Burundi: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Burundi is a small, landlocked country in East-Central Africa, in the Great Lakes region, bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwest. Its political capital is Gitega, and its largest city and economic centre is Bujumbura. About 14 million people live there, making it one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. Burundi is known for its green hills, coffee and tea, and its royal drummers.

On My Earth Toy you can see the Source of the Nile Pyramid at Rutovu, a small stone pyramid near a spring that is counted as one of the southernmost sources of the world's longest river.

Geography and nature

Burundi sits on high, rolling hills and plateaus, much of it more than 1,500 metres above sea level, which keeps the climate mild. In the west, the land drops steeply into the Great Rift Valley and Lake Tanganyika, one of the deepest and oldest lakes in the world, full of colourful fish found nowhere else. Rusizi National Park, near Bujumbura, has hippos, crocodiles and many birds. Most of the original forest has been cleared for farms.

People, languages and culture

Burundi's people are Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, and nearly everyone speaks Kirundi, which is also an official language, along with French and English. Most people are Christian and live in the countryside, farming beans, bananas, cassava and coffee. The Royal Drum Dance, in which drummers carry huge drums on their heads and leap as they play, is listed by UNESCO as cultural heritage. Drums have long been symbols of power in Burundi.

History in a nutshell

For centuries Burundi was an independent kingdom ruled by a king called the mwami. In the late 1800s it became part of German East Africa, and after World War I Belgium governed it together with Rwanda as Ruanda-Urundi. Burundi became independent on 1 July 1962. It went through long periods of conflict between groups, including a civil war that lasted from 1993 to about 2005, and has since worked to rebuild.