Rwanda IPA: [ɾ(g)wɑndɑ], officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approximately 9 million people, Rwanda supports the densest human populations in continental Africa. A verdant country of fertile and hilly terrain, the small country bears the title, "Land of a Thousand Hills," (French: Pays des Mille Collines /pei de mil kɔ.lin/) ("Igihugu cy'Imisozi Igihumbi" in Kinyarwanda).
The country has garnered international attention most markedly for the infamous 1994 genocide, a sudden and savage massacre that resulted in the deaths of as many as 1 million people -- an atrocity achieved in just three months. Largely the result of centuries-long tension between the native Tutsi and Hutu populations, the massacre of 1994 betrays an enmity dating back to Rwanda's colonial days.
The country's prevalent use of subsistence agriculture and the resulting depletion of soil fertility, its dense and increasing population, as well as its uncertain climate have rendered Rwanda a country of endemic malnutrition and widespread poverty.[1]
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