50 Fun Facts About Burundi

Since 2019, which city has been the political capital of Burundi?

It was the old royal capital; the lakeside port city remains the economic capital and largest city.

Which is Burundi's largest city and economic capital?

Called Usumbura under colonial rule, it was renamed at independence in 1962 and has the biggest port on the lake.

Lake Tanganyika, on Burundi's southwestern border, holds which world record?

It is second deepest and second largest by volume, both behind Siberia's Baikal.

Which three countries border Burundi?

Zambia is a fourth neighbour only across the waters of the lake.

Under which colonial power was Burundi governed as part of German East Africa from 1885?

Belgian troops took it in 1916, and Belgium ran it under League of Nations and UN mandates until 1962.

Between the wars, Burundi and its northern neighbour formed a Belgian mandate called what?

It split into independent Rwanda and Burundi on 1 July 1962.

Burundi gained independence on 1 July of which year?

It kept its monarchy at first, under Mwami Mwambutsa IV.

Burundi's independence-era kings carried which title?

They headed a princely aristocracy called the ganwa; the kingdom's founding is traditionally dated to 1680.

How long had Prince Louis Rwagasore been Burundi's prime minister when he was assassinated in October 1961?

His party UPRONA had just won over 80% of the vote; a Greek gunman shot him at a lakeside hotel.

Which last king of Burundi did Michel Micombero depose in November 1966?

Ntare V had himself deposed his own father months earlier; he was killed on returning from exile in 1972.

Melchior Ndadaye, elected in 1993, was Burundi's first what?

He was assassinated by Tutsi soldiers after three months in office, sparking a 12-year civil war.

Burundi's leader Cyprien Ntaryamira died on 6 April 1994 in what event?

Juvénal Habyarimana's death that night was the trigger for the Rwandan genocide.

Roughly how many people died in the Burundian Civil War of 1993-2005?

It formally ended with the swearing-in of former rebel Pierre Nkurunziza as president in August 2005.

Which 2000 deal, mediated by Mandela and Nyerere, set out power-sharing for Burundi?

Its two-term limit was at the heart of the 2015 crisis over Nkurunziza's third term.

Burundi's constitution fixes the ethnic split of the National Assembly at what?

It also mandates 30% women and three seats for the Twa minority.

Pierre Nkurunziza's 2015 bid for what triggered protests, a failed coup and a refugee exodus?

A former PE teacher and rebel leader, he was later titled "Supreme Guide of Patriotism" and died in office in 2020.

In 2017 Burundi became the first country in the world to do what?

The move followed a UN report accusing the government of killings, torture and sexual violence.

Burundi's flag features a white saltire and three red stars. What do the stars represent?

Red stands for the suffering of the freedom struggle, green for hope, and the white cross for peace.

Which sacred drum symbolised the Burundian king and appeared on the national flag from 1962 to 1966?

The mwami was said to interpret its beats as rules for the kingdom; a sorghum plant sat beside it on the old flag.

The world-famous Royal Drummers of Burundi helped inspire which world music festival in 1982?

They also appeared on Joni Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns and influenced Adam and the Ants' "Burundi beat".

Which drum sanctuary, founded by a 19th-century king, lies 7 km north of the political capital?

Mwami Ntare Rugamba founded it after defeating a rebel chief.

Which national language of Burundi is mutually intelligible with Rwanda's Kinyarwanda?

Virtually the whole population speaks it; French and English are also official, English since 2014.

Which two crops provide about 90% of Burundi's foreign exchange earnings?

The main port ships most of the coffee crop; over 90% of Burundians work in agriculture.

Burundi is home to the most distant source of which great river, at the head of the Ruvyironza?

A pyramid monument was raised near Rutovu in 1937; the river distance to the Mediterranean is 6,671 km.

Which German explorer erected a pyramid in 1937 marking Burundi's southernmost source of the Nile?

It stands near Rutovu, close to Mount Kikizi in Bururi Province.

Mount Heha, Burundi's highest peak at 2,685 m, rises how far from the great lake to its west?

It sits southeast of the largest city in the Burundi Highlands.

Kibira National Park, Burundi's only montane rainforest, was until 1933 reserved for what?

It adjoins Rwanda's Nyungwe forest and shelters chimpanzees and colobus monkeys.

Rusizi National Park north of the largest city is home to Gustave, a notorious what?

The park's wetlands also shelter hippos and sitatunga antelope.

Vénuste Niyongabo won Burundi's first Olympic medal, a gold, at the 1996 Atlanta Games in which event?

It was Burundi's Olympic debut and he had raced the distance only twice before, having given his 1500 m place to a teammate.

Francine Niyonsaba won Burundi's second Olympic medal, a silver at Rio 2016, in which event?

Barred from that distance by testosterone rules, she moved up and set an African 2000 m record in 2021.

Burundi's football team, which reached its first Africa Cup of Nations in 2019, has what nickname?

Les Hirondelles lost all three group matches in Egypt without scoring.

A monument at Mugere on the lakeshore marks an 1871 visit by which two famous explorers?

Locals claim it was where "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" was said, but that meeting was at Ujiji in Tanzania two weeks earlier.

Roughly what share of Burundi's population is Hutu?

Tutsi are about 18% and the Twa under 1%.

Burundians traditionally drink which sorghum beer together from a large shared container?

Isongo, a banana wine, is the other traditional tipple.

Which small sardine-like Lake Tanganyika fish is a Burundian staple known as ndagala?

Lakeside markets sell it fresh or dried; technically the fishery is banned but continues.

Burundi's biggest brewer, Brarudi, was founded in 1955 to make which lager for the Belgian territories?

It is now part of the Heineken group and one of the state's largest taxpayers.

The 2018 World Happiness Report ranked Burundians as what?

Burundi is also the poorest country in the world by nominal GDP per capita.

Which of these is NOT, like Burundi, a direct continuation of a pre-colonial African state?

Eswatini rounds out the list; Burundi's kingdom emerged by the 16th century.

Which Tutsi officer, president 1987-93 and 1996-2003 after two coups, lost to Ndadaye in the 1993 election?

He was sentenced to life in absentia in 2020 for Ndadaye's murder and died in Paris weeks later.

Burundi joined which regional bloc, alongside Rwanda, in 2007?

The EAC now has eight members and aims at an eventual federation with its capital at Arusha.

Which 1966 event turned Burundi from a kingdom into a republic?

Micombero, a Tutsi officer, then ruled as dictator until 1976 and presided over the 1972 genocide of Hutus.

Which Burundian waterfalls south of Rutana spill in six branches over three levels?

They lie near the Nyakazu Fault, a gorge the Germans fortified in 1902.

Intore, performed by Burundian men with spears and drums, originated as what?

It reached Rwanda in the 1830s when a Burundian royal fled there; women are not permitted to perform it.

Roughly what share of Burundians live in urban areas, one of the lowest rates in the world?

Its population density, over 300 per km2, is the second highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

Which president, a former rebel general nicknamed "Neva", took office in June 2020 after Nkurunziza's death?

He became chairperson of the African Union in 2026.

What was Bujumbura officially called before it was renamed at independence in 1962?

It had served as capital of the Belgian mandate of Ruanda-Urundi from 1924.

In the old Kingdom of Burundi, what was the princely aristocracy beneath the king called?

The princes owned most of the land and drew tribute from Hutu farmers and Tutsi herders.

Which ferry links Bujumbura across Lake Tanganyika with Kigoma in Tanzania?

Bujumbura also has the country's only paved airport runway, served by just four airlines.

The traditional Burundian drink isongo is a wine made from what?

A typical Burundian meal is sweet potatoes, maize, rice and peas, with meat only a few times a month.

In 2005 Burundi's government declared which Islamic holiday a public holiday?

Most Christian holidays are also observed, with Christmas the largest, and Independence Day falls on 1 July.