EncyclopediaLobito
Lobito (lōbē'tō, loovē'tō) [key], city (1983 est. pop. 150,000), W central Angola, on the Atlantic Ocean. Angola's most important port after Luanda, it is also a road hub and the western terminus of the trans-African Benguela railroad, which connects the port with the mines in the Congo and Zambia. The city is built mainly on reclaimed land. The harbor, protected by a sandbar, is among the best on Africa's west coast, but the Angolan civil war, which closed the railroad, caused the port to fall largely into disuse. Lobito was founded by the Portuguese in 1843. The completion of the railroad from Benguela in 1929 made Lobito an important commercial center and Angola's chief port, but it declined in the 1970s due to damage of port facilities during the war of independence from Portugal.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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