Brazzaville

City · 1880 CE · in Sub-Saharan Africa

Capital of Free French (1940–1943).

Sofia (c. 1880 CE): Capital of Principality of Bulgaria (1880–1908), Kingdom of Bulgaria (1947–1947), People's Republic of Bulgaria (1948–1990), and 1 more.
Hobyow (c. 1880 CE): Capital of Sultanate of Hobyo (1880–1894).
Ashgabat (1881 CE): Capital of Turkmenistan (1992–today).
Kinshasa (1881 CE): Founded as Léopoldville by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881, it is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and one of Africa's largest cities.
Vryheid (1884 CE): Capital of Nieuwe Republiek (1885–1888).
Addis Ababa (1886 CE): Capital of Ethiopia founded in 1886 by Menelik II and Empress Taytu; seat of the African Union.
Port Moresby (1873 CE): Capital of Papua New Guinea (1975–today).
Djibouti (1888 CE): Capital of Republic of Djibouti (1979–today).
Yaoundé (1888 CE): Capital of Republic of Cameroon (1960–today).
Bujumbura (1871 CE): Capital of Republic of Burundi (1963–2019).

Around the same time and place

Scramble for Africa (1881–1914 CE): Invasion, occupation and partition of almost all of Africa by European powers between the 1880s and 1914, formalised in part at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85.
HIV/AIDS pandemic (c. 1920 CE): Genetic studies trace the pandemic strain of HIV-1 to Kinshasa around the 1920s; AIDS was identified in 1981 and has killed tens of millions of people, with sub-Saharan Africa most affected.
Kingdom of Kongo (c. 1390–1914 CE): Central African kingdom with its capital at Mbanza Kongo; after Portuguese contact in 1483 its rulers adopted Christianity, and it later became deeply entangled in the Atlantic slave trade.
Congo Free State (1885–1908 CE): Colony privately ruled by King Leopold II of Belgium, where forced labour for rubber collection caused mass deaths; international outcry led Belgium to annex it in 1908.
Libreville (1849 CE): Capital of Gabon (1961–today).
Stanley’s crossing of Africa down the Congo (1874–1877 CE): Stanley circumnavigated Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika, then followed the Lualaba from Nyangwe down the Congo to the Atlantic, showing they were one river. The 999-day expedition was marked by heavy losses and violent clashes along the way.
Bangui (1889 CE): Capital of Central African Republic (1961–today).
Patrice Lumumba (1925 CE – 1961 CE): First prime minister of the independent Congo, deposed months after independence and executed in Katanga in January 1961.