Editing Kigali (section)

===Colonial period===
[[File:Kandt House Kigali (back view).jpg|thumb|Kigali's first European-style house built for [[Richard Kandt]], now the [[Kandt House Museum of Natural History]]|alt=Photograph of the house with the driveway and a smaller outhouse visible]]
The founding of Kigali is generally dated to 1907, when German administrator and explorer [[Richard Kandt]] was appointed as the first [[List of colonial residents of Rwanda|resident of Rwanda]], and established the city as the headquarters.{{sfn|Cybriwsky|2013|pp=140–141}}<ref name="48HoursInKigali"/><ref name="Centenary"/> Alexis Kagame promoted an alternative theory that the city was established as a capital under Cyilima I Rugwe in either the 1300s or the 1500s. There is little direct evidence for this, however, and the more recent kings of the pre-colonial era are known to have been based at Nyanza.<ref name="Centenary">{{cite news |url=https://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/87691 |work=[[The New Times (Rwanda)|The New Times]] |title=Mainstory: Kigali City through history |date=24 November 2007 |access-date=21 December 2020}}</ref> Rwanda and neighbouring [[Burundi]] had been assigned to Germany by the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884,{{sfn|Appiah|Gates|2010|p=218}} forming part of [[German East Africa]], and Germany established a presence in the country in 1897 with the formation of an alliance with the king, [[Yuhi V Musinga]].{{sfn|Carney|2013|p=24}} Kandt arrived in 1899, to explore [[Lake Kivu]] and search for the [[source of the Nile]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tabaro |first=Jean de la Croix |work=[[The New Times (Rwanda)|The New Times]] |access-date=11 May 2020 |url=http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/111005/ |title=The story of Kandt and how Kigali came to be the capital city |date=6 July 2014}}</ref>

When Germany decided in 1907 to separate the administration of Rwanda from that of Burundi, Kandt was appointed as resident.{{sfn|Louis|1963|p=146}} He chose to make his headquarters in Kigali due to its central location in the country,<ref name="HistoryOfCity"/> and also because the site on Nyarugenge Hill afforded good views and security.<ref name="HistoryOfCity"/> Kandt's house, located close to the [[central business district]] (CBD), was the first European-style house in the city,<ref name="LegacyPart1"/> and remains in use today as the [[Kandt House Museum of Natural History]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=National Museums of Rwanda |url=http://www.museum.gov.rw/2_museums/kigali/kandt_house/pages_html/intro/page_intro.htm |title=Institute of National Museums of Rwanda |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209092050/http://www.museum.gov.rw/2_museums/kigali/kandt_house/pages_html/intro/page_intro.htm |archive-date=9 December 2008 |access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref> Despite a German ordinance written in 1905, which prohibited "non-indigenous natives" from entering Rwanda,{{sfn|Louis|1963|p=168}} Kandt began permitting the entry of foreign traders in 1908, which allowed commercial activity to begin in Rwanda.{{sfn|Dorsey|1994|p=46}}{{sfn|Louis|1963|p=168}} Kigali's first businesses were established by Greek and Indian merchants,{{sfn|Dorsey|1994|p=46}} with assistance from [[Baganda]] and [[Swahili people]].{{sfn|Linden|Linden|1977|p=103}} Items traded included cloth and beads.{{sfn|Linden|Linden|1977|p=103}} Commercial activity was limited and there were only around 30 firms in the city by 1914.{{sfn|Louis|1963|p=172}} Kandt also opened government-run schools in Kigali, which began educating Tutsi students.{{sfn|Linden|Linden|1977|p=110}}

Belgian forces [[East Africa Campaign (World War I)|took control]] of Rwanda and Burundi during [[World War I]], with Kigali being captured by the Northern Brigade led by Colonel [[Philippe Molitor]] on 6 May 1916.{{sfn|Stapleton|2013|p=164}} The Belgians were granted sovereignty by a [[League of Nations mandate]] in 1922, forming the mandatory territory of [[Ruanda-Urundi]].{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=25–26}} In early 1917, Belgium attempted to assert direct rule on the mandate, placing King Musinga under arrest and sidelining Rwandans in the judiciary.{{sfn|Linden|Linden|1977|p=127}} In this period, Kigali was one of two provincial capitals, alongside [[Gisenyi]].{{sfn|Des Forges|2011|p=135}} An agricultural-labour shortage caused by the recruitment of locals to assist the European armies during the war, the plundering of food by soldiers, and torrential rains which destroyed crops, led to [[Rumanura famine|a severe famine]] at the start of the Belgian administration.{{sfn|Des Forges|2011|pp=137–138}} The famine, combined with the difficulty of governing the complex Rwandan society, prompted the Belgians to re-establish the German-style indirect rule at the end of 1917.{{sfn|Linden|Linden|1977|p=130}} Musinga was restored to his throne at Nyanza, with Kigali remaining home to the colonial administration.{{sfn|Des Forges|2011|p=142}}{{sfn|Dorsey|1994|p=275}} This arrangement persisted until the mid-1920s,{{sfn|Des Forges|2011|p=210}} but from 1924 the Belgians began once more to sideline the monarchy, this time permanently.{{sfn|Geary|2003|p=96}} Belgium took over control of dispute resolution, appointment of officials and collection of taxes.{{sfn|Des Forges|2011|p=210}}{{sfn|Stapleton|2017|p=34}} Kigali remained relatively small through the remainder of the colonial era, as much of the administration took place in Ruanda-Urundi's capital [[Usumbura]], now known as Bujumbura in Burundi. Usumbura's population exceeded 50,000 during the 1950s and was the mandate's only European-style city,<ref>{{cite web |oclc=782062177 |publisher=Infor Congo (Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi Information and Public Relations Office) |year=1958 |title=Ruanda Urundi / Preface by Jean-Paul Horroy, governor of Ruanda-Urundi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntYvAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> while Kigali's population remained at around 6,000 until independence in 1962.<ref name="HistoryOfCity">{{cite news |last=Ntagungura |access-date=24 January 2021 |first=Godfrey |date=20 May 2011 |title=The history of City of Kigali |work=[[The New Times (Rwanda)|The New Times]] |url=http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/97496}}</ref>