These 10 African capital cities have interesting stories behind their names

N’Djamena

Chad’s capital city means “place of rest”. In fact, the area called N’Djamena used to be called Fort Lamy, founded by the French 120 years ago.

Fort Lamy was a trading city and administrative town for the French colonizers. But in 1973, the city’s name was changed into N’Djamena, with then-president Francois Tombalbaye borrowing the name from a small nearby village.

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