Rwanda

Rwanda or Rwanda [ˈʁu̯anda] (Kinyarwanda u Rwanda, French le Rwanda [lə ʁwɑ̃ˈda]) is a densely populated landlocked country in East Africa. It borders Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Tanzania. Because of its hilly landscape, Rwanda is also called the "land of a thousand hills". The main African watershed between the catchment areas of the Nile and the Congo runs through the national territory. From 1884 to 1916 Rwanda was a German colony as part of German East Africa. After World War I, it became a Belgian League of Nations mandate in 1919 and a UN trust territory after 1945. It became independent in 1962.

Due to structural problems, a high population density and conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups - which culminated in the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994, in the course of which some 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu were murdered by radical Hutu - the country was among the poorest in Africa. Since the end of the civil war, an economic reconstruction process has begun that has been favoured, among other things, by the exploitation of raw materials in the eastern Congo provinces. Since 2000, Paul Kagame has been in office as president, governing the country authoritatively in a kind of education and development dictatorship. The system of government is internationally criticized for lack of freedom of the press, suppression of the opposition, manipulation of elections and destabilization of eastern Congo.

With an average annual economic growth rate of about 8 percent in the period 2001 to 2015, Rwanda has long been one of the countries in Africa with the strongest economic growth. Large parts of the economy are controlled by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party. Rwandan society is also characterized by the unusually high participation of women in economic and political power by African standards.

Etymology

The name Rwanda is derived from the Old Rwandan verb kwanda (to enlarge, to expand). Just as the prefix ku- (ku-anda = kwanda) characterizes a verb, in country names, for example, the syllables -Bu- or -Ru- as well as the article u- are prefixed to the root word.

root -anda: u-Ru-anda = uRwanda or u Rwanda (the growing country, Rwanda)

root -dage: u-Bu-dage = uBudage or u Budage (Germany, -dage from German)

root -faransa: u-Bu-faransa = uBufaransa or u Bufaransa (France, -faransa from France)

The country is spelled Rwanda in German, Rwanda in French (more rarely Rwanda).

Administration breakdown

Since 1 January 2006, Rwanda has been divided into five provinces:

Province	Capital	Area in km²	Population2012	Inhabitants jekm²
Kigali	Kigali	730	1.132.686	1.552
North	Byumba	3.436	1.726.370	502
East	Rwamagana	9.813	2.595.703	265
South	Nyanza	6.118	2.589.975	423
West	Kibuye	6.233	2.471.239	396

Previously, Rwanda was divided into the following twelve provinces: Butare, Byumba, Cyangugu, Gikongoro, Gisenyi, Gitarama, Kibungo, Kibuye, Kigali, Kigali Rural, Ruhengeri and Umutara. The five present provinces are further subdivided into a total of thirty districts.

Administrative structure until 2005


Current administrative structure