Rwanda
[roo-ahn-duh]
- a republic in central Africa, E of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: formerly comprising the N part of the Belgian trust territory of Ruanda-Urundi; became independent 1962. 10,169 sq. mi. (26,338 sq. km). Capital: Kigali.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for rwanda
Contemporary Examples
In Rwanda, as we watched the young fathers hold their babies, we saw a contented look in their eyes.
There were stories of distant strife, in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Northern Ireland, and those stories had the whiff of a different era.
These formations streamed from Rwanda with the same hopeless shuffle as they did from Bosnia and now as they do from Syria.
This was in the wake of the genocidal Hutu-Tutsi war in neighboring Rwanda.
Catholic Nuns Aiding Africa's Battered Wives Are Raped and MurderedBarbie Latza Nadeau
September 10, 2014
Rwanda and Ethiopia, symbols in the past of death and mayhem, are now among the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Rwanda
- a republic in central Africa: part of German East Africa from 1899 until 1917, when Belgium took over the administration; became a republic in 1961 after a Hutu revolt against the Tutsi (1959); fighting between the ethnic groups broke out repeatedly after independence, culminating in the genocide of Tutsis by Hutus in 1994. Official languages: Kinyarwanda, English, French, and Swahili. Religion: Roman Catholic, African Protestant, Muslim, and animist. Currency: Rwanda franc. Capital: Kigali. Pop: 12 012 589 (2013 est). Area: 26 338 sq km (10 169 sq miles)Former name (until 1962): Ruanda
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for rwanda
Rwanda
African nation, named for indigenous people there, whose word for themselves is of unknown origin.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Rwanda
[(roo-ahn-duh)]
Note
Rwanda gained its independence from Belgium in 1962.
Note
It has long been marked by ethnic strife between majority Hutus and dominant Tutsis. When its president died in a suspicious plane cash in 1994, Hutu militia massacred at least 500,000 Tutsis in an act of genocide.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.