Katanga Province Province du Katanga
Former province
Coordinates: 11°08′S 27°06′E / 11.133°S 27.100°E / -11.133; 27.100Coordinates: 11°08′S 27°06′E / 11.133°S 27.100°E / -11.133; 27.100
Country	DR Congo
Established	1966 (1966)
Dissolved	2015 (2015)
Capital	Lubumbashi
Largest city	Lubumbashi
Area
• Total	496,871 km2 (191,843 sq mi)
Population (2010 est.)
• Total	5,608,683
• Density	11/km2 (29/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Katangese
Official language	French
National languages	Swahili

Malachite specimen, showing the original botryoidal form & a polished face of the opposite half of the specimen. Mines in the vicinity of Kolwezi supply much of the polishing-grade malachite in the world.

Another spectacular malachite specimen from Katanga, on display at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Katanga was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces. Between 1971 and 1997 (during the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko when Congo was known as Zaïre), its official name was Shaba Province.^[1]

Katanga's area encompassed 497,000 square kilometres (49,700,000 ha). Farming and ranching are carried out on the Katanga Plateau. The eastern part of the province is considered to be a rich mining region, which supplies cobalt, copper, tin, radium, uranium, and diamonds. The region's former capital, Lubumbashi, is the second largest city in the Congo.^[2][3]

History[edit]

Copper mining in Katanga dates back over 1,000 years, and mines in the region were producing standard-sized ingots of copper for international transport by the end of the 10th century CE.^[4]

In the 1890s, the province was beleaguered from the south by Cecil Rhodes' Northern Rhodesia, and from the north by the Belgian Congo, the personal possession of King Leopold II of Belgium. Msiri, the King of Katanga, held out against both, but eventually Katanga was subsumed by the Belgian Congo.^{[5][page needed]}

After 1900, the Societe Generale de Belgique practically controlled all of the mining in the province through Union Minière du Haut Katanga. This included uranium, radium, copper, cobalt, zinc, cadmium, germanium, manganese, silver, gold, and tin. By the start of WWII, the mining companies "constituted a state within the Belgian Congo".^[6]

In 1960, after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then called Republic of the Congo) gained independence from Belgium, Katanga attempted to secede from the country. This was supported by Belgium but opposed by the Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. This led to the Katanga Crisis (or "Congo Crisis"), which lasted from 1960 to 1965. The breakaway State of Katanga existed from 1960 to 1963.^[7]

In 2005, the country's new constitution specified that Katanga was to be split up into separately administered provinces.^[8]

Militias such as Mai Mai Kata Katanga led by Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga fought for Katanga to secede, and his group briefly took over the provincial capital Lubumbashi in 2013.^[7]

In 2015, Katanga Province was split into the constitutional provinces of Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba, and Haut-Katanga.^[9][10]

Economy[edit]

Copper mining is an important part of the economy of Katanga province.^[11] Cobalt mining by individual contractors is also prevalent. A number of reasons have been advanced for the failure of the vast mineral wealth of the province to increase the overall standard of living. The local provincial budget was US$440 million in 2011.^[12][13]

Mining[edit]

Lubumbashi, the mining capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a hub for many of the country's biggest mining companies. The Democratic Republic of Congo produces "more than 3 percent of the world’s copper and half its cobalt, most of which comes from Katanga".^[14]

Major mining concessions include Tilwezembe and Kalukundi.^{[citation needed]}

Mining companies[edit]

• 
  Gécamines, La Générale des Carrières et des Mines, the state-owned copper-cobalt mining company, had monopoly concessions in the province.


• 
  Katanga Mining Ltd TSX:KAT operates a major mining complex in Katanga province, producing refined copper and cobalt with the "potential of becoming Africa’s largest copper producer and the world’s largest cobalt producer".^[15] Katanga Mining Ltd is majority-owned by Swiss commodity trader Glencore DCC.^[16] A joint venture of Katanga Mining (75%) and Gécamines (25%) began mining Tilwezembe, an open-pit copper and cobalt mine, in 2007.^[17]

Geography[edit]

The province formed the Congolese border with Angola and Zambia. The province also bordered Tanzania – although Katanga province and Tanzania did not share a land border – but the border was within Lake Tanganyika.
Katanga has a wet and dry season. Rainfall is about 1,200 mm (49 in).^[18]

Hills of Katanga

Education and medical care[edit]

The University of Lubumbashi, located in the northern part of Lubumbashi city, is the largest university in the province and one of the largest in the country. A number of other university-level institutions exist in Lubumbashi, some public, some private: Institut Supérieur de Statistique, Institut Supérieur Pédagogique, Institut Supérieur des Études Sociales, Institut Supérieur de Commerce, Institut Supérieur des Techniques Médicales (all state-run), Université Protestante de Lubumbashi (Korean Presbyterian), Institut Supérieur Maria Malkia (Catholic), Institut Supérieur de Développement Mgr Mulolwa (Catholique), Theologicum St François de Sales (Salesian seminary), Institut Supérieur de Théologie Évangélique de Lubumbashi (Pentecostal/Anglican/Brethren), etc. Université Méthodiste au Katanga, the oldest private university-level institution in the province, is located at Mulungwishi (between Likasi and Kolwezi) but organizes its Masters in Leadership courses in Lubumbashi. The University of Kamina, the University of Kolwezi and the University of Likasi are former branches of the University of Lubumbashi, which continues to have branches in some locations such as Kalemie.^{[citation needed]}

TESOL, the English Language School of Lubumbashi, is a secondary school that serves the expatriate community. It was founded in 1987 on the grounds of the French School, Lycée Français Blaise Pascal, which suspended operations in 1991 with a new French School starting in 2009.^[19]

In Lubumbashi, French, Belgian, and Greek schools are sponsored by the respective embassies.^{[citation needed]}

The Jason Sendwe Hospital is the largest hospital in the province, located in Lubumbashi. The Afia (Don Bosco) and Vie & Santé hospitals are among the best-equipped and staffed. The University of Lubumbashi maintains a small teaching hospital in the center of Lubumbashi.^{[citation needed]}

Katanga province has the highest rate of infant mortality in the world, with 184 of 1000 babies born expected to die before the age of five.^[20]

Provincial assembly building of Katanga in Lubumbashi

Transportation[edit]

The Congo Railway provides Katanga Province with limited railway service centered on Lubumbashi. Reliability is limited. Lubumbashi International Airport is located northeast of Lubumbashi. In April 2014, a train derailment killed 63 people.^[21]

Media[edit]

Katanga province is served by television broadcasts. Radio-Télévision nationale Congolaise (RTNC) has a transmitter in Lubumbashi that re-transmits the signal from Kinshasa. In 2005, new television broadcasts by Radio Mwangaza began in Lubumbashi.^{[citation needed]}

Notable Katangese[edit]

• 
  Laurent-Désiré Kabila, former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo


• 
  Moise Tshombe, former president of the breakaway State of Katanga


• 
  Barbara Kanam, popular singer


• 
  Frédéric Kibassa Maliba, former opposition leader and president of UDPS


• 
  Odilon Kafitwe wa pa Bowa, former national minister of Zaire and leader of UFERI


• 
  Lunda Bululu, former prime minister of Zaire


• 
  Godefroid Munongo, politician

See also[edit]

• Shinkolobwe


• Central African Copperbelt


• State of Katanga


• Congo Free State


• Congo Pedicle


• Msiri


• Katanga Crisis


• Stairs Expedition to Katanga


• Lubumbashi history and timeline
  

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (January 2018)

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katanga Province.

• The United Nations and the Congo


• WorldStatesmen- Congo (Kinshasa)


• The Bank Notes of Katanga


• Rush and Ruin: The Devastating Mineral Trade in Southern Katanga