Uíge | |
Other Name: | Carmona |
Native Name: | Wizidi |
Settlement Type: | Municipality and town |
Pushpin Map: | Angola |
Pushpin Label Position: | right |
Pushpin Mapsize: | 250 |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Angola |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Angola |
Subdivision Type1: | Province |
Subdivision Name1: | Uíge Province |
Established Title: | Founded |
Established Date: | 1946 |
Area Total Km2: | 1188 |
Population As Of: | mid 2020 |
Population Footnotes: | [1] |
Population Total: | 616605 |
Population Density Km2: | auto |
Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
Timezone: | WAT |
Utc Offset: | +1 |
Coordinates: | -7.6167°N 18°W |
Elevation M: | 858 |
Blank Name: | Climate |
Blank Info: | Aw |
Uíge (Kongo: Wizidi[2]), formerly Carmona, is a provincial capital city in northwestern Angola, with a population of 322,531 (2014 census),[3] and a municipality, with a population of 519,196 (2014 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 serviced by the Uíge Airport with daily flights to Luanda.
Uíge was renamed[4] Vila Marechal Carmona in 1955 after the former Portuguese President Óscar Carmona, renamed simply Carmona after it became a city, but changed back to Uíge in 1975.
During Portuguese occupation it was a major center for coffee production in the 1950s.[5] The city was the nerve center of rebel activity against Portuguese occupation. Consequently, the city faced frequent guerrilla war between Portuguese forces and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; FNLA).[6]
It had the worst known ever outbreak of the Marburg virus in 2005.
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.[7]