The story of Kandt and how Kigali came to be the capital city

Many people today tend to think that Kigali was ‘born with’ the same sky scrapers it has now. A little reading would reveal the story of a city’s humble beginnings and how it grew into a modern capital that now has three districts and a million of residents. History has it that the first modern house to be built in Kigali was Kandt House, located at Muhima sector, opposite the Kigali central prison. Who was Kandt? Doctor Richard Kandt was a German environmentalist who reached the country in 1899 and established his residence in Shangi, currently in Nyamasheke, Eastern province, on the shores of Lake Kivu. He had embarked on his journey for the exploration of the Lake Kivu, and mainly, to find the source of the Nile. He found this source in the Nyungwe natural forest (now a national park), and published his findings in his book ‘Caput Nili’, written in Dutch. Kandt comes to Kigali It will be recalled that at the time, Rwanda was under German colonial rule, as had been decided in the Berlin agreement. In the year 1906, Germany named Kandt “first resident of Rwanda”— in other words, he was named the country’s representative of Kaiser Wilhelm (the last German emperor) to Rwanda. He then relocated from his Bergfrieben (‘peaceful village’ which still exists in Shangi cell) and established his residency in Kigali, Muhima sector in 1907. The following year, construction of the first ever modern house of the capital Kigali at the very place was finished. It was then that Kigali became the administrative centre of Rwanda. Kandt died in Nuremberg, Germany in 1918. His house, which first belonged to the Germans, was later transferred to the government of Rwanda. In 2004, it was transformed into a Natural history museum and from last year, it also serves as the headquarters of the Institute of National museums of Rwanda. Among other things on display there, is a brief biography of Kandt, the man whose personal story is so closely intertwined with that of our country’s capital.