Rhonda Goes to Rwanda Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kigali

The city of Kigali was founded in 1907, but was not always the nation's capital. Nyanza was traditionally considered to be the capital, because it was where the mwami (the monarch) resided. When Rwanda was colonized by Germany in the late 19th-century, and then ruled by Belgium after WWI when Germany lost the territory, the colonial centre was the city of Astrida, later called Butare. Rwanda was granted independence from Belgium on July 1, 1962. Kigali is located more or less in the middle of the country and is the commercial and cultural centre of Rwanda.

Answer: No

It's pretty small, but there are several African countries smaller in area than Rwanda, including Djibouti, Gambia, Comoros and the Seychelles. As a comparison, Rwanda is a bit more than 26,000 square kilometres in area, while the Seychelles, an archipelagic country, is around 450 square kilometres. Rwanda doesn't sound that tiny compared to the Seychelles, but it's just a little bit smaller than the U.S. state of Massachusetts, and a teeny bit bigger than the state of Vermont.

Answer: There are no oceans bordering Rwanda

Rwanda is landlocked, in the middle of Africa. It is bordered by Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Uganda, but no ocean. Rwanda is, however, located in the Great Lakes region of Africa, and there are in fact beaches.

Answer: Dutch

Kinyarwanda is the mother tongue of most Rwandans. Until 2008, French was the second official language of the country, a result of being a colony of Belgium. French was the language of the country's school system, and thus most educated Rwandans are fluent.

A much lesser percentage of the population spoke English well, but the Rwandan government gave English equal status as Kinyarwanda in 2008 and changed the official language of the school system to English. Many people also consider Swahili to be an official language of Rwanda; it is spoken mostly in commercial areas of the country.

Answer: Hutus and Tutsis

The majority of Rwandans are of the Hutu ethnic group, and the Tutsis are a minority. The genocide took place in the aftermath of the Rwandan Civil War Habyarimana, a Hutu, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front, founded by Tutsis. After Habyarimana was assassinated in April 1994, the Hutus, under the Hutu Power ideology, executed thousands and thousands of Tutsis (and anyone considered to (1990-1993, officially), which was fought between then-President Juvénal be a Tutsi supporter). The death toll estimate varies greatly, from at least 500,000 killed up to maybe 1,000,000 deaths.

A very small minority of Rwandans (and people who live in Burundi) belong to a third ethnic group: the Twa. The Twa are pygmy people and are the oldest known inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Answer: Yes

Rwanda's economy is based largely on agriculture, and mostly internal subsistence agriculture at that. They do export some products, however. Rwanda has historically been Africa's ninth largest producer of Arabica (a species of coffee bean), though for a long time the exporting did not make it much further than Belgium and a few other select places in Europe.

The coffee and tea industries are being slowly nurtured in the aftermath of the economy's collapse during the civil war and genocide. Rwanda also exports, to a lesser extent, sugar, fish and plants.

Answer: Fairly moderate, with an extensive rainy season

Rwanda's proximity to the equator and high elevation combine to give the country a pretty moderate climate. The average year-round temperature is approximately 24 degrees Celsius (and around 19 degrees Celsius in Kigali). There are two rainy seasons, the main one from February/March-May/June, and a shorter one from September-December (but mostly in October and November). During the wet seasons, heavy rainfalls happen nearly every day, alternating with periods of sunshine.

The climate does get colder and frosty, with some snow, in the mountainous regions.

Answer: Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu is the biggest lake in Rwanda, and divides Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The three main African Great Lakes are Lake Victoria, Lake Albert and Lake Edward, which all empty into the White Nile River. Lake Kivu, Lake Turkana, Lake Malawi, and Lake Tanganyika are also considered to be Great Lakes, as are some other smaller lakes, but there is not a great consensus on which others are included. Lake Kivu empties into the Congo River.

The total surface area of Lake Kivu is almost 1/10 of the area of Rwanda, and is the 15th deepest lake in the world.

It is known as an "exploding lake", along with Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun (both in Cameroon), because it experiences violent lake overturns, due to volcanic activity and the interaction of methane and carbon dioxide.

Answer: Glaciers

Akagera National Park is situated near the border with Tanzania, and has a swampy, savannah landscape filled with big game - elephants, buffalo, giraffes, zebras, leopards, lions, hippos and more!

Located in southeast Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park is known mostly for its 13 species of primates, including chimpanzees. It is also an important ornithological park, being home to 300 species of birds, including the great blue turaco, described as a "psychedelic turkey".

Le Parc National des Volcans (Volcanoes National Park) was Africa's first-established national park. The volcanoes in the park are the Virunga Mountains. One spectacular feature is the naturally-made Musanze bridge - it is made of solidified lava. While all kinds of birds and creatures can be found in Volcanoes National Park, it is most known for being home to the mountain gorillas; the Park is where Dian Fossey studied and lived among the gorillas from 1967 until she was killed by gorilla poachers in 1985.

Answer: Land of a Thousand Hills

Rwanda is known as the Land of a Thousand Hills (or Pays des Mille Collines), simply because of its topography - much of the country is quite mountainous. One of Kigali's international class hotels is named The Mille Collines; it's the famous hotel which provided refuge to targets of the genocide in 1994, as shown in the 2004 movie "Hotel Rwanda".

The Land of the Upright Men is Burkina Faso, and the nickname is an English translation of 'Burkina Faso'. The Land of Milk and Honey is most often applied to Israel, while Land of the Midnight Sun is a nickname that belongs to Iceland (but has also been applied to other Nordic countries).