An Introduction to Kigali

Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, established in 1962 along with Rwandan independence. It is the largest city with 965,398 (2009) residents. Geographically, it is quite hilly, surrounded by four major ridges and with a valley included. The major buildings, such as the financial district, is located on the ridges, while the poorer population lives in the valley. Roughly 70% of the city is considered "urban," with the city expanding slowly. Rwanda and Kigali are most known for their portrayals in movies like Hotel Rwanda (Rwandan Genocide). To many, Rwanda continues to be remembered for those reasons. Today though, Rwanda is developing at an incredible rate. They hope to be a middle-income country by 2020 and is considered an African country with stable governance. A famous site is Mille Collines, the hotel in which Paul Rusesabagina took in many refugees during the genocide. Kigali has many small water features running through it, which will be evident in the maps.

Above are screenshots of the different views in AfricaMap with the google function. In the following order, the first is hybrid, the second is the open street map, the third is the roadmap, the fourth is the satellite, and the last is the terrain. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. What I find particularly useful for Kigali is the terrain map because Kigali is so hilly. The hybrid, roadmap, and the open street map are great to visualize the infrastructure of Kigali and to see how the city was designed. Evidently, it's very non-gridded, and actually very French in style. They have many roundabouts it seems, which is a popular feature of the French.

Here are two very different example of Kigali. The first is the financial district. You can see the roads are much more gridded and wider. They're also very grey, indicating that the paving is much more recent and meant to last much longer. The buildings are larger and it definitely does not seem residential. Interestingly enough, there is quite a lot of green in the map, which makes me think that there is a culture of green design or beautification of the city. However, it's also very clear that that only happens in the wealthier areas of the city. Looking at the poorer region, you can see that it's much browner, and not gridded whatsoever. The buildings are smaller and much closer together, both indicating a residential area, but also a poorer area. But then, you can see that once you leave the neighborhood, there is a lot of space for agriculture, which lends me to believe agriculture is a large part of Kigali's economy.

Looking at the historic maps, you can see that Rwanda is not even recognized. It is also evident that the maps are not as accurate as the technology we have today. You can see that the water features are way off, and of course the borders aren't in existence.

I decided to show the malaria distribution of the entirety of Rwanda because otherwise, it would have been way too pixelated. One can see that Rwanda is not actually that malaria proved in comparison to many regions of Africa. The blue is lighter, and you can see in the southeast corner that it really gets worse. So the distribution of malaria is Rwanda is relatively calm in comparison.

Here is the city center on GoogleEarth. The center is closest to the financial district, and clearly closest to the area that they call "Place de la Constitution." It seems that Kigali has rather developed infrastructure. The roads seem to be paved well, and the roads are more gridded. There are many major roads that all lead to the center of Kigali. But I chose only some to point out that seemed perhaps a little more important than others, whether they seemed larger or their names sounded more important. Though you cannot see it, the Boulevard de l'OUA is a very long boulevard in Kigali.

So the five layers I chose were language family, Rwandan memorial sites, population distribution, religion, and WHO health centers. I chose the language family thinking there would be a lot of diversity, but there is actually none according to AfricaMap. I do not know how accurate that is, but like my previous post, I think language is much more of a gradient than strict boundaries. But according to AfricaMap, the language is Tutsi. 

The second is the Rwandan Memorial Sites. Obviously, there would be many since this layer is strictly Rwanda specific. The sites are concentrated in the city center, which once again makes sense. When it comes to tourism, you could expect most of the sites to be in an easily accessible area, and also in area that's wealthier so the country can attract more tourism.

The third is the population distribution. It is pretty clear that the density increases as you get into the center of the city. Though the map is quite pixelated, you can see the overall trend of an urban center. The city center is where the most concentrated, while as you leave the center, less and less people are concentrated.

The fourth layer is religion. Now this is where I was the most surprised. There are Christian, Muslim, and Ethnic religious centers. That I expected since I know those three are alive and well in Kigali. However, there was also a Hindu dot, which I was incredibly surprised about! After some research, I discovered that during Idi Amin's rule in Uganda, he forced out many Indians. Many of those Indians fled to Rwanda, and thus, Hinduism was established. I really had no idea and I find this an incredibly interesting example of modern day immigration.

Finally, the last layer I chose was the WHO health centers. I originally thought there would be a lot, but there apparently were only two. The first was to be expected, which is at the center of the School of Public Health. However, the other is in the Kamenjye Neighborhood. I'm curious why that is, and if that area is particularly afflicted with illnesses. I cannot find more information on this particular clinic.

Information on Kigali found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigali