What's Changed Since Launch
In Part 1, I introduced Mipaka — a free REST API for administrative divisions across 7 East/Central African countries. The focus was the basics: cascading dropdowns, search, filtering, and bulk export.
Since then, the API has grown significantly. Here's everything new.
By the Numbers
| Metric | At Launch | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Divisions | 103,194 | 88,000+ |
| Countries | 7 | 7 |
| Historical eras | ~10 | 47 |
| Historical place names | ~60 | 124 |
| Historical divisions | 0 | 229 |
| Cities with coordinates | 0 | 34 (DRC) |
Why did the division count drop? Rwanda's data was resynced with corrected upstream sources, removing duplicate villages. The data is more accurate now.
47 Historical Eras
Every country now has a complete chain of eras — from pre-colonial kingdoms through colonial occupation to the present day.
GET /api/v1/eras/?country=CD
DRC alone has 7 eras:
| Era | Period | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom of Kongo | ~1390–1914 | Pre-colonial |
| Luba Empire | ~1585–1889 | Pre-colonial |
| Congo Free State | 1885–1908 | Colonial (Belgian) |
| Belgian Congo | 1908–1960 | Colonial (Belgian) |
| Republic of the Congo | 1960–1964 | Independence |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo (First Republic) | 1964–1971 | Independence |
| Republic of Zaire | 1971–1997 | Independence |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 1997–present | Current |
Uganda has 10 eras — including 8 pre-colonial kingdoms and chiefdoms with their current rulers:
- Buganda Kingdom (~1300–present) — Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II
- Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom (~1300–present) — Omukama Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I
- Kingdom of Toro (~1830–present) — Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV
- Kingdom of Ankole (~1500–1967) — abolished, never restored
- Busoga Kingdom (~1500–present) — Kyabazinga William Wilberforce Gabula Nadiope IV
Each era carries notes, date ranges, colonial power tracking, and links to the divisions that existed during that period.
124 Historical Place Names
Major cities now have their full naming history — indigenous, colonial, and modern names mapped to specific eras and languages.
Kinshasa through the centuries:
GET /api/v1/divisions/{kinshasa_id}/names/
[
{
"name": "Nshasa",
"language": "Kikongo",
"name_type": "indigenous",
"era_name": "Kingdom of Kongo",
"etymology": "Named after Nshasa village on the riverbank"
},
{
"name": "Léopoldville",
"language": "French",
"name_type": "colonial",
"era_name": "Congo Free State",
"etymology": "Named after King Leopold II by Henry Morton Stanley (1881)"
},
{
"name": "Kinshasa",
"language": "Lingala",
"name_type": "official",
"era_name": "Democratic Republic of the Congo",
"etymology": "Restored to indigenous name at independence (1966)"
}
]
Name coverage by country:
| Country | Historical Names | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| DRC | 31 | Nshasa → Léopoldville → Kinshasa, Stanleyville → Kisangani, Élisabethville → Lubumbashi |
| Uganda | 28 | Kasozi k'Empala → Kampala, Bugiri → Port Bell, Entebbe (Luganda: "seat") |
| Kenya | 21 | Enkare Nyirobi → Nairobi, Kisumo/Kisuma → Port Florence → Kisumu |
| Tanzania | 18 | Dar es Salaam (Arabic: "Haven of Peace"), Bagamoyo (Swahili: "Lay down your heart") |
| Rwanda | 14 | Nyarugenge → Kigali, Butare → Huye |
| South Sudan | 14 | Gondokoro → Juba, Mongalla → colonial river station |
| Burundi | 13 | Usumbura → Bujumbura, Kitega → Gitega |
229 Historical Divisions
Beyond current administrative boundaries, the API now includes divisions that no longer exist — searchable by country and level:
# Kenya's 8 former provinces (1963–2010)
GET /api/v1/divisions/?country=KE&level=100
# DRC's 11 provinces under Mobutu (1997–2015)
GET /api/v1/divisions/?country=CD&level=100
# South Sudan's 28 states (2015–2020 decree)
GET /api/v1/divisions/?country=SS&level=100
Level 100 is a convention used to separate historical divisions from active administrative data — they won't appear in standard queries unless you filter explicitly.
What's available:
| Country | Historical Divisions | What |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | 167 | 8 provinces + 159 districts (1963/1992/2007) |
| DRC | 117 | 6 eras of provinces and districts (1910–present) |
| South Sudan | 28 | 28 states from 2015 presidential decree |
| Rwanda | 12 | 12 prefectures (pre-2006 restructuring) |
| Tanzania | 6 | 6 regions created between 2002–2016 |
| Uganda | 5 | 5 traditional kingdoms (abolished 1967, restored 1993) |
Historical divisions use is_active=false so they don't pollute standard queries. Filter explicitly to find them.
DRC Deep Data: 325 Records Across 6 Administrative Eras
DRC got the biggest upgrade. The original API had 174 records (provinces + territories). It now has 325 records tracing how the country was divided from Leopold's 15 districts in 1910 to today's 26 provinces:
| Era | Divisions | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1910 Districts | 15 | District du Katanga, District de l'Équateur |
| 1933 Provinces | 6 | Province du Katanga, Province de Léopoldville |
| 1963 Provinces | 21 | Nord-Katanga, Sud-Kasaï (first post-independence split) |
| 1966 Provinces | 9 | Shaba (renamed from Katanga under Mobutu) |
| 1997 Provinces | 11 | Katanga restored, Congo-Kinshasa |
| Current (2015) | 26 + territories | Katanga split into Haut-Katanga, Lualaba, Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami |
Plus 34 cities with coordinates — the first geo-coded data in the API.
What's Next
This data enrichment sets the foundation for features coming soon:
- Coordinates for all countries — DRC is the pilot, on the roadmap expand to Kenya, Uganda, and others
- GeoJSON boundaries — polygon data for map rendering
- Population data — census figures tied to divisions
Try It
Try the live explorer at mipaka.dev — pick a country, drill through divisions, and see historical eras in action.
Everything above is also available on RapidAPI with a free tier, and the code is open source on GitHub — MIT licensed.
The historical data is the part of Mipaka I'm most proud of. There's nothing else like it — a structured, queryable dataset of how African cities and borders have changed across centuries. If you're a historian, genealogist, or just someone who finds African history fascinating, I'd genuinely love your contributions. The data is open source — PRs welcome.
Links
- Website: mipaka.dev
- API Docs: api.mipaka.dev/api/docs/
- API on RapidAPI: rapidapi.com/ceddyville/api/mipaka
- GitHub: github.com/ceddyville/mipaka-api
Coming Next
This is Part 2 of the Mipaka API series. Missed the intro? Start with Part 1: Mipaka: A Free REST API for 100K+ Administrative Divisions Across East Africa.
Next up:
- Part 3: From Léopoldville to Kinshasa — 500 Years of African Border Changes
Follow me to catch the next one!
Mipaka — every border, one API.
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