Bulawayo

Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about 1.2 million. Bulawayo covers an area of in the western part of the country, along the Matsheumhlope River. Along with the capital Harare, Bulawayo is one of two cities in Zimbabwe that are also provinces.

OverviewAI-generated

Bulawayo is a city in Zimbabwe, situated in Bulawayo Province. Founded in 1840 by Mzilikazi, the city has at various times served as the capital of the Zulu Kingdom. It is located at an elevation of 1,358 meters above sea level and covers an area of 1,706.8 square kilometers. The city operates in the UTC+02:00 time zone and uses the local dialing code 9.

With a population of 665,940, Bulawayo is twinned with Durban and Aberdeen. The city is the owner of the Queens Sports Club. Its official name is Bulawayo, and it is described in sources such as the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.

Synthesized by Vinony from 53 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Weather now

cached 24h ago

17°clear sky

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7-day forecast

via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality: Bulawayo
Region: Bulawayo Province
Country: Zimbabwe
Population: 665,952
Timezone: Africa/Harare

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

42US AQIGood

PM2.5: 6.9 µg/m³
PM10: 7.6 µg/m³

As of 2026-09-13 02:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

Settlement.official_name: Bulawayo
Settlement.nicknames: 'City of Kings', 'Skies', 'Bompton' or 'Bulliesberg'
Settlement.settlement_type: City and province
Settlement.motto: Si ye phambili (Let us go forward)
Settlement.imagesize: 300px
Settlement.image_skyline: Bulawayo CBD.jpg
Settlement.image_caption: View of Bulawayo's Central Business District (CBD) from Pioneer House by Prince Phumulani Nyoni. The CBD is 5.4 square kilometres and is in a grid pattern with 17 avenues and 11 streets.
Settlement.image_flag: Flag of Bulawayo.svg
Settlement.image_shield: Bulawayo Zimbabwe COA.svg
Settlement.image_map: Bulawayo district.png
Settlement.map_caption: Location of Bulawayo Province
Settlement.image_map1: Bulawayo in Zimbabwe (adm).svg
Settlement.map_caption1: Bulawayo highlighted in red in Zimbabwe
Settlement.pushpin_map: Zimbabwe#Africa#World
Settlement.parts_type: Divisions 
Settlement.parts: 4 districts, 29 wards, 156 suburbs
Settlement.subdivision_type: Country
Settlement.subdivision_type1: Province

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: big city
Official name: Bulawayo
Country: Southern Rhodesia
Population: 665940
Area: 1706.8
Elevation: 1358
Time zone: UTC+02:00
Founded by: Mzilikazi
Official website: www.citybyo.co.zw
Image: Bulawayo CBD.jpg
Dialing code: 9

Show 12 more facts

twinned administrative body: Aberdeen
Commons category: Bulawayo
topic's main category: Category:Bulawayo
category for people born here: Category:Births in Bulawayo
category for people who died here: Category:Deaths in Bulawayo
category of associated people: Category:People from Bulawayo
inception: 1840-00-00
owner of: Queens Sports Club
described by source: Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
native label: Bulawayo
P8168: thoroughfare
P12749: Fabrizio Donato

Sources (9)

via Wikidata · CC0

Travel guide

Understand

Bulawayo was founded by Lobengula, the last Ndebele king, who settled in what is now Zimbabwe around the 1840s along with a large number of fellow Ndebele who had trekked there all the way from Zululand. In 1893, the British South Africa Company invaded the area in a conflict known as the First Matabele War. The British troops destroyed the city and forced the king to flee. They then built modern Bulawayo over the ruins of the former royal Ndebele city.

See

Do

Cricket: 400px|thumbnail|Crafts on display Explore the streets Theatre, cnr of Old Falls Rd. and Lady Stanley St. Try this for local performing arts events.

Stay healthy

There was an outbreak of cholera in 2008. Check on current conditions before you go, and make sure to avoid obvious possible sources of contagion, such as unboiled water that is not from a sealed bottle and raw fruits or vegetables, especially if they can't be peeled. Also, strongly consider washing toothbrushes only with water that has either been boiled or come out of a sealed bottle. Unfortunately, water shortages are also a strong possibility in Bulawayo and the rest of Zimbabwe.

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

33 sections

Contents

History
Siege
Modern era
Suburbs
Demographics
Population census controversy
Ethnic groups
Economy
Landmarks and institutions
Government
Culture
Geography
Topography
Climate
Water supply
Sports
Transport
Healthcare
Education
Primary schools
Secondary and high schools
Schools outside Bulawayo
Higher education
Media
Newspapers
Radio
Television
Internet
Notable people
International relations
See also
References
Bibliography

Bulawayo was founded by a group led by Gundwane Ndiweni around 1840 as the kraal of Mzilikazi, the Ndebele king and was known as Gibixhegu. His son, Lobengula, succeeded him in the 1860s, and changed the name to koBulawayo and ruled from Bulawayo until 1893, when the settlement was captured by British South Africa Company soldiers during the First Matabele War. That year, the first white settlers arrived and rebuilt the town. The town was besieged by Ndebele warriors during the Second Matabele War. Bulawayo attained municipality status in 1897, and city status in 1943.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bulawayo” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.