Kananga

German explorer Hermann Wissmann established a station in the area around present-day Kananga, on the left bank of the Lulua. Wissmann named the station Malandji, a name suggested by his 400 carriers, who were from the city of Malanje in Angola. Later on, with the construction of the railway on the other bank of the river, the station was moved, and the Lulua train station gave its name to the new town, namely Luluabourg. The old location is named Malandji-Makulu (old Malandji) to this day. At the Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conference, in 1960, the name given to the negotiations for the independence of the then-Belgian Congo, a decision was taken that the new state would move the location of its capital from Kinshasa to Luluabourg, due to the latter's central location. …