Rwanda of 1884 assigned the territory to Germany as part of German East Africa, marking the beginning of the colonial era. The explorer Gustav Adolf von Götzen was the first European to significantly explore the country in 1894; he crossed from the south-east to Lake Kivu and met the king. The Germans did not significantly alter the social structure of the country, but exerted influence by supporting the king and the existing hierarchy and delegating power to local chiefs. Belgian forces took control of Rwanda and Burundi in 1916, during World War I, beginning a period of more direct colonial rule.
Independence Day (Algeria) the unbridgeable rifts opened by the civil war and threats from units of the victorious FLN. Along with them fled most Algerians of Jewish descent and those Muslim Algerians who had supported a French Algeria ("harkis"). 30-150,000 pro-French Muslims were also killed in Algeria by FLN in post-war reprisals. Independence Day (Algeria) Independence Day, observed annually on July 5th every year, is a National Holiday in Algeria commemorating Algeria's independence from France on July 5th 1962. The Algerian War of Independence began in November 1954 and ended in 1962 when French President Charles De Gaulle pronounced Algeria an independent country