can be seen in the distance across the wide  Congo River . The city of Kinshasa is also one of the DRC's  11 provinces . Because the administrative boundaries of the city-province cover a vast area, over 90% of the city-province's land is rural in nature, and the urban area only occupies a small section in the far western end of the city-province. [1] Kinshasa is the second largest city in Africa after  Cairo . [2]  It is also the second largest " francophone " urban area in the world after...

Brazzaville  is the  capital  and largest city of the  Republic of the Congo  and is located on the  Congo River . As of the 2007 census, it has a population of 1,373,382 in the city proper, and about 11 million in total when including the suburbs located in the  Pool Region . [1]  The populous city of  Kinshasa  (more than 10 million inhabitants in 2009), [2]  capital of the  Democratic Republic of the Congo , lies just across the Congo River from Brazzaville. Together with Kinshasa, the combined  conurbation of Kinshasa-Brazzaville has thus nearly 12 million inhabitants (although significant political and infrastructure challenges prevent the two cities from functioning with any meaningful connection). Over a third of the population of the Republic of Congo lives in the capital, and it is home to 40% of non-agricultural employment. It is also a financial and administrative capital.

Libreville  is the  capital  and largest city of  Gabon , in west central Africa. The city is a port on the  Komo River , near the  Gulf of Guinea , and a trade center for a  timber  region. As of 2005 it had a population of 578,156. The area was inhabited by the  Mpongwé  tribe long before the  French  acquired the land in 1839. In 1846, L'Elizia, a Brazilian ship carrying slaves for sale, was captured by the French navy near Loango. The slaves were freed and founded Libreville ( French  for "Freetown") in 1848. It was the chief port of  French Equatorial Africa  from 1934 to 1946 and was the central focus of the  Battle of Gabon  in 1940. In 1910,  French Equatorial Africa  ( Afrique équatoriale française , AEF) was created, and French companies were allowed to exploit the  Middle Congo  (modern-day Congo Brazzaville). It soon became necessary to build a railroad that...

Malabo   / m ə ˈ l ɑː b oʊ /  is the  capital  of  Equatorial Guinea , located on the northern coast of  Bioko  Island (formerly  Fernando Pó ) on the rim of a sunken volcano. [1]  With a population of 155,963 (2005) it is also the second largest city in the country, after  Bata  in  Río Muni  on the African mainland.  Oyala  is a planned city currently under construction, designed to replace Malabo as the capital. The city was first founded by the British in 1827, who leased the island from  Spain  during the colonial period. Named  Port Clarence , it was used as a naval station in the effort to suppress the slave trade. Many newly freed slaves were also settled there, prior to the establishment of  Liberia  as a colony for freed slaves. While many of them later relocated to  Sierra Leone , some of their descendants, called  Fernandinos , can still be found in Malabo ...

Bata  is a port city in the  Litoral   Province  of  Equatorial Guinea . With a 2005 estimated population of 173,046, it is the largest city in Equatorial Guinea. It lies on the  Atlantic Ocean  coast of  Río Muni . Bata was formerly capital of Equatorial Guinea and is a transport hub and  port , from which  ferries  sail to  Malabo  and  Douala , and fliers can land at Bata Airport . It is also known for its  nightlife  and  market . The full name of the city, although not in common use, is City of Bozhich Bata, as it was founded on Christmas Eve of year 1664 [ citation needed ] , and the date of December the 24th (indigenous word Bozhich) is traditionally regarded and celebrated as the city holiday.