Rwanda

Rwanda was a kingdom for centuries, ruled by a monarchy and organised around the groups known as the Hutu and Tutsi, distinctions that were social and economic as much as ethnic before they were sharpened under colonial rule. Germany and then Belgium colonised the country, hardening these divisions and favouring the Tutsi minority. Independence in 1962 was accompanied by violence and the flight of many Tutsi, and tensions built over the following decades toward the catastrophe of 1994.

Rwanda's nickname, the land of a thousand hills, captures its landscape perfectly: a country of steep, terraced hills and mountains, ridges, and valleys, set at high altitude near the equator, which gives it a temperate, spring-like climate despite its tropical latitude. Volcanoes rise in the northwest, where mist-shrouded forests shelter endangered mountain gorillas, and lakes and rivers thread the green countryside. This intensively cultivated, hilly terrain supports one of the densest rural populations in Africa.

The flag of Rwanda has three horizontal bands of blue, yellow, and green, with a golden sun in the upper fly corner. Adopted in 2001 to replace an earlier flag associated with the era of the genocide, it was deliberately designed to symbolise a new beginning: the blue represents happiness and peace, the yellow economic development, and the green the prosperity of the land, while the sun stands for enlightenment and unity, lighting the way to a better future.

Rwanda is a predominantly Christian country, the result of intensive missionary activity during the colonial era, with the majority belonging to the Roman Catholic Church and a significant number to various Protestant churches, while there is a small Muslim minority. Churches play a prominent role in community life, though the involvement of some religious figures in the events of 1994 left a complicated legacy. Traditional beliefs also persist in places, often alongside Christian practice.

Rwandan cuisine is simple and based on the produce of its intensively farmed hills. Staples include beans, plantains, sweet potatoes, cassava, and maize, often combined in hearty stews, and a popular dish, isombe, is made from mashed cassava leaves cooked with vegetables and sometimes fish or meat. Grilled goat meat, known as brochettes, is a favourite, and the food is generally healthy and plant-rich, reflecting a country where most people farm the land for their own needs.

Agriculture is the foundation of Rwanda's economy and the livelihood of most of its people, carried out on the terraced slopes of its many hills, where every available patch of land is cultivated by smallholders. Beans, bananas, sweet potatoes, and cassava are grown as staples, while coffee and tea are the country's most important cash crops and major exports, grown in the cool highlands and prized for their quality. Managing farming on such steep, crowded land is a central national concern.

The kingdom of Rwanda and the colonial sharpening of its divisions set the stage for the defining tragedy of its history: the genocide of 1994, in which, over about a hundred days, extremists killed an estimated 800,000 people or more, mostly Tutsi, in one of the swiftest mass killings ever recorded. The genocide ended when a rebel force took power, and in the decades since, under the long leadership that followed, Rwanda has achieved a striking degree of stability, order, and economic growth.

Rwanda has a population of around 14 million people in a very small area, making it one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. Its people share a single language, Kinyarwanda, alongside official use of French, English, and Swahili, and a common culture, though the legacy of the divisions that led to the genocide still shapes society. The government has worked to promote a unifying national identity. The population is overwhelmingly rural and young, with the capital, Kigali, noted for its cleanliness and order.