Geography
Rwanda is a small landlocked
republic in Equatorial Africa. It lies on the eastern rim of the Albertine Rift, a western arm of the Great
Rift Valley, and the watershed between Africa’s two largest river systems: the
Nile and the Congo. Much of the country’s 26,338km2 is dramatically
mountainous, the highest peak being Karisimbi (4,507m), part of the volcanic
Virunga chain in the northwest. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in
Africa, and heavily cultivated, with even the steepest hills outside of
conservation areas being tightly terraced from base to peak. The largest body of
water is Lake Kivu in the Albertine Rift. Numerous other lakes are dotted around
the country, notably Burera, Ruhondo, Muhazi and Mugasera, all of which have
erratic shapes following the contours of the steep mountains, which enclose
them.
A combination of tropical
location and high altitude ensures that most of Rwanda has a temperate
year-round climate; temperatures rarely stay above 30 degrees Celsius by day or
below 15 degrees Celsius by night. The exceptions are the chilly upper slopes of
the Virunga Mountains, and the hot low-lying Tanzania border area protected in
Akagera National Park. Throughout the country, seasonal variations in
temperature are relatively insignificant.
By African standards, Rwanda has a moist climate, with most parts of the
country receiving in excess of 1,000mm of precipitation annually (higher in the
forested mountains). The driest months are July to September, when rain is very
unusual. The wettest are February to May, when most parts of the country
typically receive around 150-200mm per month.
Until about 2000 years ago,
Rwanda was the domain of hunter-gatherers, gradually displaced by agricultural
and pastoral societies, which migrated to central Africa from elsewhere in the
continent. A centralized state emerged in the fifteenth century with the
formation of a feudal monarchy, which shared similar roots, and customs with the
Buganda and Bunyoro Empires of
neighbouring Uganda. Rwanda was colonized by Germany in 1890, and
together with neighbouring
Burundi it was mandated to Belgium following the defeat of Germany in the First
World War. Rwanda was granted independence in 1962, under Prime Minister Grégoire
Kayibanda. Ten years later, Kayibanda was ousted by Major General Juvénal
Habyarimana, whose death in a mysterious plane crash in 1994 is widely regarded
as having been the spark that ignited an already planned genocide in which up to
one million Rwandans died and twice as many fled into exile. Although outside
perceptions are understandably dominated by events surrounding the genocide,
Rwanda has in fact enjoyed a high level of political stability since 1995,
during which time most of the exiles have returned, several of the main
instigators of the genocide have been tried at the Arusha tribunal, and the
country as a whole has been peaceful.
Rwanda has three main
conservation areas. The Parc National des
Volcans in the northwest protects the Rwandese part of the Virunga Volcanoes,
and is best known for its population of mountain gorillas. Akagera
National Park in the east is dominated by savannah and wetlands, and protects
big game species characteristic of such habitats. Nyungwe National Park is the
largest conservation area in the country, a 970km2 tract of
rainforest with on of the highest biodiversity levels in Africa.