Rwanda covers an area of 10,169 square miles (26,338 sq km). It is a country of mountains and plateaus, interspersed with deep valleys. Much of the landscape consists of hills and valleys scattered with eucalyptus trees and banana groves, alternating with patches of luxuriant pastures. Elevations range from 4,800 feet (1,500 meters) on the shores of Lake Kivu in the west to nearly 15,000 feet (4,600 meters) in the volcanic Virunga mountain range in the northwest. Mountains separate the Nile Basin from the Congo Basin. Lake Kivu, the largest of the country's many lakes, forms part of Rwanda's border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Although Rwanda lies near the equator, its high elevation makes its climate temperate. The average annual temperature in most of the country is about 68 F (18 C), with only small seasonal variations. The region around Lake Kivu is generally hotter and more humid. Rwanda's average annual rainfall varies between 40 and 50 inches (1,0001,300 mm). The amount varies markedly according to the season, with the major rainy season from February to May.

The whole western region of Rwanda is ideal for herding and the cultivation of food crops. But it quickly shades off in the east into the savanna zone, which may range from arid and treeless grassland to acacia scrublands and bamboo forests. A major strain on land resources stems from the high density of the cattle populationapproximately 3 million head. The large number of cattle has tended to accelerate the process of erosion on deforested hillsides, with disastrous effects on soil productivity.

Rwanda had a population of about 7.5 million in 1992. With about 740 persons per square mile (286 per sq km), it is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. It is estimated that the population is increasing at the high rate of 1.7% annually.

Traditional Rwandan society was organized into hierarchical strata roughly coinciding with the three major ethnic groupsTutsi, Hutu, and Twa. The Tutsi, also known as Batutsi or Watutsi, represent approximately 9% of the total population. Formerly the dominant caste, these tall, cattle-raising people exercised political control over the other groups. The Hutu, or Bahutu, who account for 90% of the population, are primarily farmers and previously worked the land for its Tutsi owners. The pygmoid Twa, or Batwa, 1% of the population, are hunters and potters.

Using their cattle as a lever of economic and social power to subdue the indigenous Hutu and Twa populations, the Tutsi eventually developed a highly centralized system of government. The Rwanda monarchy was essentially a Tutsi monarchy. Through an elaborate system of rituals and traditions, the Tutsi managed to give a sanction of legitimacy to the premise of inequality on which the country's social and political system was established. With the spread of Western education and Christianity, Rwandan peasants became increasingly dissatisfied with their inferior position. The resulting conflict of interest between the ruling aristocracy and the subordinate castes culminated in widespread ethnic violence in 1959, followed by a massive exodus of Tutsi people. The reversal of traditional statuses following the revolution led to the emergence of a political system in which power lies exclusively in the hands of the Hutu elites.

The Hutu and Tutsi share the same Bantu language, Kinyarwanda, as well as similar cultural traditions. About half the people practice their traditional religion; the remainder are Christians, chiefly Roman Catholics. Primary school facilities have been expanded, but few students attend secondary schools. The National University of Rwanda, founded in 1963, had an enrollment of over 1,500 in 1984.

There are almost no real villages in Rwanda. Today, as in the past, the hill is the primary focus of social and economic activity. Urban growth has remained limited to the perimeter of the capital city, Kigali, which had a population of about 330,000 in 1997. Thus traditional lifestyles are still very much in evidence, as shown by the continuing influence of the clientage system and the persistence of kinship and regional loyalties. Despite the impression of stability, regional and communal tensions within the country continue to hamper the political modernization of Rwanda.

With a per capita gross domestic product of over $900 a year, Rwanda is one of the poorer countries in Africa. Its economy has not progressed very far beyond the subsistence level because of the lack of significant mineral resources and the absence in the past of incentives for development.

The economy is based almost completely on agriculture and livestock raising. Subsistence crops include sorghum, maize, manioc, beans, and bananas. The principal export is coffee. Production of coffee underwent a substantial increase in the late 1960s, rising from 8,600 tons in 1966 to 15,500 tons in 1970. But these gains were largely nullified by the decline in world prices for coffee.

To offset Rwanda's overwhelming dependence on coffee exports, steps have been taken to expand tea and pyrethrum plantations, in particular through the establishment of farming communities known as paysannats. With aid from the European Development Fund a total of about 30,000 families had been installed in paysannats by the beginning of 1969.

As in most other pastoral societies of East Africa, the herding of cattle has had more than economic significance in Rwanda. Although their role in contemporary society is no longer associated with social and ethnic distinctions, cattle remain a very familiar sight. The most fertile areas of the country have been heavily overstocked and overplanted. Efforts are being made to reduce the density of the cattle population and to increase the value of the cows through the promotion of commercial cattle ranching. But the importance attached in the past to the ownership of cattle is one reason that the adjustment of agricultural production to the requirements of a fast-growing population has proved such a difficult task.

Mineral exports represent a small percentage of Rwanda's foreign exchange earnings. Small quantities of cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, and wolframite are mined in the northern and eastern regions. Manufacturing is primarily for local consumption and includes food processing and the production of textiles and chemicals. In the absence of railroads and an adequate road network, Rwanda's rugged terrain hampers economic and social development. An international airport at Kigali was expanded to accommodate large jets in 1968.

The first known inhabitants of what is now Rwanda were the Twa. The region was later occupied by the Hutu and then by the Tutsi. The kingdom of Rwanda developed its present territorial base partly through conquest and partly through peaceful assimilation.

Under the leadership of a royal clan, successive waves of Tutsi pastoralists spread their domination over the indigenous Bantu societies, whose customs and traditions they gradually assimilated into their own. The critical step in this process of conquest and assimilation took place in the region near Kigali during the reign of the Tutsi king Ruganzu Bwimba, probably in the 15th century. The most spectacular conquests, however, occurred during the reign of Mwami (King) Kigeri Rwabugiri, in the latter half of the 19th century. At the inception of colonial rule, most of the Hutu people had already been incorporated in the fold of the Tutsi monarchy.

Rwanda was made part of German East Africa in the late 19th century. After World War I, Rwanda and Burundi were administered by Belgium as the League of Nations mandate of Ruanda-Urundi, which became a United Nations trust territory following World War II. The Belgians, like the Germans, governed Rwanda through its traditional authorities, retaining the established structure based on Tutsi supremacy.

The system of indirect rule aimed at maintaining the legitimacy of the monarchy. But it did not prevent the penetration of westernizing influences, which had a shattering impact on Rwanda's indigenous societies.

With the development of revolutionary aspirations among the peasantry in the years following World War II, tensions increased between the Tutsi aristocracy and the Hutu elite. In the 1956 Bahutu Manifesto the Hutu for the first time formally demanded equal rights, and violent clashes erupted in several parts of Rwanda in 1959. Large numbers of Tutsi fled to neighboring countries, the number of refugees reaching an estimated 200,000 in the 1960s.

Neither willing nor able to stem the tide of Hutu unrest, Belgium lent its full support to the Hutu. In 1960 a provisional government was set up, composed primarily of members of the all-Hutu Parti de l'Emancipation des Masses Hutu (Parmehutu). Grégoire Kayibanda, leader of Parmehutu, became premier. In January 1961 the government declared Rwanda a republic and deposed Mwami Kigeri V. The following September the Parmehutu scored a landslide victory in legislative elections, and in a UN-sponsored referendum conducted at the same time, the monarchy was formally abolished. Kayibanda was elected president in October. Rwanda became formally independent on July 1, 1962, but ethnic violence continued long after independence.

President Kayibanda was reelected in 1965 and 1969; however, in July 1973 Maj. Gen. Juvénal Habyarimana led a coup and established a military government. A national congress of the new ruling party was elected in January 1976. Late in 1978 a new constitution was approved in a national referendum, and Habyarimana was reelected president. The constitution confirmed Rwanda as a one-party state, with theNational Revolutionary Movement for Development (renamed National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development; MRNDD) as the only legal political organization. The president and the National Council of Development shared legislative power. The president could run for an unlimited number of five-year terms. The National Council of Development consisted of 70 deputies elected to five-year terms. Political unrest continued, however. Exiled Tutsi, forced from Rwanda by Hutu persecution in the 1960s1980s, formed a rebel force, the Rwandan Patriot Front (FPR), in Uganda. In October 1990 the front led military incursions into Rwanda, agitating for political reform and the repatriation of Rwandan refugees. A state of civil war ensued. The government responded in June 1991 with governmental reform outlined in a new constitution, which adopted a multiparty system, created the post of prime minister (appointed by the president), limited the number of presidential terms to two, and prohibited political activity by the military and judiciary. It was hoped that the reforms would limit executive power while making the legislative and judiciary branches independent of the executive.

In accordance with the new constitution, Habyarimana appointed Dismas Nsengiyaremye, a member of the Republican Democratic Party (MDR; formerly the Parmehutu), prime minister. Nsengiyaremye formed a transitional coalition government, which included the four main opposition parties, to lead the country until new elections could be held. But the new government did not include the FPR, which continued to agitate for a share of power in the transitional government. Peace talks were held in 19921993, and cease-fires were declared and broken.

On Aug. 4, 1993, a peace accord was signed between Habyarimana and Col. Alex Kanyarengwe of the FPR. It called for the creation of a new transitional government, but one was never established, for on April 6, 1994, Habyarimana died in a plane crash and ethnic violence erupted throughout Rwanda. Seen by some as an ethnic struggle, the resulting civil war was in reality a political move by the conservative Hutu military to maintain control of the government by eliminating the Tutsi, their sympathizers, and moderate Hutu. Indeed, some analysts believed that Habyarimana, a conservative Hutu, had been eliminated because he was moving toward compromise with the Tutsi. By May the killing of Tutsi had reached genocidal proportions, with most deaths attributed to the government's security forces and allied groups.

The FPR resumed fighting in mid-April 1994. By June its forces were making steady advances against Hutu-led government troops, capturing Kigali, the nation's capital, on July 4. Claiming victory on July 1819, the FPR called for a cease-fire and set up a new government, with moderate Hutu as president and prime minister. By September Gen. Paul Kagame, former commander of the FPR and new vice president and defense minister of Rwanda, proclaimed that the new government was determined to establish a multiparty democracy in which ethnic origin would not be an issue. People associated with the previous government, however, were excluded. In February 1995 the United Nations established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to investigate the charges of genocide.

As the FPR gained control of the country, Hutu, fearing reprisals for Tutsi killings, fled Rwanda in record numbers. By July 1994 over 2.1 million had fled into Zaire (known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo after 1997) and refugee camps arose in the border area.

In April 1995 violence erupted in the Kibeho refugee camp, in Rwanda, as government troops opened fire on resisting Hutus, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths, the loss of valuable foreign aid, and a slowdown in the voluntary repatriation of Hutu refugees outside Rwanda. Meanwhile, refugee camps in Zaire became bases from which Hutu rebels made raids across the border. The new Rwandan government, frustrated by Zaire's inability or unwillingness to restrain the Hutu rebels, backed an armed rebellion against the Zairian government starting in August 1996.