Bikoro is a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
in
Équateur Province in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
, lying on
Lake Tumba, south of
Mbandaka.
It is the administrative center of
Bikoro Territory.
In 2012, the estimated population was 7,426.
Bikoro was the
episcopal see
An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...
of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Bikoro (which started as a
mission sui iuris
In the canon law of the Catholic Church, a mission (, pl. ), also known as an independent mission, can be defined as: "an ecclesial structure erected from a previous territory, with explicit boundaries, under the care of a religious communit ...
in 1931) until its suppression in 1975.
In 2018, Bikoro was affected by an outbreak of
Ebola virus disease
Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infe ...
, the ninth in the DRC's history.
Trivia
There is an airfield called Bikoro Airport found in official registers with the ICAO-Code FZBC. Bikoro never had an airport as various old maps and aeronautical charts confirm. It is instead served by the airfield of
Yembe-Moke (FZEM) located 7 miles north-east of the town.
Additionally, the third letter "B" in the code indicates that the airport is located the former province of Bandundu. Bikoro is located in the former province of Equateur. It is therefore assumed that FZBC is actually the ICAO code intended for
Bokoro airport that has been wrongly assigned due to a spelling error.
References
Populated places in the province of Équateur
Communes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
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