Burundi Post is Updated

GeoFact of the Day's Burundi post (↗) is updated with more information. Thanks for visiting GeoFact of the Day today!

Independence Day in Burundi

People all across BURUNDI celebrate their country's independence today. Straddling the East African Rift (sometimes known as the Great Rift Valley), Burundi achieved independence from Belgium in 1962. Happy Independence Day!

New Blog Maps of Botswana, Burundi, and Cameroon

GeoFact of the Day's three newest maps of BOTSWANA, BURUNDI, and CAMEROON give you knowledge about each country's cities and towns, land terrain, and approximate borders. Click on the buttons below to access the blog posts with these maps. Feel free to comment on what you think about my maps, and feel free to share your suggestions in regards to future maps or blog content!

Burundi is Known for...

●    Beaches by Lake Tanganyika
●    Being the southernmost source for the Nile River
●    Les Tambourinaires — The Royal Drummers of Burundi
●    La Pierre de Livingstone et Stanley (Livingstone–Stanley Monument) — where the infamous "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" encounter could've taken place

Listed in The Africa Book; the MLA citation is below. What are other "trademarks" of this African country? Feel free to share your thoughts with a comment!

Phillips et al. The Africa Book: A Journey through Every
          Country in the Continent. Lonely Planet, 2007.

— #AfricaWeek —

Burundi Exports

The following items are major exports of BURUNDI: animal hides, bananas, blankets and textiles, cassava, coffee, cotton, kaolin, limestone, nickel, niobium, peat, platinum, rare earth oxides, sugar, tantalum, tea, vanadium, and various assembled products. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports in 2016 include the Democratic Republic of the Congo (top importer), the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Rwanda, Belgium, Oman, China, Tanzania, Singapore, Uganda, Germany, India, the United States, Finland, China, Italy, the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, and Japan.

Burundi Endangered Species

As of December 22nd, 2014, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for BURUNDI lists 3 critically endangered species and 20 endangered species. The Anisopappus burundiensis flower, Chiloglanis ruziziensis catfish, and Impatiens bururiensis flower are Burundi's three critically endangered species listed on the IUCN Red List. The only known example of Anisopappus burundiensis is a specimen gathered by Lewalle in the year 1967, so this species is either very rare to find or even extinct. Likewise, Impatiens bururiensis have not been recently discovered in the wild and is only known because of examples found in collections. Five specimens were gathered in the Syguvyaye River valley between 1971 and 1982. Several endangered species in Burundi include the African Wild Dog, Chimpanzee, Tanganyika Lates perch fish, and several species of Vultures.
Discover more about Burundi! (link to my blog post)

Basics About Burundi

The small Central African country of BURUNDI is located to the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, south of Rwanda, and west of Tanzania. Lake Tanganyika forms the western border of Burundi. The national capital city was Bujumbura but is now Gitega since January 2019.

Capital of Burundi

(Post updated in 2021) Quick GeoFact: The capital of BURUNDI, a small country situated along the Great Rift Valley in Central Africa, was formerly Bujumbura. This city is in the western part of Burundi, east of the northern part of Lake Tanganyika. Located more towards the center in Burundi is Gitega, the national and legislative capital since January 2019.

I hope you are having a great start to the year 2013! If your resolution for the new year involves learning more, this is the blog to go to — at least for geography knowledge!

Former Names of Capitals

Quite a few capitals previously had different names. The following is a list of many, definitely not all, of the capitals that had different names in the past — they are categorized by continent.

AFRICA
Bujumbura, BURUNDI's former capital (Gitega is the new capital since 2019), was called Usumbura until 1962.
N'Djamena, CHAD's capital, was called Fort Lamy until 1973.
Kinshasa, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO's capital, was called Léopoldville until 1966.
Banjul, the capital of GAMBIA, was named Bathurst until 1973.
Antananarivo, MADAGASCAR's capital, was named Tananarive until 1975.
Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE's capital, was named Lourenço Marques until Mozambique's independence in 1976.
Harare, ZIMBABWE's capital, was named Salisbury until 1982.

ASIA
Tbilisi, GEORGIA's capital, was known as Tpilisi (Georgian) or Tiflis (Russian) until 1936.
Jakarta, INDONESIA's highly-populated capital, was known as Sunda Kelapa, then Jayakata, then Batavia, then Djakarta from 1949 to 1972.
Tokyo, JAPAN's capital located on the island of Honshu, was previously named Edo until 1868.
Astana, KAZAKHSTAN's capital, was known as Tselinograd, then Aqmola.
Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN's capital, was named Pishpek until 1926 and Frunze until 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ulaanbaatar, MONGOLIA's capital, was known as Ugra until 1924.
Dushanbe, TAJIKISTAN's capital, was called Dyushambe until 1929 and received the name Stalinagrad until 1961.
Ankara, TURKEY's capital, was called Angora until 1930.
Ashgabat, TURKMENISTAN's capital, was called Poltoratsk from 1919 until 1927.

EUROPE
Belgrade, SERBIA's capital, was known as Singidunum in ancient times.
Podgorica, MONTENEGRO's capital, was known as Birziminium before the 11th century, Ribnica during the Middle Ages, and Titograd from 1946 to 1992. The capital possessed the name Podgorica in 1326 until 1946, resuming in 1992.

SOUTH AMERICA
Sucre, one of two capitals of BOLIVIA and named in honor of Antonio José de Sucre, was called Chuquisaca until 1825.

Credit goes to the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition, which conveniently listed former capital names.

Burundi

Home to about 12 million residents (year 2023 estimate), BURUNDI is a central African country located along the East African Rift zone. There are 3 bordering countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Rwanda to the north, and Tanzania to the east and south. Burundi is north and east of the long and skinny Lake Tanganyika. The currency is the Burundi Franc, and the ISO 4217 currency code is BIF. Burundi’s climate is equatorial and typically includes two wet and two dry seasons, while temperature ranges are stratified depending on altitude. Major food sources and crops include bananas, cassava (manioc), coffee, cotton, maize (corn), sorghum, sweet potatoes, and tea. Some of the country’s exports for global trade ↗ include blankets and textiles, kaolin, limestone, niobium, platinum, rare earth oxides, and vanadium.

● ● ● ● ●  People and Places  ● ● ● ● ●  According to Encyclopædia Britannica, Burundi’s population in the year 2020 is about 12,499,000 and is ranked 76th among populations of the whole world’s countries, dependencies, and territories. At the northeast edge of Lake Tanganyika, Bujumbura is the economic capital and largest city with a population near 500,000 in 2023. Starting in January 2019, the national capital was switched over to Gitega with all or most government functions planning to transition to the central Burundi city. The population of Gitega in 2012 was almost 23,000 then grew to over 162,000 in 2023. Other major Burundian cities with over 100,000 residents include Bugendana, Busoni, Giteranyi, Muyinga, Ngozi, Nyanza-Lac, and Rumonge.

Notable places and sites of interest all across the country include the Burundi French Institute (Institut Français Burundi) in Bujumbura, Chutes de la Karera waterfalls near Gihofi, Geological Museum in Bujumbura, Jardin Public (Public Garden) in Bujumbura, National Museum of Gitega, and Saga Beach near Bujumbura. Places of cultural and natural importance listed on the Tentative List of UNESCO in the year 2007 include Gasumo, a southern source of the Nile; Karera Falls and the Nyakazu Fault; Rwihinda, lake of birds; the Royal Residence of Burundi (Gishora Drumming Palace); and the sacred natural landscapes of Muramvya, Mpotsa, and Nkiko-Mugamba.

Kirundi (Rundi) and French are official languages used for communication; Swahili is another major language. Partly due to a relatively small geographic size, Burundi has relatively few languages compared to several African countries — including Cameroon, Chad, D.R. Congo, Nigeria, and Tanzania — that have over 100. Religions in Burundi include Christianity (especially the Roman Catholic and Anglican Communion denominations), ethnic religions, Islam, Hinduism, and Bahá’í. People and ethnic groups include the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa (Pygmy).

● ● ● ● ●  Land and Water Features  ● ● ● ● ●  The general landscape consists of grassy highlands with mountains towering almost 9,000 feet. Burundi’s highest point is Mount Heha, standing with an elevation of 8,760 feet and 2,670 meters and situated west of Ruko in western Burundi. Other prominent mountains throughout Burundi include Kikizi, Umusozi Twinyoni, Camabari, Mikiko, Nyaruyaga, Karavyi, Gitwe, Rubaribari, Karama, Shaga, Manga, Mutwe, Taba, Nyakibugwe, Musumba, Mugongo, Nyankware, and Rutemba. The major national parks throughout Burundi are Kibira, Rusizi, and Ruvubu.

Burundi features a vast network of rivers and tributaries throughout the whole country. Borderland rivers include Kagera, Kanyaru, Lugusi, Maragarazi, Ruhwa, Rumpungwe (Rumpungu), Rusizi, and Ruvubu. Inland rivers include Kabulantwa, Mpanda, Mubarazi, Mulembwe, Murarangaro, Muyovozi, Ndurumu, Nyamuswaga, Rukoziri, Ruvubu (borderland and inland), and Ruvyironza. The White Nile river’s southernmost source is found in southern Burundi; the other known southernmost source is located in Rwanda. Straddling the Burundian border from the towns of Gatumba (north) and down to Nyanza-Lac (south), Lake Tanganyika is the world’s second-deepest lake. Northeast of the community of Bugabira, Lac Cohoha and Lac Rweru are the two major lakes along the border with Rwanda in northern Burundi — between the towns of Bururi (west) and Bigugo (east).

This post was updated with more information in March 2024. GeoFact of the Day’s map of Burundi was designed in June 2020.

Nile River

The Nile River is sometimes known as the longest river in the world — contending with the Amazon River for the longest river designation. The Nile River stretches for more than 4,100 miles and almost 6,600 miles long! The Nile and its major tributaries — the Blue Nile (east) and White Nile (south) — runs through 11 countries in Africa: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The northern and main portion of the Nile is found in Egypt and Sudan. The Blue Nile predominantly flows through Ethiopia and Sudan. The White Nile is especially wide in South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.