Kinshasa (formerly French Léopoldville) is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River.

Once a site of fishing villages, Kinshasa is now an urban area with a population of nearly 10 million inhabitants. It faces the capital of the neighbouring Republic of Congo, Brazzaville which can be seen in the distance across the wide Congo River. Because the administrative boundaries cover such a vast area, over 60% of the city's land is rural in nature, and the urban area only occupies a small section in the far western end of the province.

Kinshasa holds the status of the second largest city in Africa, after Cairo. Although it has no significant native French speaking population, it is the second largest officially francophone city in the world before Montreal, inasmuch as French is the language of government and commerce, and is used as a lingua franca.

Residents of Kinshasa are known as Kinois (in French and sometimes in English) or Kinshasans (English).