Kigali capital of the kingdom was at Nyanza, in the south of the country. The city of Kigali was founded in 1907 by German administrator and explorer Richard Kandt. Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi had been assigned to Germany by the Berlin Conference of 1884, and Germany established a presence in the country in 1897 with the formation of an alliance with the king, Yuhi V Musinga. Kandt arrived in 1899, exploring Lake Kivu and searching for the source of the Nile. When Germany decided in 1907 to separate the administration of Rwanda from that of Burundi, Kandt was appointed as the
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