Rwanda

Rwanda is a small, landlocked country in East Africa, in the highlands at the heart of the continent, between Lake Kivu and the sources of the Nile. It is nicknamed the "land of a thousand hills" for its endlessly rolling green ridges, farmed right to the top. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa: about 14 million people on a small territory; the capital, Kigali, is reputed to be one of the cleanest and safest cities on the continent. Since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has become a symbol of rebuilding.

Rwanda is a land of hills and mountains, whose altitude gives it a mild climate despite lying close to the equator. To the west the land drops to Lake Kivu, one of the great lakes of the Rift Valley. In the northwest rise the volcanoes of the Virunga range, covered in bamboo forest: here, in the mist, lives part of the world's last population of mountain gorillas, which Rwanda protects. Everywhere the slopes are shaped into terraces, gardens and tea and coffee plantations.

For centuries Rwanda was a centralised kingdom ruled by a king (the mwami), one of the most organised African states before colonisation. The colonisers, German and then Belgian, hardened and inflamed the distinction between Hutu and Tutsi, two groups that nonetheless shared the same language, land and culture. That divide led in 1994 to one of the worst crimes of the 20th century: the genocide against the Tutsi, which killed nearly a million people in a hundred days. The country has since recovered, betting on reconciliation, security and development under Paul Kagame, in power since 2000 and criticised for his authoritarianism.

Unusually for Africa, almost all Rwandans share the same mother tongue, Kinyarwanda, a Bantu language. The country has made English, French and Swahili its other official languages. Rwanda is overwhelmingly Christian, mostly Catholic and Protestant.

Rwandan culture starts with the intore dance, whose arm movements recall the long horns of cattle and the gestures of warriors, set to the great royal drums. There is the geometric art of imigongo, panels with raised black, white and ochre patterns. And there is a practice that has become an emblem of rebuilding: umuganda, a monthly morning of community work in which everyone takes part, from ordinary citizens to the president. Life revolves around the family and the farmed hills.