Kigali Map, Article, Nairobi Maps, and Final Paper Ideas

Finding a map of Kigali was rather difficult. Kigali is such a young country that maps seem difficult to come by. It truly would be fascinating to find out what Kigali looked like even 50 years ago, since their population was around 6,000 people. For a very long time, they were considered one of the smallest capitals of an independent country in the entire world. However, I was not able to find an old map of Kigali. The map I did find was created by the US Defense Mapping Agency in 1994. That is an interesting time since that was right around the end of the Genocide. However, from literature that I've read, the infrastructure was not really damaged during those dark times, so really, it would not have been that different.

Interestingly enough, the map was created for military and humanitarian use only. It was classified, but declassified in 1994. The map is horrendously inaccurate spatially. When I was rectifying it, I added 20 control points because the map was made so oddly. The map now looks really warped, even though it is way more accurate now than before.

Rectified Map

That said, the map is still interesting to look at. Though it was made only 18 years ago, a lot has changed since. Buildings such as mosques or churches, stadiums, and most ministry buildings have stayed in the same position. That makes sense since those are the first thing we think as permanent fixtures in a city.

Stadium and Mosque are visible

Thinking about the purpose of the map, it was originally created for military and humanitarian uses, after the Genocide. So you can see here that the major roads are all highlighted, and also that the city center, where the financial district is, where the government center is, are the most detailed. You can see that in the first image posted. That's for obvious reason, but what surprises me is the detail of the neighborhoods. Many many streets are on the map, and even streets that today are dirt roads, or minor roads, are still on the map from 1994. I postulate that for military and humanitarian reasons, it's important to have the minor roads for accessibility and safety reasons.

The biggest changes from 1994 to today is the growth of the city. The city has grown tremendously, and even in the past 18 years, the population has exploded. So roads have gotten even more extensive where the map shows there are not that many.

The city roads have gotten much more extensive and larger neighborhoods have appeared where there used to be nothing.

Moving on to the article, newspaper articles from the past are not difficult to find, if you want newspapers produced by the west. Unfortunately, the Rwandan newspapers reported in French for a very long time, so many local newspapers are unintelligible to me. However, looking at the Western Newspaper, the longest one I found, and the oldest one I found is from the Milwaukee Journal in 1973.

Unfortunately, the article's audience are Americans that probably know very little about Rwanda. So the article lays out Rwanda's military coup, that was actually bloodless. But it paints a bleak picture about the future for Rwanda. It discusses the Tutsi-Hutu tensions, and the few rebellions that they have had. They highlight that the minority Tutsi rule over the majority Hutu. For the most part, the article is brief and informative for those who know nothing about the situation in Rwanda. It is also a minor minor section in the entire newspaper.

In general, the news articles in the past have highlighted the violence and tensions in Rwanda. While searching, I noticed articles up until 1994 have really emphasized the ethnic tension. Even articles back in the 60s and 70s mainly talk about the ethnic problems. However, after the genocide, from 1996 and on really, the articles talk about reconstruction. Then again, in the mid 2000s to today, many articles talk about Rwanda's improvement and future goals. There is a definitely progression in the articles. Both of these are expressed in Western newspapers and African newspapers as well.

Next, I have rectified three Nairobi Maps. It's surprisingly difficult to find the first map, but once you get it, the rest are not that bad.

Nairobi with three rectified maps.

Next is the discussion of the final paper idea. I remember in class, a classmate brought up a really interesting idea about the Germans and the Holocaust vs. the Rwandans and the Genocide. That is an idea I would be very interested in looking at, especially how the Rwandan government censors the rhetoric on genocide. Many believe that the Rwandan government is controlling the citizens and that would be an interesting idea to look at. Another idea would be to look at the population explosion over the past century. A country that goes from 6,000 to a little under one million is phenomenal. One could look at how the city has changed, and how it has adapted to accommodate the explosion. Lastly, another idea is looking at the Rwandan goals for the next decade. Rwanda has worked really hard on developing its economy, so looking at how Kigali has become the economic center of the country could be interesting. Of course one can also look at how the genocide impacted the city, but I feel that may be an overdone topic. But we shall see!