Uíge
Provincial capital in Angola
Uíge (Kongo: Wizidi or Wizi), formerly Carmona, is a provincial capital city in northwestern Angola, with a population of 636,253 (2024 census), and a municipality, with a population of 773,099 (2024 census), located in the province of the same name. It grew from a small market centre in 1945 to become a city in 1956. It is served by the Uíge Airport with daily flights to Luanda.
01Name
Uíge was renamed Vila Marechal Carmona in 1955 after the former Portuguese President Óscar Carmona, renamed simply Carmona after it became a city. The name was changed back to Uíge after independence in 1975.
02History
During Portuguese rule it became a major centre for coffee production in the 1950s. The city was the nerve centre of rebel activity against Portuguese occupation. Consequently, the city endured frequent guerrilla war between Portuguese forces and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; FNLA).
It had the worst known ever outbreak of the Marburg virus in 2005.
On February 10, 2017, there was a stampede at the 4 January Stadium in Uige, Angola. The incident caused the deaths of 17 people and injured 58 others.
03Demographics
In 2010 it had a population of 119,815. In 2014 the population was 322,531. Projected to be the fourth fastest growing city on the African continent between 2020 and 2025, with a 5.92% growth.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Uíge”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Rua Uige.JPG by Paulo César Santos, CC0
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