Why it looks like this

Brazzaville stands on the north bank of Pool Malebo, a lake-like widening of the Congo River. Directly across the water is Kinshasa, capital of the other Congo — no two national capitals anywhere stand closer, and yet the crossing is still by ferry: no bridge has ever been built.

The city began in 1880 as a French post founded by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, and grew as the capital of French Equatorial Africa — a colonial riverside grid with newer districts spreading along the pool.