Malanje

About Malanje

Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola, with a population of 455,000 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 506,847 (2014 census). Projected to be the thirteenth fastest growing city on the African continent between 2020 and 2025, with a 5.17% growth. It is located 380 kilometres (240 mi) east of Angola's capital Luanda. Near it are the Calandula waterfalls, the rock formations of Pungo Andongo, and the Capanda Dam. The climate is mainly humid, with average temperatures between 20 and 24 °C (68 and 75 °F) and rainfall 900 to 130 millimetres (35.4 to 5.1 in) in the rainy season (October to April).

Portuguese settlers founded Malanje in the 19th century. The construction of the railway from Luanda to Malanje, in the fertile highlands, started in 1885. The area around Malanje included Portuguese West Africa's primary areas dedicated to the production of cotton, the crop that drove its development since the beginning. The town developed in the mid-19th century as an important slave market created in 1852. Situated at an elevation of 1,134 metres (3,720 ft), the town has a high-altitude tropical climate, ideal to several...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.