Pointe Noire - City of Congo

Pointe-Noire is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, and a district in the Kouilou province. It is situated on a headland between Pointe-Noire Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

The climate is hot and humid. September and October experience somewhat less rainfall than other months.

Pointe Noire's name originated from Portuguese navigators who saw a block of black rocks on the headland in 1484. From then on, Pointe Noire, called Ponta Negra, became a maritime reference, and then a small fishing village from 1883, after the French signed a treaty with local people, Loangos.

In 1910, the French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Francaise was created, and then-French companies were allowed to exploit the Middle Congo . It soon became necessary to build a railroad which would connect Brazzaville, the then-terminus of the river navigation on the Congo River and the Ubangui River, with the Atlantic coast. As rapids make it impossible to navigate on the Congo River past Brazzaville, and the coastal railroad terminus site had to allow the construction of a deep-sea authorities chose the site of Punta Negra instead of Libreville as originally envisaged. Constructions of the Congo-Ocean Railway began in 1921, and led to the foundation of Pointe Noire on 22 May 1922.