n.
River port (pop., 1992 est.: 937,579), capital of Republic of the Congo.
Lying on the north bank of the Congo River across from Kinshasa , it was founded in 1883 by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza . Developed as a European administrative and residential center, it was used as a base for later claims of France to lands to the northeast; it became the capital of French Equatorial Africa . The river port forms the terminus of the Congo-ocean transport system, with steamer service to the Congo's upper reaches and a railroad to Pointe-Noire 245 mi (394 km) west.