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After its military victory in July 1994, the RPF organized a coalition government similar to that established by President Habyarimana in 1992. Called
The Rwandan economy is based on the largely rainfed agricultural production of small, semisubsistence, and increasingly fragmented farms. It has few natural resources to exploit and a small, uncompetitive industrial sector. While the production of coffee and tea is well-suited to the small farms, steep slopes, and cool climates of Rwanda, farm size...
The richness of Rwandan culture is apparent in the wide range of fine crafts. These include pottery, basketry, painting, jewelry, wood carving, metalwork, and the making of gourd containers. All ethnic groups cherish oral traditions of proverbs, songs, and chants. The Tutsi, in particular, are known for their epic songs and dynastic poetry chronicling...
According to folklore, Tutsi cattle breeders began arriving in the area from the Horn of Africa in the 15th century and gradually subjugated the Hutu inhabitants. The Tutsis established a monarchy headed by a mwami (king) and a feudal hierarchy of Tutsi nobles and gentry. Through a contract known as ubuhake, the Hutu farmers pledged their services and...
Rwanda's countryside is covered by grasslands and small farms extending over rolling hills, with areas of rugged mountains that extend southeast from a chain of volcanoes in the northwest. The divide between the Congo and Nile drainage systems extends from north to south through western Rwanda at an average elevation of almost 9,000 feet. On the western...
Rwanda's population density, even after the 1994 genocide, is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (322 per sq. km., according to the August 2002 census). Nearly every family in this country with few villages lives in a self-contained compound on a hillside. The urban concentrations are grouped around administrative centers. The indigenous population...
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