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 three administrative districts—Nyarugenge, which lies in the south west, Kicukiro in the south east, and Gasabo, which occupies the northern half of the city's territory. Kigali lies in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. Kigali lies between the two mountains of Mount Kigali and Mount Jali, both of which have altitudes over , while the lowest areas of the city have an altitude of . Geologically, the city lies in a granitic and metasedimentary region, with lateritic soils on the hills and alluvial soils in the valleys. The Nyabarongo River,