{"id":49,"date":"2024-03-23T20:03:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T20:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/?p=49"},"modified":"2026-08-01T00:06:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:06:49","slug":"kasai-oriental","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/kasai-oriental\/","title":{"rendered":"Kasa\u00ef-Oriental"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kasa\u00ef-Oriental is a province in south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo, built around the diamond city of Mbuji-Mayi. At 9,545 km² it is the smallest of the country’s 26 provinces outside Kinshasa, yet it holds a projected 3,601,000 people, which makes it by far the most densely settled province in the interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Capital<\/th>\nMbuji-Mayi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Population<\/th>\n3,601,000 (2019 projection)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Area<\/th>\n9,545 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Territories<\/th>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cities<\/th>\nMbuji-Mayi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Languages<\/th>\nFrench (official); Tshiluba<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Neighbours<\/th>\nKasa\u00ef-Central, Sankuru, Lomami<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Towns, Cities and Territories<\/h2>\n

The province has five territories and one statutory city. Mbuji-Mayi is administered separately from the territories that ring it, and the five territory headquarters are all within about 60 km of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Territory or city<\/th>\nHeadquarters<\/th>\nArea<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Mbuji-Mayi<\/td>\nCity (ville)<\/td>\n135 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kabeya-Kamwanga<\/td>\nKabeya-Kamwanga<\/td>\n3,493 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Katanda<\/td>\nKatanda<\/td>\n1,836 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lupatapata<\/td>\nLupatapata<\/td>\n2,397 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Miabi<\/td>\nMiabi<\/td>\n1,655 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tshilenge<\/td>\nTshilenge<\/td>\n2,021 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Mbuji-Mayi holds an estimated 2,892,000 people, or roughly four in five of everyone in the province. It has swallowed much of the surrounding countryside: the territory headquarters of Tshilenge, Miabi, Katanda, Lupatapata and Kabeya-Kamwanga function less as separate towns than as the administrative centres of dense settlement belts feeding into the city. Kabeya-Kamwanga, the largest territory, runs east toward the Lomami boundary.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n

The province sits on the plateau between the Sankuru and Lubilanji rivers. Mbuji-Mayi takes its name from the Mbuji-Mayi River, which runs through it; the Lubilanji is the other main watercourse. The land is savanna on kimberlite-bearing ground, which is the whole reason the province exists in its current shape. Kasa\u00ef-Oriental has only three neighbours: Kasa\u00ef-Central<\/a> to the west, Sankuru<\/a> to the north, and Lomami<\/a> to the east and south. It touches no international border. Mbuji-Mayi lies about 190 km east of Kananga and 126 km north of Mwene-Ditu.<\/p>\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n

Density averages about 377 people per km², ten times the national figure and higher than any other province except Kinshasa. DR Congo has held no census since 1984, so all current numbers are projections; a 2023 estimate for the province was 3,450,000. Tshiluba is the language of daily life, spoken here by nearly everyone, with French in official use. The province is overwhelmingly Luba-Kasa\u00ef, with Songye communities toward the Lomami boundary. That concentration is partly a legacy of the 1960s: Luba families expelled from Katanga settled around Bakwanga, and the population never dispersed again.<\/p>\n

Economy and Local Life<\/h2>\n

Diamonds are the economy. The Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) works kimberlite pipes at Mbuji-Mayi that hold what is generally described as the world’s largest concentration of industrial diamonds; at its 1963 peak MIBA supplied around 80 percent of world industrial diamond output. Company production has fallen a long way since, and much of today’s digging is artisanal, worked by hand on the concession edges and along the Mbuji-Mayi River. Traders and buying counters fill the city centre.<\/p>\n

The catch is food. With 9,545 km² of land and close to three million urban residents, the province cannot feed itself, so maize, cassava and beans come in by road from Lomami<\/a> and Kasa\u00ef-Central<\/a>, and market prices in Mbuji-Mayi track the state of those roads. The territories around the city grow cassava, maize and groundnuts, and market gardening on the city fringe is a real source of income.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n

Kasa\u00ef-Oriental was created in 2015 when the former province of the same name was broken into three: the new, much smaller Kasa\u00ef-Oriental, plus Lomami<\/a> and Sankuru<\/a>. It was formed from the Tshilenge district and the separately administered city of Mbuji-Mayi. Its boundaries broadly match the short-lived South Kasai province of 1963 to 1966, which itself grew out of Albert Kalonji’s 1960 secession \u2014 the episode that drove tens of thousands of Luba to Bakwanga and turned a mining camp into a city. Bakwanga was renamed Mbuji-Mayi after the river.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/h2>\n

Mbuji-Mayi Airport is the main way in, with domestic flights from Kinshasa, Kananga and Lubumbashi. National Road 1 (RN1) runs west from the city to Kananga and Tshikapa and on toward Kinshasa. The nearest railway station is at Mwene-Ditu in Lomami, 126 km south on the Ilebo–Lubumbashi line, and freight for Mbuji-Mayi is transferred there to road. Within the province, distances to territory headquarters are short but the roads are earth and degrade in the rains, roughly October to May.<\/p>\n

FAQ<\/h2>\n

What is the capital of Kasa\u00ef-Oriental?<\/h3>\n

Mbuji-Mayi, formerly called Bakwanga. It is the province’s only statutory city and one of the largest cities in DR Congo.<\/p>\n

How many territories does Kasa\u00ef-Oriental have?<\/h3>\n

Five: Kabeya-Kamwanga, Katanda, Lupatapata, Miabi and Tshilenge, plus the separately administered city of Mbuji-Mayi.<\/p>\n

What language is spoken in Kasa\u00ef-Oriental?<\/h3>\n

Tshiluba, one of DR Congo’s four national languages, is spoken almost universally. French is the official language of administration and schooling.<\/p>\n

Why is Kasa\u00ef-Oriental known for diamonds?<\/h3>\n

Mbuji-Mayi sits on kimberlite pipes holding the world’s largest known concentration of industrial diamonds, mined by MIBA since the colonial period and dug artisanally today.<\/p>\n

How big is Kasa\u00ef-Oriental?<\/h3>\n

9,545 km², the smallest province in the country apart from Kinshasa, with a projected 3,601,000 people in 2019.<\/p>\n

Which provinces border Kasa\u00ef-Oriental?<\/h3>\n

Three: Kasa\u00ef-Central to the west, Sankuru to the north, and Lomami to the east and south. It has no international border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kasa\u00ef-Oriental is a province in south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo, built around the diamond city of Mbuji-Mayi. At 9,545 km² it is the smallest of the country’s 26 provinces outside Kinshasa, yet it holds a projected 3,601,000 people, which makes it by far the most densely settled province in the interior. Capital Mbuji-Mayi Population […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Kasa\u00ef-Oriental: Towns, Territories & Mbuji-Mayi","_seopress_titles_desc":"Kasa\u00ef-Oriental province, DR Congo: capital Mbuji-Mayi, its 5 territories, population, area, the MIBA diamond fields, languages and how to get there.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-dr-congo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}