Rubona, also Rubona Peninsula, is a neighborhood to the south of the city of
Gisenyi in
Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
.
Location
The neighborhood is on the
Lake Kivu
Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which ...
lake-shore, about , south of the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
of
Gisenyi,
Rubavu District, in the
Western Province of Rwanda.
The coordinates of Rubona are:01°43'42.0"S, 29°15'22.0"E (Latitude:-1.728333; Longitude:29.256111).
Overview
The steep hills in Rubona are populated by small homesteads with surrounding gardens. The lake shore is rocky, in most areas, with occasional sandy spots and places suitable for swimming. It attracts many visitors on weekends. Rubona is also the location of natural hot springs, which are used for boiling potatoes and are reported to cure a variety of ailments.
The frontiers of the
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...
were defined by the Neutrality Act during the 1885
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin, , in which the European powers staked out their territorial claims in Africa.
This placed all of Lake Kivu in the Free State.
In June 1909
John Methuen Coote started the
Kivu frontier incident when he travelled southwest from the British colony of Uganda and established fortified camps at
Burungu and Rubona (Lubuna).
British troops under Coote withdrew from the Rubona post on 29 June 1909, and the Belgians occupied the post.
After a series of incidents the boundaries of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda were settled in May 1910, with Rubona assigned to the German colony of Rwanda.
References
Sources
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{{coord, 01, 43, 42, S, 29, 15, 22, E, display=title
Western Province, Rwanda
Populated places in Rwanda
Populated places on Lake Kivu
Cities in the Great Rift Valley