Butanyerera
Butanyerera is the second most populous of Burundi's five provinces. It covers an area of and recorded a population of 2,530,206 in the 2024 Burundian census. The capital and the largest town in the province is Ngozi, which reported a population of 39,884 in the 2008 Burundian census. Other significant towns in Butanyerera include Kayanza and Kirundo, which reported populations of 21,767 and 10,024 respectively in the 2008 Burundian census.
Geography
Located in northern Burundi, Butanyerera borders the Burundian provinces of Bujumbura, Gitega and Buhumuza to the west, south and east respectively, and Rwanda's Southern and Eastern provinces to the northwest and northeast respectively. Terrain in the province ranges in elevation from at Lake Rweru in the Bugesera Depression to the northeast, to over on the Congo-Nile ridge in Kibira National Park in the west. The central part of Butanyerera lies on the Buyenzi plateau, one of Burundi's major coffee-producing regions.Butanyerera contains the eastern side of Kibira National Park, which protects the Albertine Rift montane forests of the Mugamba natural region. The Protected Aquatic Landscape of the North Ramsar site is located in the northeastern part of Butanyerera near the Rwandan border, and protects Lakes Cohoha, Gacamirindi, Kanzigiri, Mwungere, Nagitamo, Narungazi, Rweru, and Rwihinda, as well as Murehe Forest. Kibira National Park and Lake Rwihinda are on Burundi's list of Tentative World Heritage Sites, as are the royal tombs of Nkiko-Mugamba, located in the zones of Kabarore and Muruta in the commune of Kayanza.
History
On 16 March 2023, President of Burundi Évariste Ndayishimiye signed into law a reorganization of Burundi's administrative divisions, which included the reduction of Burundi's provinces from eighteen to five. Butanyerera was created from the merger of the former provinces of Kayanza, Kirundo and Ngozi, as well as parts of the former commune of Bukeye in the province of Muramvya, namely the zone of Busangana and the collines of Busekera, Kigereka and Shumba in the zone of Bukeye. The new provinces took effect with Burundi's 2025 parliamentary and local elections. Butanyerera's first governor Victor Segasago was sworn in on 4 July 2025.Butanyerera was previously the name of a chiefdom created in 1959 from the southern part of the chiefdom of Buyenzi in the territory of Ngozi, which Louis Rwagasore briefly administered.