Lubumbashi (UK: /ˌluːbʊmˈbæʃi/ LOO-buum-BASH-ee, US: /ˌluːbuːmˈbɑːʃi/ LOO-boom-BAH-shee; former French: Élisabethville [elizabɛtvil]; former Flemish: Elisabethstad [eːˈlisaːbɛtstɑt] ⓘ) is the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia.

The Comité Spécial du Katanga (CSK), a semi-private concessionary company set up in 1900, had its headquarters in Élisabethville throughout the colonial era.

[5] Huge investments in the 1920s, both in the mining industry and in transport infrastructure (railline Elisabethville-Port Francqui and Elisabethville-Dilolo), developed the Katanga province into one of the world's major copper ore producers.

This consisted mainly of Belgian nationals, but the city also attracted important British and Italian communities, as well as Jewish Greeks.

The work and businesses related to the mines made Élisabethville the most prosperous region of the Congo during the last decade of Belgian rule.

[7] Miners in Élisabethville conducted a strike in December 1941 to protest the increasingly severe forced-labour regime that the Belgians imposed on the population because of the "war efforts".

In early 1944, the city was again in the grip of severe tensions and fear of violent protests, following a mutiny of the Force Publique (army) in Luluabourg.

In 1957, Élisabethville was established as a fully autonomous city; it held the first free municipal elections in which the Congolese could vote.

The people of Élisabethville gave a vast majority to the nationalist Alliance des Bakongo, which demanded immediate independence from Belgium.

Élisabethville served as the capital and centre of the secessionist independent state of Katanga during the 1960–1963 Congolese civil war.

Congolese leaders arrested him and charged him with treason in April 1961; however, he agreed to dismiss his foreign advisers and military forces in exchange for his release.

Roger Trinquier, well known for his published works on counter-insurgency warfare, served as a French military advisor to President Tshombe until international pressure, led by Belgium, caused his recall to France.

Rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila spoke from Lubumbashi to declare himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 17 May 1997 after Mobutu Sese Seko fled Kinshasa.

Lubumbashi was therefore the Legislative capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1999 to 2003, when all the country's central institutions were brought back to Kinshasa.

[11] On 23 March 2013 a militia group of 100 fighters attacked Lubumbashi and seized a United Nations compound, which was surrounded by Congolese soldiers and members of the president's Republican Guard.

[13] As many people have moved into Lubumbashi for employment from rural areas, they have brought many other local languages including Kiluba, Chokwe, Bemba and Kisanga.

AZLU is keeping the zoo "for education purposes, and the protection of the natural heritage of the country," as it can be read on signs.

Today, it has almost been restocked with lions, tigers, monkeys, apes, pelicans, wart hogs, crocodiles, snakes, turtles, monitor lizards, eagles, parrots, ostriches, gazelles, etc.

Attractions in the city include a botanical garden, a zoo, and the regional archaeological and ethnological National Museum of Lubumbashi.

In an interview in Ocula Magazine in 2019, the Biennale's artistic director, Sandrine Colard explained, 'The Congo is a country that is perpetually in the future.

However, they also show movies about Congolese and African recent history like Mister Bob, Sniper: Reloaded, SEAL Team 8: Behind Enemy Lines, and Tears of the Sun.

Ciné Bétamax in particular also screens great football matches, and local singers’ concerts and Christian meetings are regularly held here.

Most artists are influenced by successful Dj Spilulu's productions, Kinshasa singers Fally Ipupa, Ferré Gola and World Music.

This code switching and mixing expresses the cosmopolitan character of the city, but some critics think it weakens the lyrics, which seem to be particularly made for teenagers anyway.

RTNC (Congolese National Radio and Television) has a provincial station located in Lubumbashi district at the junction of Lubilanshi and Sandoa.

The city is home to football clubs of the top national level such as FC Saint Eloi Lupopo, CS Don Bosco and TP Mazembe.

In 1911 the whites-only Ligue de Football du Katanga was founded in Elisabethville, organising in 1925 the first official local championship called the B. Smith Cup.

[26] Oscar Tshiebwe, the consensus 2022 NCAA Division I men's player of the year at the University of Kentucky, is also from Lubumbashi.