Rwanda

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, just south of the equator. It borders Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Kigali, at 1,567 m (5,141 ft), is the capital. Kinyarwanda, English, French and Swahili are official languages, and its 26,338 km² (10,169 sq mi) of hills earned it the name Land of a Thousand Hills.

Hunter-gatherers lived here in the Stone and Iron Ages, followed by Bantu farmers and herders. By 1700 about eight kingdoms shared the land, and the Kingdom of Rwanda, ruled by a mwami, grew from the mid-18th century until it reached its greatest size under King Kigeli Rwabugiri in the 19th century. Germany allied with the king in 1897, and after World War I Belgium governed Rwanda with Burundi as Ruanda-Urundi. Rwanda became independent on 1 July 1962, now Independence Day.

Rwanda is a presidential republic, and its Chamber of Deputies keeps 24 of its 80 seats for women. The country joined the Commonwealth in 2009, one of the few members with no historical link to the British Empire. On the last Saturday of every month, citizens take part in umuganda, a morning of community work. Tourism is now the leading source of foreign income, and coffee and tea are the main export crops.

Volcanoes National Park, in the Virunga range below Mount Karisimbi at 4,507 m (14,787 ft), is home to about a third of the world's mountain gorillas. Nyungwe Forest has 13 primate species, including chimpanzees, and lions and black rhinos have returned to the savanna of Akagera National Park. Lake Kivu is the largest lake. Traditional performances join the cow dance of the women, the intore or dance of heroes of the men, and ingoma drums, and imigongo cow dung art and agaseke baskets are typical crafts. The Visit Rwanda campaign has sponsored Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain since 2018.