History of Mbandaka

Although plans were made they were never realized and thus remained solely on the drawing board. These plans included an infrastructure for an estimated population of 100,000 people, a train station, a Catholic cathedral, a governors residence and a palace for future visits of Leopold II.

In 1886, at the beginning of their colonial rule, the Belgians changed the city's name to "Coquilhatville".

During the colonial time in 1938 works started on a bridge over the Congo River connecting Mbandaka with the French Congo. Work was abandoned at the outbreak of WWII and today only the foundations of the bridge pillars remain. In the 1930s several other projects were started by the Belgian colonial administration, including several factories and a new city hall. The city hall was completed only after the war in 1947 and was at that time, with a height of 39 meters, the tallest building in the Belgian Congo. On top of the city hall was a statue of Leopold II. The city hall was destroyed by a fire in 1963.

In 1966 the name was changed once again, this time by the new independent government, to "Mbandaka" to honor a prominent local leader.

Hundreds of people (mainly Hutu refugees, women and children) in the city were massacred on May 13, 1997 near the end of the First Congo War