Kigali The first businesses were established in Kigali that year by Greek and Indian merchants, with assistance from Baganda and Swahili people. Items traded included cloth and beads. However, commercial activity was limited and there were only around 30 firms in the city by 1914. Kandt also opened government-run schools in Kigali, which began educating Tutsi students. Belgian forces took control of Rwanda and Burundi in 1916, during World War I, and were granted sovereignty by a League of Nations mandate in 1919.. In early 1917, Belgium attempted to assert direct rule on the colony, placing King Musinga under arrest and
Kigali act as a water store and flood protection for the city, although these are under threat from agriculture and development. The central business district (CBD) (known in Kinyarwanda as "mu mujyi") of Kigali lies on Nyarugenge Hill, and was the site of the original city founded by Richard Kandt in 1907. The house that Kandt lived in is now a museum. Geographically, the CBD lies towards the western edge of the built-up area, as the terrain to the east was more suitable for development of the expanding city than the high slopes of Mount Kigali to the west. Several of