Bujumbura.orgBurundi city guide

Understand

A short history of Bujumbura, formerly Usumbura

For most of its history Bujumbura was called Usumbura — a small lakeshore settlement that a German military post (1897), then Belgian administration, then independence transformed into a capital. Its story compresses the whole modern history of Burundi into a few square kilometres between the mountains and the lake.

The story in chapters

Colonial era

German East Africa, Belgian rule under League of Nations mandate, and how Usumbura became the capital of Ruanda-Urundi.

Independence

Prince Louis Rwagasore, the 1961 elections and assassination, and 1 July 1962 — the day Usumbura became a national capital.

Modern Bujumbura

The renaming to Bujumbura in 1962, the hard decades that followed, the 2000 Arusha Accords era, and the 2019 move of the political capital to Gitega.

Usumbura: the city's former name

Usumbura was the name of Bujumbura from the German military post of 1897 until independence on 1 July 1962, when the new Burundian government renamed its capital. The two names refer to the same city: Usumbura was the capital of the Belgian-run territory of Ruanda-Urundi, and Bujumbura became the capital of independent Burundi. If you meet the old name in colonial records, older maps or family stories, you are looking at the same lakeshore town. We tell the full story of the name, and what the town was like under it, on our page Usumbura: the old name of Bujumbura. For the later question of whether Bujumbura is still the capital today, see what is the capital of Burundi?

Timeline at a glance

YearEvent
1871Livingstone and Stanley stay at Mugere, just south of today's city, weeks after their famous meeting.
1897Germany establishes a military post at Usumbura within German East Africa.
1916–1962Belgian administration; Usumbura becomes the administrative centre of Ruanda-Urundi.
1961Prince Louis Rwagasore leads UPRONA to election victory and is assassinated weeks later.
1962Independence on 1 July; the city is renamed Bujumbura and becomes the capital of Burundi.
1962–2005Decades marked by coups and civil conflict, ending formally with the Arusha peace process and 2005 constitution.
2019Gitega becomes the political capital; Bujumbura remains the economic capital.

Walk it: the Rwagasore Mausoleum, Independence Square and the old quarter grid of the city centre make a compact self-guided history circuit.