Rwanda is a densely populated landlocked country in East and
Central Africa. It borders with Burundi, the Democratic Republic of
the 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 on the national territory. From 1884 to 1916, Rwanda was
a German colony as part of German East Africa. After the First World
War it became a Belgian League of Nations mandate in 1919 and a UN
trust territory after 1945. Independence followed in 1962.
Structural problems, high population density and ethnic conflicts
between the Hutu and Tutsi communities - culminating in the 1994
Tutsi genocide in which radical Hutus murdered around 800,000 ethnic
Tutsi and moderate Hutu - made the country one of the poorest in
Africa . Since the end of the civil war, an economic reconstruction
process has started, which has benefited from the exploitation of
raw materials in the eastern Congo provinces, among other things.
Paul Kagame has been President since 2000, ruling the country
authoritarian in a kind of education and development dictatorship.
The system of government has been criticized internationally for a
lack of press freedom, suppression of the opposition, manipulation
of elections and the destabilization of eastern Congo.
With
an average annual economic growth rate of around 8 percent between
2001 and 2015, Rwanda has long been one of the African countries
with the strongest economic growth. Large parts of the economy are
controlled by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party. Another
characteristic of Rwandan society is the high participation of women
in economic and political power.
geography
Rwanda borders Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the
east, Burundi to the south and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to
the west. Most of Rwanda is highland with an average altitude of 1500
meters. The total altitude range is from about 1000 meters to the 4507
meter high Karisimbi (Virunga volcanoes in the north). The main African
watershed between the headwaters of the White Nile and the Congo runs
from north to south at an altitude of 3000 to 4000 meters. Most of
Rwanda's western border is formed by Lake Kivu, which is part of the
East African Rift Valley system and is therefore very deep. In the
border area to Congo and Uganda are the up to 4500 meter high Virunga
volcanoes, on which the rare mountain gorillas live at medium altitude.
To the east, the vast Akagera swamps and a long series of lakes form a
natural border with present-day Tanzania. The country is 1200 kilometers
away from the East African coast, but due to its good road network it
still serves as a transit point for some exports from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Rwanda is often called the "Land of a
Thousand Hills" (French: Pays de Mille Collines) and indeed has a very
hilly landscape, mainly in the western part of the country.
climate
Due to the altitude, the climate is rather mild and humid
despite the proximity to the equator. The hot equatorial diurnal climate
is overlaid by the seasonal East African climate and moderated by the
high altitude. The average daily temperature is 18 °C. There is not much
variation in temperature throughout the year, but temperatures do vary
with altitude. There are two rainy seasons corresponding to the East
African monsoon rains, umuhindo roughly between September and December
(average 27% of annual rainfall) and itumba between February and early
June. 40% of annual precipitation falls between March and May. However,
the climate and especially the precipitation show great irregularities.
Abnormal droughts, excessive rain and hail repeatedly threaten crops and
cause famine.
hydrology
Rwanda drains into two major drainage
basins. The land area is divided into ¾ into the Nile catchment area and
¼ into the Congo catchment area.
The country's defining Nile
tributaries are the Nyabarongo, which has its source in the southwestern
highlands (Nyungwe Forest Nature Park), and the border river in the
east, the Akagera (Kagera). The Nyabarongo rises as Rukarara at 2700
meters above sea level near the watershed to the Congo and is the
central river of the country. Like its tributary, the Mwogo, it
initially flows from south to north before turning south-east to the
capital, Kigali, not far from the Virunga volcanoes. This abrupt change
in course explains the geology by tectonic displacements of the earth's
crust in the formation of the East African Rift and the Virunga
volcanoes.
South of Kigali, the Nyabarongo and the Akanyaru
coming from the Burundi border area unite at about 1500 meters altitude.
Depending on the source, the further course on the way to Lake Rweru is
already referred to as Kagera or further as Nyabarongo. After leaving
Lake Rweru, the Kagera flows first to the east, later to the north and
forms the national border with Tanzania for about 250 kilometers. The
river, which flows northwards at the border triangle with Tanzania and
Uganda, finally bends sharply to the east again, later to flow into Lake
Victoria.
The Congo catchment area is primarily characterized by
Lake Kiwu and its outflow, the Ruzizi. The latter forms the southwestern
border of Rwanda and flows to Lake Tanganyika.
The three large landscapes
Rwanda can essentially be divided
into three large and several small landscapes: The (south)eastern
depression, the central high plateau and the Congo-Nile watershed
form three large landscapes.
In the center of Rwanda is the
central high plateau. It is between 1500 and 2000 meters high and
stretches between the Congo-Nile Divide and the Southeastern
Depression. It is intersected by numerous watercourses and
represents the proverbial "land of a thousand hills", especially in
the ascent to the Congo-Nile watershed. Due to the good supply of
surface water and rainfall, as well as the moderate temperatures and
fairly fertile soil, it has been used intensively for agriculture
for a long time. The original forest vegetation has disappeared for
just as long.
The Virunga volcanoes in the north represent
the highest elevations. They are joined by the Buberuka mountains
and the volcanic area of north-western Rwanda. It is characterized
by a damp and cool climate with sometimes extreme rainfall. The
volcanic ash and cinder soils are very fertile and are used
intensively for agriculture. Here is a center of potato cultivation
in Rwanda. However, especially in the lava level, the water seeps
away very quickly and only reappears at its edge as springs.
In addition to the Virunga volcanoes, the Congo-Nile watershed,
which stretches from north to south along Lake Kivu in the west,
reaches heights close to 3000 meters, in the middle part only up to
1200 meters and in the south again up to 2700 meters. It is
characterized by rugged gorges and sharp peaks. The climate is damp
in the east due to uphill rain, and somewhat reduced in the west due
to foehn winds. In the past, the mountains were covered by tropical
high-altitude rainforest. This was extremely reduced due to
population growth. By the late 1990s, remnants of rainforest still
existed in Gishwati (North), Mukura (Central) and Nyungwe (South).
Gishwati and Mukura were almost completely destroyed after 1994 for
the purpose of settlement, mainly by returning long-term refugees.
The Nyungwe Forest, on the other hand, is still quite extensive.
Small monkeys (colobas and others), small antelopes, formerly also
forest elephants and numerous bird and small animal species live in
all tropical high mountain cloud forests. The variety of plants is
unique and large.
The shoreline of Lake Kiwu is characterized
by deep bays and steep slopes. Due to foehn formation on the western
slopes of the Congo-Nile watershed, precipitation here is lower than
on the eastern side of the mountains. The water of Lake Kiwu is
about 23.5 °C warm. The climate is characterized by mild
temperatures. On the fertile soils in the south and north, intensive
soil cultivation has been going on for a long time; On the other
hand, on the less fertile soils near Kibuye (centre), cattle
breeding traditionally predominated.
The south-west of Rwanda
(Impara and Imbo) has partly very fertile soils, which allow
intensive soil cultivation both in the hot low areas and in the cool
mountains.
The eastern and southeastern depression, with
elevations between 1000 and 1500 meters, extends west of the
extensive Akagera River backwater marshes and numerous lakes. It is
characterized by a dry, hot climate, porous soils and laterite
crusts, as well as bush savannas. The climate, soil and the
proliferation of tsetse flies make this landscape unsuitable for
farming and animal husbandry. Again and again there are extended dry
seasons, which lead to famine in the populated parts. In 1934, the
Belgian administration set up the Akagera National Park as a game
reserve in the sparsely populated area to the east. Hunting areas
and private ranches adjoined to the south and west. These hunting
areas and parts of the Akagera Park were released for settlement
after July 1994 for returning (so-called long-term) refugees. In the
south-eastern part, the Bugesera district, Tutsi from various parts
of the country had been forcibly resettled since the end of the
1950s, and later Hutu from the north of the country were added.
The lowlands of the Mayaga region along the Akanyaru River and
its papyrus swamps were formerly reserved for Tutsi cattle herds as
grazing reserves during prolonged dry seasons. They were only used
for soil construction in the course of the 20th century.