Bujumbura, formerly Usumbura, city in western Burundi, capital of the country and of Bujumbura Province, at the northeastern end of Lake Tanganyika. Bujumbura is a trade center, with ferry service to Kigoma-Ujiji, Tanzania; from the latter city goods are shipped by rail to Dar es Salaam. Bujumbura is in a cotton-growing region; handicrafts, fishing equipment, hides, beer, cement, and pharmaceuticals are produced here in addition to cotton products. Lake fishing is an important occupation, and the city has fish- and coffee-processing plants. It is the seat of the University of Burundi (founded in 1960).
The settlement was visited by the explorers David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley in 1871. It was an important army camp in German East Africa. In 1923 the city became the capital of the Belgian mandate (after 1946 the trust territory) of Ruanda-Urundi. It became the capital of Burundi in 1962, and the name of the city was changed from Usumbura to Bujumbura. After Burundian president Melchior Ndadaye was killed in a coup attempt in 1993, ethnic violence erupted. Thousands of Burundians fled the capital, which became a stronghold for the Tutsi-dominated army. The violence continued into 1996, and repeated clashes between Tutsi and Hutu caused many deaths in Bujumbura and its suburbs. Population (1991 estimate) 634,479.
