Kigali 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 colony's only European-style city, while Kigali's population remained at around 6,000 until independence in 1962. Kigali become the capital upon Rwandan independence in 1962. The traditional capital was the seat of the "mwami" (Kings Yuhi V, Mutara III and Kigeli IV) in Nyanza, while the colonial seat of power was in Butare, then known as Astrida. Butare was initially the leading contender to be the capital of the
Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre are the Murambi Memorial Centre, Bisesero Genocide Memorial Centre and Ntarama Genocide Memorial Centre and others at Nyamata and Nyarubuye. The remains of the people here were brought from all over the capital after they had been left in the street or thrown in the river. They are buried together in lots of 100,000. The memorial was opened in 1999. The centre here started when Kigali City Council and the Rwandan National Commission for the Fight against Genocide commissioned a UK-based genocide prevention organization called Aegis Trust to establish the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. In April 2004, on the 10th