The Largest City in Africa By Land Mass

If you were asked, what is the largest city in Africa by land? or its location, you might be confused as countries in Africa boast of having large cities even though they are nothing compared to the size of this city located in the African continent.

The largest city in Africa by land is Cairo in Egypt with a land mass of 104 square miles while Lagos which is the second largest African city has a land mass of 56 square miles.

Cairo

Cairo is the capital of Egypt. According to an online source, it is the African capital with the second biggest population estimated at 15 million people. It also ranks among the top 20 largest cities of the world in terms of size.

Lagos

Lagos is among the most populous cities in Africa and in the ranking of Nigerian cities, it is the first.

It may surprise you to know that in 2011, Lagos was populated with about 11.2 million inhabitants just behind Cairo’s 13.9 million inhabitants and was termed the second largest city in Africa. It only took about three years for Lagos to usurp Cairo as the most populous city in Africa with about 20 million people living in Lagos.

Lagos is referred to as “No man’s land”, even though it is located in the south-western region of Nigeria. Lagos is a metropolis and alone generates about a quarter of Nigeria’s GDP. The main financial center of the metropolis is Victoria Island, also known as VI. Lagos also has a lot of points of interest and was once the capital of Nigeria in the 19’s.

largest cities in Africa image credit: africanhype.com

Lagos is divided into two parts namely: the Island and the Mainland. The Mainland consists of places like Ikeja, Surulere, Oshodi, etc. While the Island, consists of places like Lagos island, Lekki, Victoria Island, etc. POI’s i.e points of interests are scattered all over Lagos and they include Amusement parks, Museums, Beaches, Multinational Companies Head Quarters, National Theater, Seaports, The National Stadium. e.t.c

Lagos is home to millionaires and few billionaires. The popular Banana Island is located in Lagos. Although, standard and cost of living in Lagos is high, Lagos continues to expand in terms of population and development. The government on its part, continues to create an enabling environment to make Lagos, the largest city in Africa habitable for Lagosians and foreigners that come in and out of Lagos.

Lagos as a metropolis continues to be a place where business in Nigeria thrives as electricity, social amenities like road, water e.t.c are within its environs, Lagos being the second largest city in Africa by land mass continues to make Nigeria a country worth visiting