Rwanda
Capital: Kigali · East Africa & Horn
The land of a thousand hills and a centuries-old kingdom whose royal court cultivated intore dance, ubwiiru ritual codes and epic dynastic poetry.
Ethnic communities
- Banyarwanda (Hutu, Tutsi, Twa)A single language and royal tradition across social categories
- TwaForest-descended potters and dancers
More communities of Rwanda
- Banyarwanda (Hutu) — Farming majority within one language and court tradition
- Banyarwanda (Tutsi) — Cattle-lineage families of the old monarchy
- Abanyiginya — The royal dynasty's clan of kings
- Abega — Queen-mother clan of court alliances
- Northern Bakiga-linked folk — Volcano-foothill farmers of Uganda kin
- Intore lineages — Warrior-dance families of the high jumps
- Imandwa ritual houses — Ryangombe cult's initiated keepers
- Kivu fisher villages — Lake communities of singing paddlers
- Muslim quarter families — Swahili-linked traders of Kigali's old wards
- Abagogwe herders — Northwestern pastoral communities
- Returnee diaspora — Families home from generations abroad
Languages
Major languages: Kinyarwanda, English, French, Swahili
Language families: Niger-Congo (Bantu)
Historical kingdoms & states
- • Kingdom of Rwanda (Nyiginya dynasty)
Heritage sites
- • Nyanza Royal Palace (Rukari)
- • Genocide memorial sites (UNESCO)
Cultural highlights
Intore danceImigongo geometric artDynastic ibisigo poetryUmuganda communal work