Rwandaalso spelled Ruanda, officially Republic of Rwanda, French République Rwandaise, Rwanda Republika y’u Rwandalandlocked republic lying south of the Equator in east-central Africa. It is bounded on the west by Congo (Kinshasa) and Lake Kivu, on the north by Uganda, on the east by Tanzania, and on the south by Burundi. The capital is Kigali. Like Known for its breathtaking scenery, Rwanda is often referred to as le pays des mille collines (French; “land of a thousand hills”). The capital is Kigali, located in the centre of the country on the Ruganwa River.


of minute dimensions, grinding poverty, and high population density

with one of the highest population densities in sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda also shares with Burundi a long history of monarchical rule. Unlike what happened in Burundi, however, the demise of the Rwandan kingship came about through a grass-roots, grassroots Hutu-led upheaval that reached its denouement occurred before the country became independent . In Rwanda the state was forged from the ground up, in the crucible of a peasant revolution. For this reason, if Rwanda is described as an ethnocracy, the term nonetheless carries a distinctly democratic connotation inasmuch as the Hutu represent the overwhelming majority of the population.

The land

in 1962. Ethnic strife between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi factions peaked in 1994. Civil war and genocide at that time left Rwanda’s economy and social fabric in shambles. The years that followed have been characterized by reconstruction and ethnic reconciliation.








The best soils, formed from volcanic lavas and alluvium, are found, respectively, in the northwest and along the lower portions of the larger river valleys. Elsewhere the largely metamorphic bedrock has produced soils of generally poor quality. The combination of heavy rainfall and deforestation steep slopes, abundant rainfall, deforestation, and intensive farming has set in motion a process of extreme soil erosion that requires a burdensome investment of time and energy to curtail.


Elevation accounts for Rwanda’s generally mild temperatures, which average 70° F (21° C70 °F (21 °C) year-round at Kigali, for example, in the interior highlands. There are significant variations, however, between the region of the volcanoes in the northwest, where heavy rainfalls are accompanied by lower average temperatures, and the warmer and drier interior highlands. The average annual rainfall in the latter is about 45 inches (1,140 millimetres) and, except for a short summer dry season, is evenly distributed throughout the year, which is concentrated in two rainy seasons (roughly February to May and October to December).

Plant and animal life

Only 3 percent a small percentage of the country consists of is covered in natural forest vegetation. Reforestation programs have added eucalyptus trees to previously denuded hillsides and roadsides, though not on a scale sufficient to effectively counteract erosion. A lush , Mediterranean-type vegetation covers the shores of Lake Kivu, which stands in stark contrast to the papyrus swamps of the east Rwanda’s eastern frontier and the thick dense bamboo forests of the VirungasVirunga Mountains to the north. There, among the volcanoes, lives Rwanda’s main tourist attraction, : the mountain gorilla, protected in Parc National des Volcans (also known as Parc des Birugna). For sheer diversity of animal life, however, no other region can match the resources of the Akagera National Park. Buffalo and zebras, antelope and warthogs, chimpanzees and lionsThis picturesque park contains significant populations of buffalo, zebra, impala, and other range animals, as well as many rare species—such as the giant pangolin, or anteater—are part of a fauna that also includes elephants, rhinocerosesbaboons, warthogs, lions, and hippopotamuses.

Settlement patterns

Despite a high population density, the dominant pattern is one of extreme dispersal. More than 90 percent of the population is rural and lives in nuclear family compounds scattered on hillsides. Kigali, the capital, was only a hamlet at the time of independence but has grown to become the largest city.

The people
Ethnic composition


Ethnic groups

As in Burundi, the major ethnic groups in Rwanda are Hutu and Tutsi, respectively accounting for almost 90 percent more than four-fifths and about 10 percent one-seventh of the total population. To these must be added the Twa The Twa, a hunter-gatherersgatherer group, who constitute less than 1 percent of the population. Other minorities include a small group of Europeans , (mostly missionaries and aid officials, , employees of relief and development programs, and entrepreneurs), a small number of Asian merchants, and a sprinkling of Swahili-speaking Africans from Tanzania and Congo (Kinshasa).Though the Tutsi are generally taller and of lighter complexion than the Hutu, the physical stereotypes attributed to each group are greatly mitigated by intermarriage. Social differences between them, however, , Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and elsewhere.


Linguistic composition

French and Rwanda Since the end of the 1994 genocide, many Tutsi have returned to Rwanda to reclaim their heritage.


The country has three official languages: Rwanda (more properly, Kinyarwanda), English, and French. Rwanda, a Bantu language belonging to the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family, is spoken by virtually all Rwandans. It is closely related to Rundi, are the official languages of the country, but which is spoken in the neighbouring country of Burundi. English and French have traditionally been spoken by only a small fraction of the population speaks French, although English was designated the language of educational instruction in 2008. Swahili is widely spoken in the towns and is still the principal means of communication with Africans from neighbouring territoriescountries.


Nowhere in Africa has Christianity had a more decisive impact than in Rwanda. The Hutu revolution derived much of its egalitarian inspiration from the teachings of the European clergy, and Catholic seminaries served as recruiting grounds for Hutu leaders. Roman Catholicism claims the allegiance of about two-thirds of the population.More than two-fifths of the country’s population is Roman Catholic; about one-fourth is Protestant; and about one-fifth belongs to a Christian schismatic religious group. Muslims account for less than one-tenth of the population.

Settlement patterns


Demographic trends

Rwanda’s rate of population increase is one greater than that of the global average but similar to that of neighbouring countries. The birth rate, among the world’s highest in central Africa and is far above the productive capacity of the environment. Family-planning programs are virtually nonexistent. Approximately half of the population is under age 16; infant and child mortality rates are among the highest in Africa. Adding to the growing population pressure on the land, some 60,000 Hutu refugees from Burundi live in Rwanda, most of them having fled their homeland during the 1972 holocaust, when an estimated 100,000–150,000 Hutu perished in interethnic violence.

The economy

The country’s economy is overwhelmingly agricultural, with coffee exports accounting for more than 70 percent of its foreign exchange and tea for more than 10 percent. An inadequate subsistence agriculture, however, is the dominant feature of the economy, with heavy infusions of foreign aid required to meet chronic food shortages. Rwanda is the largest per capita recipient of foreign aid in Africa. Mineral resources make up from 10 to 15 percent of total exports.


Mineral resources include, in addition to tin and tungsten (wolfram), tantalite, columbite, and beryl. Methane gas from Lake Kivu is used as a nitrogen fertilizer and is also converted into compressed fuel for trucks. What little gold Rwanda produces is smuggled out of the country. The Mukungwa hydroelectric power installation, the country’s major source of electricity, meets only a portion of the country’s energy needs, and much of the remainder must be imported from Congo (Kinshasa).

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Intensive cultivation is practiced throughout the country, resulting in a large diversification of food crops. To the main indigenous crops—sorghum and eleusine—must be added , is comparable to that of other countries in the region; the death rate is well above the world average and slightly above the rates of neighbouring countries. Life expectancy, about 50 years, is below the world average but similar to the average for Africa. Rwanda’s population is young, with about two-fifths of the population under age 16 and another one-third under age 30.


Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

The country’s economy is overwhelmingly agricultural, with the majority of the workforce engaged in agricultural pursuits. Broadly diversified cultivation is practiced throughout the country. Dry beans, sorghum, bananas, corn (maize), potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cassava (manioc) , dry are the primary crops grown in Rwanda. While beans, and plantains. While eleusine is harvested in May and sorghum in July, bananas and plantains can be grown throughout the year. sorghum, and corn are harvested seasonally at the onset of the two dry seasons, bananas, sweet potatoes, and cassava can be grown and harvested throughout the year. Bananas are grown principally for the production of banana wine, a highly popular local beverage consumed in all regions of the country. Some banana varieties are grown in smaller numbers for cooking or direct consumption. Not only are bananas essential as a food source in Rwanda, but, as a broad-leafed perennial crop, they play a vital role in combating soil erosion on steep slopes throughout the country. Arabica coffee (first introduced by European missionaries), tea, tobacco, and pyrethrum (a flower used to create the nonsynthetic pesticide pyrethrin) are the principal cash crops, with coffee constituting the prime export.



IndustryResources and power




Finance and trade



Fluctuations in the prices of primary commodities, especially coffee and tea, and the years of civil strife that culminated in the 1994 genocide have had a catastrophic effect on Rwanda’s balance of trade, and . Although the country has shown consistent economic progress in the years following the genocide, the country still runs large annual trade deficits. In addition, Rwanda must import large quantities of food. Investment programs are almost entirely covered by external sources of financing. Some efforts have been made at promoting closer economic links between Rwanda and its neighbours through such organizations as the Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.



Labour and taxation



Transportation and telecommunications

Rwanda claims one of the densest road networks on the continent, though less than 10 percent one-fourth of it is paved. From Kigali to Ruhengeri and thence to Gisenyi, roads that were once impassable in the rainy season can now be used throughout the year.

Administration and social conditions



Government and society
Constitutional framework



About three-fifths of the population is literate. In the early 1990s more than two-thirds of the primary-school-age population was enrolled, but the civil strife that began in 1994 severely disrupted the school system. Even prior to 1994, few Rwandans attended secondary schools, as those had space for only 10 percent of the primary school graduates. The National University of Rwanda (1963) has campuses in Butare and RuhengeriA new constitution, promulgated in 2003, employed strong language decrying the ethnic strife of the past, listing the resolutions to “fight against the ideology of genocide and all its manifestations” and “the eradication of ethnic, regional and other divisions and the promotion of national unity” among its fundamental principles.


Local government





Political process





Health and welfare

Health conditions in Rwanda are poor. The country has one of the highest percentages of AIDS carriers in Africaa relatively high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. Nutritional deficiencies present an even greater threat to the population, however, along with malaria and tuberculosis. Health facilities are still grossly inadequate, consisting for the most part of poorly equipped health centres and dispensaries, and there is a shortage of medical personnel. Welfare activities are primarily organized under the auspices of missionary societies.





Cultural life


The arts


Cultural institutions

Rwanda’s National Ballet and the Impala Orchestra add considerable lustre to the country’s cultural life, the former through a choreography leaning heavily on traditional folk dances and the latter through a distinctly modern musical repertoire. The For many years, the Association des Écrivains du Rwanda (AER) keeps kept alive the best of Rwanda’s literary traditions, while the bimonthly review Revue Dialogue provides a forum for a vigorous intellectual exchange on a wide range of social and cultural issues.

Press and broadcasting

The absence of stringent government censorship makes for a lively press. In addition to the weekly Imvaho (published in Kinyarwanda) and the monthly La Relève (published in French), the biweekly economic paper Kinyamateka (also in French) deserves mention. Radiodiffusion de la République Rwandaise is the state-run radio broadcaster.

Sports and recreation




Media and publishing


Physical and human geography




For insights

Insights into the rituals and traditions of the monarchy

, see


