Rwanda

Extracted Attributes

• Area

  26,338 km² (10,169 sq mi)

• Capital

  Kigali

• Climate

  Tropical highland, two rainy seasons, two dry seasons

• Terrain

  Mountains in the west, savanna in the southeast, rolling landscape

• Currency

  Rwandan Franc (FRW)

• Location

  East Africa, Great Rift Valley, landlocked

• Nickname

  Land of a Thousand Hills (pays des mille collines)

• Time Zone

  UTC +2 (Central Africa Time)

• Population

  14,569,341 (as per Wikidata)

• Official Name

  Republic of Rwanda

• Economic Basis

  Services, agricultural exports, manufacturing

• Government Type

  Unitary presidential system, de facto one-party state

• Official Languages

  Kinyarwanda, English, French, Swahili

• Population Density

  445 people per km²

• Principal Language

  Kinyarwanda

• Development Goal 2035

  Middle-Income Country

• Development Goal 2050

  High-Income Country

• Drone Delivery Impact

  51% reduction in Maternal Mortality (verified by University of Pennsylvania)

• Lowest Point Elevation

  Rusizi River at 950 meters (3,117 ft) above sea level

• Major Agricultural Exports

  Coffee, Tea

• Poverty Rate (National Line)

  27.4% (2024 survey)

• Leading Foreign Exchange Earner

  Tourism

• Poverty Rate (Multidimensional)

  30.5% (2024 survey)

Timeline

• Hunter-gatherers settled the territory. (Source: Wikipedia)

  Unknown (Stone and Iron Ages)

• Bantu peoples settled the territory. (Source: Wikipedia)

  Unknown (Later period)

• The Kingdom of Rwanda was established under King Gihanga, incorporating neighboring territories. (Source: Wikipedia)

  15th century

• The Kingdom of Rwanda dominated the region, with Tutsi kings centralizing power and enacting unifying policies. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  Mid-18th century

• Germany colonized Rwanda as part of German East Africa. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1897-00-00

• Belgium took control of Rwanda during World War I. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1916-00-00

• Rwanda became a mandate territory of the League of Nations under Belgian administration. (Source: Web Search Results (gov.rw))

  1919-00-00

• The Hutu population revolted, leading to ethnic violence and the exile of Tutsi King Kigeri V and thousands of Tutsis. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1959-00-00

• Rwanda gained independence as a Hutu-dominated republic, led by President Grégoire Kayibanda. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Wikidata)

  1962-07-01

• A military coup overthrew President Kayibanda, bringing Juvénal Habyarimana to power, who continued a pro-Hutu policy. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1973-00-00

• The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a civil war. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1990-00-00

• President Juvénal Habyarimana was assassinated. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1994-04-00

• The Rwandan genocide erupted, lasting one hundred days and resulting in the killing of an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1994-04-00

• The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) ended the genocide with a military victory. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1994-07-00

• Rwanda has been governed by the RPF as a de facto one-party state since this year. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1994-00-00

• Paul Kagame became president of Rwanda. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  2000-00-00

• Rwanda hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). (Source: DBpedia)

  2022-06-00

• Latest survey on multidimensional poverty and national poverty line conducted. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2024-00-00

Rwanda

Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills" (French: pays des mille collines) for its high elevation and rolling terrain, its geography is dominated by mountains in the west and savanna in the southeast. The largest and most notable lakes are mainly in the western and northern regions of the country, and several volcanoes that form part of the Virunga volcanic chain are primarily in the northwest. The climate is considered tropical highland, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. Its capital and largest city is Kigali, located at the centre of the country, at 1,567 metres above sea level. Rwanda lies a few degrees south of the Equator in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Going clockwise Rwanda is bordered by Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. It is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the third-most densely populated country in the world. Hunter-gatherers settled the territory in the Stone and Iron Ages, followed later by Bantu peoples. The population coalesced first into clans, and then into kingdoms. In the 15th century, one kingdom, under King Gihanga, managed to incorporate several of its close neighbor territories establishing the Kingdom of Rwanda. The Kingdom of Rwanda dominated from the mid-eighteenth century, with its Tutsi kings conquering others militarily, centralising power, and enacting unifying policies. In 1897, Germany colonized Rwanda as part of German East Africa, followed by Belgium, which took control in 1916 during World War I. Both European nations ruled through the Rwandan king and perpetuated a pro-Tutsi policy. The Hutu population revolted in 1959. They massacred numerous Tutsi and ultimately established an independent, Hutu-dominated republic in 1962 led by President Grégoire Kayibanda. A 1973 military coup overthrew Kayibanda and brought Juvénal Habyarimana to power, who retained the pro-Hutu policy. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a civil war in 1990. Habyarimana was assassinated in April 1994. Social tensions erupted in the Rwandan genocide that spanned one hundred days. The RPF ended the genocide with a military victory in July 1994. Rwanda has been governed by the RPF as a de facto one-party state since 1994 with former commander Paul Kagame as president since 2000. The country has been governed by a series of centralized authoritarian governments since precolonial times. Although Rwanda has low levels of corruption compared with neighbouring countries, it ranks among the lowest in international measurements of government transparency and civil liberties, despite recent gains that have elevated it to the medium category on the Human Development Index. The population is young and predominantly rural; Rwanda has one of the youngest populations in the world. Rwandans are drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda. However, within this group there are three subgroups: the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. The Twa are a forest-dwelling Central African foragers and are often considered descendants of Rwanda's earliest inhabitants. Christianity is the largest religion in the country; the principal and national language is Kinyarwanda, spoken by native Rwandans, with English, French, and Swahili serving as additional official foreign languages. Rwanda's economy is based on services, agricultural exports, and manufacturing. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops that it exports, although it is surpassed in banana production. Tourism is a fast-growing sector and is now the country's leading foreign exchange earner. As of the most recent survey in 2024, 30.5% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty with 27.4% under the national poverty line. The country is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations (one of few member states that does not have any historical links with the British Empire), COMESA, OIF, and the East African Community.

Web Search Results

• Rwanda

  Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With a comparatively high elevation, Rwanda has been given the sobriquet "Land of a Thousand Hills" (French: pays des mille collines), with its geography dominated by mountains in the west [...] Rwanda is a de facto one-party state ruled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and its leader Paul Kagame continuously since the end of the civil war in 1994. Although Rwanda is nominally democratic, elections are manipulated in various ways, which include banning opposition parties, arresting or assassinating critics, and electoral fraud. The RPF is a Tutsi-dominated party but receives support from other communities as well. [...] At 26,338 square kilometres (10,169 sq mi), Rwanda is the world's 149th-largest country,-136) and the fourth smallest on the African mainland after Gambia, Eswatini, and Djibouti.-136) It is comparable in size to Burundi, Haiti and Albania.-71) The entire country is at a high altitude: the lowest point is the Rusizi River at 950 metres (3,117 ft) above sea level.-71) Rwanda is located in Central/Eastern Africa, and is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Uganda to the

• Rwanda Overview: Development news, research, data

  Rwanda is a country situated in central Africa, bordered to the north by Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, to the south by Burundi and to the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda’s total area is 26,338 km2, with a population density estimated at 445 people per km². It is a hilly, fertile, and landlocked country, and a member of the East Africa Community (EAC). [...] Economic Overview Rwanda aspires to become a Middle-Income Country by 2035 and a High-Income Country by 2050. It plans to achieve this through the implementation of its second National Strategies for Transformation (NST-2), a five year-development agenda underpinned by sectoral strategies focused on meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [...] Development Challenges Despite remarkable growth performance in recent years, the creation of jobs in Rwanda is insufficient and the level of productivity remains low, reflecting infrastructure gaps, limited progress in innovation, and sub-optimal allocative efficiency. Furthermore, the inclusiveness of growth remains a key challenge, as the momentum in poverty reduction has weakened in recent years. The benefits of structural transformation have tended to accrue to more educated workers,

• About the government of Rwanda

  Rwanda is a country situated in Central Africa, bordered to the North by Uganda, to the East by Tanzania, to the South by Burundi and to the West by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda’s total area is Km2 26,338, with a population density estimated to be 445 people per km². | | | --- | | Name | Republic of Rwanda | | Capital City | Kigali | | Currency | Rwandan Franc (FRW) | | Time Zone | UTC +2 (Central Africa Time) | 26,338 Km² 13.2 Million Population (NISR, 2022) 21°-27° [...] Rwanda is a landlocked country situated in central Africa. Also known as ’The Land of a Thousand Hills’, Rwanda has five volcanoes, 23 lakes and numerous rivers, some forming the source of the River Nile. The country lies 75 miles south of the equator in the Tropic of Capricorn, 880 miles ’as the crow flies’ west of the Indian Ocean and 1,250 miles east of the Atlantic Ocean - literally in the heart of Africa. The Altitude ranges from 950m to 4500m above the sea level. [...] For centuries, Rwanda existed as a centralized monarchy under a succession of kings from one clan, who ruled through cattle chiefs, land chiefs and military chiefs. The king was supreme but the rest of the population, Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, lived in symbiotic harmony. In 1899, Rwanda became a German colony and, in 1919, the system of indirect rule continued with Rwanda as a mandate territory of the League of Nations, under Belgium.

• Rwanda | Religion, Population, Language, & Capital

  Like Burundi, its neighbor to the south, Rwanda is a geographically small country 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 grassroots Hutu-led upheaval that occurred before the country became independent in 1962. Ethnic strife between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi factions peaked in 1994. Civil war [...] Rwanda says 7 deportees arrived from the US in August under agreement with Washington • Aug. 28, 2025, 7:14 AM ET (AP) Rwanda, landlocked country lying south of the Equator in east-central Africa. 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 center of the country on the Ruganwa River. [...] The country has four official languages: Rwanda (more properly, Kinyarwanda), English, French, and Swahili (Kiswahili). 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, which is spoken in the neighboring country of Burundi. English and French have traditionally been spoken by only a small fraction of the population, although English was designated the language of educational

• Rwanda country profile - BBC News

  Image 1: Map of Rwanda Rwanda, a small landlocked country in east-central Africa, is trying to recover from the ethnic strife that culminated in government-sponsored genocide in the mid-1990s. An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by dominant Hutu forces in 100 days. Rwanda has striven to rebuild its economy, with coffee and tea production among its main exports, and economic development has helped reduce poverty and inequality. [...] Paul Kagame became president in 2000 and has effectively run Rwanda since 1994. While his government has maintained stability and economic growth, the US-based NGO Freedom House says it has also suppressed political dissent through intimidation, torture and suspected assassinations of exiled dissidents. Read more country profiles, external - Profiles by BBC Monitoring, external REPUBLIC OF RWANDA: FACTS Capital: Kigali Area: 26,338 sq km Population: 13.8 million [...] 1959-62- The Rwandan Revolution: ethnic violence in Rwanda between Hutus and Tutsis. Tutsi King Kigeri V and thousands of Tutsis go into exile in Uganda following the violence. 1962- Rwanda and Burundi become independent as separate nations. Rwanda, which had been a Tutsi monarchy under Belgian colonial authority is now an independent Hutu-dominated republic.

• Image

  

• Country

  Rwanda

• Instance Of

  Q6256

• Population

  14,569,341

• Coordinates

  Lat: -2.0, Lon: 30.0

• Inception Date

  1/1/1962

Rwanda (/ruˈɑːndə, -ˈæn-/; Kinyarwanda: u Rwanda [u.ɾɡwaː.nda]), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated, giving it the soubriquet "land of a thousand hills", with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the southeast, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. Rwanda has a population of over 12.6 million living on 26,338 km2 (10,169 sq mi) of land, and is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the fifth most densely populated country in the world. One million people live in the capital and largest city Kigali. Hunter-gatherers settled the territory in the Stone and Iron Ages, followed later by Bantu peoples. The population coalesced first into clans, and then, into kingdoms. In the 15th century, one kingdom, under King Gihanga, managed to incorporate several of its close neighbor territories establishing the Kingdom of Rwanda. The Kingdom of Rwanda dominated from the mid-eighteen century, with the Tutsi kings conquering others militarily, centralising power, and enacting anti-Hutu policies. Germany colonised Rwanda in 1897 as part of German East Africa, followed by Belgium, which took control in 1916 during World War I. Both European nations ruled through the Rwandan king and perpetuated a pro-Tutsi policy. The Hutu population revolted in 1959. They massacred numerous Tutsi and ultimately established an independent, Hutu-dominated republic in 1962 led by President Grégoire Kayibanda. A 1973 military coup overthrew Kayibanda and brought Juvénal Habyarimana to power, who retained the pro-Hutu policy. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front launched a civil war in 1990. Habyarimana was assassinated in April 1994. Social tensions erupted in the Rwandan genocide that followed, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu in the span of one hundred days. The RPF ended the genocide with a military victory in July 1994. Rwanda has been governed as a unitary presidential system with a bicameral parliament ruled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front since 1994. The country has been governed by a centralized authoritarian government, since precolonial times. Although Rwanda has low levels of corruption compared with neighbouring countries, it ranks among the lowest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties and quality of life. The population is young and predominantly rural; Rwanda has one of the youngest populations in the world. Rwandans are drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda. However, within this group there are three subgroups: the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa are a forest-dwelling pygmy people and are often considered descendants of Rwanda's earliest inhabitants. Christianity is the largest religion in the country; the principal and national language is Kinyarwanda, spoken by native Rwandans, with English, French and Swahili serving as additional official languages. The economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export. Tourism is a fast-growing sector and is now the country's leading foreign exchange earner. In the 21st century, Rwanda has been described as an emerging tech hub for Africa, with an increase of start-up companies. The country is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, COMESA, OIF and the East African Community. In June 2022, the country hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) originally scheduled for 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.