The plain of Imbo, where lays a large fraction of the city of Bujumbura, has been a Burundian territory for centuries. However, due to its tropical-disease-friendly hot and damp climate, this region was quite unoccupied until the end of the 19^th century. In fact, there was even a legend that claimed that if a Mwami (King) were to see the Lake Tanganyika, He would die. It is said that this legend was confirmed in 1908 when Mwami Mwezi GISABO died on his way back to Gitega from Bujumbura – then Usumbura – where he had gone to visit the German Resident, and where he had seen the Lake for the first time in his life!

Although the region of Imbo was somewhat uninhabited, both traditional and modern History refer to a market known as Mukaza, located on actual site of the Bujumbura central market, and around which gatherings would have started to appear during the 1850s.

Around the 1870s, invaders from Zanzibar, who had managed to implant many trading posts along the shores of Lake Tanganyika (which they first discovered during the 1820s), sought to control the whole plain and to spread their domination over the Kingdom of Burundi. However, defeated by the Abadasigana – royal army of Mwezi GISABO – they only managed to settle in a region then known as Buzige – the actual Bujumbura – where they engaged in commerce and slave trade. By 1885, Mohamed Bin Khalfan (a.k.a. Rumaliza) had managed to take control over the whole of Imbo from his residence in MAGARA (Bujumbura Rural, south of Bujumbura), and all of the local princes and chiefs were under his influence.

Other visitors to the region of Imbo during the 19^th century include the Missionnaires d’Algers of Cardinal Lavigerie, who, around the 1880s, set up the Saint Antoine de l’Uzige mission (the actual Saint Michel Parish of Bujumbura); as well as famous explorers such as Richard F. Burton and John H. Speke (1858), Henry M. Stanley and David Livingstone (1871 and 1876), and Oscar Baumann, whose visit in 1892 was shortly followed by the establishment of the first German military station in KAJAGA in 1896.

KAJAGA is a very swampy, low altitude area, exposed to strong winds, that the German settlers had great trouble fighting malaria and sailing when the weather was bad. So in 1897 they moved to a more elevated and strategic post where they set up a port (on the site of the ex-Cercle Nautique de Bujumbura). For this matter, they hired Swahili builders from Tanzania to build the Boma, a 100m x 50m complex of offices, residences, a prison, and an arsenal, which made up the essential of the administrative quarter: It was located somewhere between today’s Place de l’Indépendance and Au Parquet basketball grounds.

The manpower from Tanzania and Askaris (African soldiers) were gathered along the coast, and by 1914, Asian merchants had joined them and the neighbourhood they occupied was known as the Quartier Swahili. In 1912 however, the capital of Urundi – Burundi, as it was known during colonization – was moved to Kitega (Gitega), but Usumbura was maintained as the capital of the district of Ruanda-Urundi*.

The city became an important trading post served by trails to the Congo, the north and the east, and by ships to the south: it played an important role in the exchanges between Western and Eastern Africa. By 1914, there were already 20 international trading firms operating in the city. Usumbura counted 3000 inhabitants, with a majority of non-Burundians, most of who left with the Germans when they lost Ruanda-Urundi to the Belgians in 1916.

In 1916, when the Belgians acquired a UN mandate on Ruanda-Urundi, Usumbura was maintained as the political and economical capital of the colony. The city continued to develop on sites characterized by the separation of racial communities. In fact, in June 1925, an edict set the creation of Cités Africaines (African neighbourhoods), and in 1928, the Africans who lived in the Quartier Swahili were moved to two new villages: BUYENZI (1928) and KABONDO (1932). The Quartier Swahili, then exclusively Asian, was renamed Quartier Asiatique in 1930, and is still known as such. On the other hand, the African neighbourhoods only lasted for about a decade: In 1941, the village of KABONDO, which had become very insalubrious, was destroyed. The population that occupied it was temporarily moved to a new site, in a village next to the airfield (close to the location of the Prince Louis RWAGASORE Stadium). In the meantime, two new quarters were being erected for them: the Quartier Belge A (actual BWIZA) and BUYENZI (the village was being rebuilt according to a new layout). These two new quarters were classified as Centres extra-coutumiers by an edict, on December 22nd 1941: they were African centres inhabited by 'evolved' Africans.

The Europeans first occupied the old German centre, and as the city grew, it was expanded by residences, administrative offices and trading quarters.

Usumbura was considered as the Belgian Colonial Empire’s opening towards the Indian Ocean; so it developed rapidly. There was a massive inflow of capital and more construction manpower was brought in from Tanzania and Congo. More manpower meant that the African Villages became very crowded. Thus, the Quartier Belge was extended with two new quarters: the Quartier Belge B to its South, and the Fond d’avance (actual NYAKABIGA) to its North. Between 1952 and 1957, on the right bank of the NTAHANGWA River, NGAGARA (neighbourhoods 1 to 5), KAMENGE and KINAMA were built by the Office des Cités Africaines (OCAF). These new centres were built for African clerks, many of whom were Burundian: for this reason, they are considered as the homes of the first Burundian intellectuals.

After the Second World War, the commercial and administrative centres were extended from the original site, up to the site of the Prince Louis stadium. Residential areas had also grown towards the East (ROHERO I) and towards the South (ZEIMET). It was also during this period that the buildings of the Collège du Saint Esprit (actual KIRIRI Campus) were erected. The industrial quarter was expanded - the port had been moved to its current location in 1950 - and a new airport was built (the actual presidential airport).

On July 1st 1962, Burundi was an Independent country, and Bujumbura was proclaimed official Capital city. The city continued to develop: new quarters were created on the spaces that used to separate the racial neighbourhoods while the old neighbourhoods became denser.

In 1963 CIBITOKE was created to welcome populations that had been displaced due to a rise of the waters of the Lake and of its affluent rivers. The Quartier B was expanded towards the Saint Michel mission and renamed ROHERO II in 1964. In 1968, the Institut National de Securité Sociale (INSS) invested funds in a new neighbourhood: the Quartier INSS. ROHERO I was expanded to join ROHERO II, MUTANGA (Sud) was being built and KABONDO was reborn.

The administrative and commercial quarters were also extended between 1962 and 1980, including the construction of the RTNB (Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi) buildings, of the KAMENGE Campus, of the buildings accommodating the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education, amongst many others.

From 1980, Bujumbura began to expand further North towards GIKOMA and further South towards the KANYOSHA River.

In 1983, the neighbourhoods 6 and 7 of NGAGARA were born, JABE was being built and KININDO was created along with KINANIRA. MUTANGA grew towards the other side of the NTAHANGWA giving birth to GIHUNGWE (actual MUTANGA-Nord) which would further grow towards the North to give birth to GIHOSHA. Further North, thousands of homes were being built by the SOCARTI, giving birth to a quarter which is today part of the commune of KAMENGE.

*Rwanda and Burundi were colonized as a federated country but they mutually decided to separate when they gained their independence.