Rwanda is a country in central and eastern Africa located a few degrees south of the Equator, bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All of Rwanda is at high elevation, with a geography dominated by mountains in the west, savanna in the east, and numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate. The predominantly rural population of 11.7 million people forms three main groups: the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. After Rwanda was first settled by hunter-gatherers in the Stone and Iron Ages, the population coalesced into clans and then into a Tutsi-led kingdom. It was colonised by Europeans in the 19th century and gained independence from Belgium on 1 July 1962 after a Hutu revolt led to massacres of Tutsis and the establishment of a Hutu-dominated republic. In 1990 the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a civil war, which was followed by the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu but were ultimately defeated by the RPF. The economy suffered during the genocide, but has since strengthened and depends heavily on subsistence agriculture. (more...)
From articles I've written or significantly re-written:
...that the Lake Tanganyika passenger ferry MV Liemba began its life as a German warship in World War I, spent eight years on the bottom of the lake, and later inspired the enemy ship Empress Luisa in the film The African Queen?
...that Rusumo Falls was a significant site during the 1994Rwandan genocide as thousands of dead bodies flowed underneath the bridge while a simultaneous stream of refugees crossed over it, fleeing into Tanzania to escape the fighting?
...that Transport in Rwanda centres around the road network, with 1000km of paved roads and 11,000km of dirt tracks?
Mount Nyiragongo is a volcano, one of eight in the Virunga Mountains chain, in the Albertine (western) branch of the Great Rift Valley. It is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 19 km north of the town of Goma and the Lake Kivu and just west of the border with Rwanda. The main crater is 250 metres deep and 2 kilometres wide. Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are together responsible for 40% of Africa's historical volcanic eruptions. This picture shows the lava lake at the bottom of the main crater, which forms a glow visible more then 50 kilometres away and releases large quantities of gas.
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