Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa. It’s a nation with a long history that has been marked in modern times by coups and ethnic conflict.
Burundi Basics
- Burundi is bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After World War I, the territory of Rwanda and Burundi, which had been colonized by the Germans, were combined into one territory under Belgian control called Rwanda-Urundi.
- Burundi’s capital is Gitega and its largest city is Bujumbura, but the nation is mostly rural. It has a population of more than 14 million people in a country that’s about 10,747 square miles, or 27,834 square kilometers. It is one of the smallest countries in Africa and is also one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world.
- Nearly all of the country is ethnically Barundi, with 85 percent being Hutu and 14 percent Tutsi. When the Tutsi were in power there was a genocide against Hutus in 1972.
- The official languages are Kirundi, French, English and Swahili, but Kirundi is by far the dominant language.
- The name Burundi comes from the kind of Urundi, who ruled in the area starting in the 16th century.
- The country is a republic and has a president, and the constitution requires that 30 percent of the members of the Senate be female.
Burundi National Symbols
The Burundi flag has wedges of red and green with white stripes between them, with a white circle in the center and three six-pointed stars in red outlined in green inside that. The three stars represent the three main ethnic groups — Hutu, Tutsi and Twa — as well as the three words in the national motto, which are unity, work and progress.
“Burundi Bwacu” is the national anthem, which means “Our Burundi.” It was adopted when the country gained independence in 1962.
The transvaal lion, a subspecies of African lion, is said to be the national animal, but the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on national symbols only lists the flag and the national anthem. Symbol Hunt also lists the lion, as well as the great blue turaco as the national bird and the bujumbura as national flower, which looks like a hibiscus.
Burundi Activities for Kids
That link for the bird above is a video kids can watch to see and hear what a great blue turaco is like.
Learn about Lake Tanganyika, which is the longest freshwater lake in the world and the second deepest. It forms part of the boundary of Burundi with the DRC.
Read the story of explorers Henry Stanley and David Livingstone, who met in Ujiji, Tanzania, but whose meeting is memorialized with a big rock in Burundi that overlooks Lake Tanganyika.
Spend some time learning about African lions and check out these ideas for learning about lions from Montessori Nature.
Learn about the karyenda, a type of drum that was once featured on the flag of Burundi. Traditionally this drum was a sacred object and the king was said to be able to interpret the beating of the drum as a message for the kingdom. Watch some traditional Burundi drummers here.
For kids who like creepy stories, tell them about Gustave, the ancient and deadly crocodile who might have eaten up to 300 people.
Burundi is known for its pottery, so you can make pinch pots or play with clay in other ways while talking about how clay pots are made and used in cooking there.
According to The Flavor Vortex, boko book harees is considered the national dish. This combination of chicken and bulgur is easy to cook and kids might like it, too. Get the recipe from Naptime Prep Cook or Jess Eats and Travels (this one looks like it has a lot more turmeric).
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