Burundi

Modern Burundi takes its name from the precolonial Kingdom of Burundi (Urundi), a polity that had emerged by the 16th century. The colonial capital, Usumbura, was officially renamed Bujumbura at independence in 1962.

Burundi is one of the few countries in Africa, along with its neighbour Rwanda among others (such as Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini), to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state. The early history of Burundi, and especially the role and nature of the country's three dominant ethnic groups, the Twa, Hutu and Tutsi, is highly debated amongst academics. The first evidence of the Burundian state dates back to the late 16th century where it emerged on the eastern foothills of the Rift Valley. Over the following centuries it expanded, annexing smaller neighbours. The Kingdom of Burundi or Urundi, in the Great Lakes region was a polity ruled by a traditional monarch with several princes beneath him; succession struggles were common. …

One of the smallest countries in Africa, Burundi is landlocked and has an equatorial climate. Burundi is a part of the Albertine Rift, the western extension of the East African Rift. The country lies on a rolling plateau in the centre of Africa. Burundi is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. It lies within the Albertine Rift montane forests, Central Zambezian miombo woodlands, and Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaic ecoregions. The average elevation of the central plateau is 1,707 m (5,600 ft), with lower elevations at the borders. The highest peak, Mount Heha at 2,685 m (8,810 ft), lies to the southeast of the largest city and economic capital, Bujumbura. …