A vote in the Parliament of Burundi made the change official on 16 January 2019, with all branches of government expected to move to Gitega within three years.

[3][needs update] Bujumbura grew from a small village after it became a military post in German East Africa in 1889.

After World War I it was made the administrative center of the Belgian League of Nations mandate of Ruanda-Urundi.

[4] Since independence, Bujumbura was the scene of frequent fighting between the country's two main ethnic groups, with Hutu militias opposing the Tutsi-dominated Burundi Army during the Burundian Civil War.

Bujumbura has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen: Aw)[5] bordering on hot semi-arid (BSh).

[13] Due to the poor emergency response, the fire lasted for hours, resulting in a serious blow to local exchanges.

The city is also home to many basketball and tennis courts, as well as a multitude of indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

The University of Burundi is in Bujumbura, as are Hope Africa University, Université Paix et Réconciliation, Université des Grands Lacs, Université du Lac Tanganyika, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Lumière de Bujumbura, Bujumbura International University (BIU), International University of Equator, International Leadership University of Bujumbura, Université Ntare Rugamba of Bujumbura, Université Sagesse d'Afrique de Bujumbura, Université Martin Luther King, Institut Supérieur de Développement de Bujumbura (ISD), Ecole Nationale d'Administration "ENA", Institut National de Santé Publique "INSP", Institut Supérieur de Gestion des Entreprises "ISGE", Institut Supérieur d'Ingénieurs et Cadres Techniciens en Génie Informatique, Télécommunications et Technologies Avancées "INITELEMATIQUE".

Other nearby attractions are the Rusizi National Park, the Livingstone-Stanley Monument at Mugere (where David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley visited 14 days after their first historic meeting at Ujiji in Tanzania), the presidential palace and the source of the southernmost tributary of the Nile, described locally as the source of the Nile.