Burundi

National name: Republika y'u Burundi

Geography 
Capital: Bujumbura
Major Towns: Muyinga, Gitega, Bubanza, Bururi
Location (geographical coordinates/latitude and longitude): 3°30'S, 30°00'E
Time Zone: CAT (UTC+2)
Size (Land and Sea): 27,830 sq km
Borders with Democratic Republic of the Congo 233 km, Rwanda 290 km, Tanzania 451 km
Elevation extremes (lowest and highest points) "lowest point: Lake Tanganyika 772 m
highest point: Heha 2,670 m"
 
Politics  
Head of State: President Pierre Nkurunziza
Form of Government: Republic
Independancy (from Belgium):  July 1 1962
Currency: Burundi franc (FBu) (BIF)

Industry 
Main Industries: light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing.
Natural resources: nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum (not yet exploited), vanadium, arable land, hydropower, niobium, tantalum, gold, tin, tungsten, kaolin, limestone.
Agriculture: coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides.

Population and People  
Population:  8,390,505 (2007 est.)
Population density per sq mi: 847
Growth rate: 3.6%
 Birth rate: 41.97 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate: 6.48 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 61.9/1000
Religion: Christian 67% (Roman Catholic 62%, Protestant 5%), indigenous beliefs 23%, Muslim 10%
Languages: Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area)
Ethnic groups / Tribes: Hutu (Bantu) 85%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 14%, Twa (Pygmy) 1%, Europeans 3,000, South Asians 2,000
Average age: 0-14 years: 46.3% (male 1,951,879/female 1,930,371); 15-64 years: 51.2% (male 2,131,759/female 2,162,093); 65 years and over: 2.6% (male 85,522/female 128,881) (2007 est.)
Life expectancy: 50.8
Literacy (definition: age 15 and over can read and write): Total population: 59.3%: male: 67.3%; female: 52.2% (2000 est.)

• Lake Tanganyika. considered to be the source of the Nile
• The earliest inhabitants of the area were the pygmoid Twa
• Bantu tribes
• Hutu and Tutsi culture
• mountain country, high plateau, average altitude is about 1,700 m
• Natural resources: nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum (not yet exploited), vanadium, arable land, hydropower
• rainforests
• Mount Karonje
• Great Rift Valley
• two national parks, Kibira National Park to the northwest (a small region of montane rainforest, adjacent to Nyungwe Forest National Park in Rwanda), Rurubu National Park to the north east (along the Rurubu River, also known as Ruvubu or Ruvuvu)
• huge coffee plantation, coffee the biggest country’s revenue
• cotton, tea, maize, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas
• 315 people per square kilometre (753/sq. mi) is the second highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, behind only Rwanda
• royal percussionists: the Master Drummers of Burundi
• In their traditional philosophy anyone talking too much is not considered to be intelligent
• wonderful landscapes, from mountaintops to forests, huge lakes to tropical plateau
• eucalyptus trees
• Bujumbura with markets and colonial architecture
• Around 10km (6 miles) south of Bujumbura is a stone that marks the historic meeting-place of Stanley and Livingstone in 1871
• Chutes de la Kagera waterfall
• arts and crafts of the Burundians: leather, ceramics, ivory and wood-carvings in the Craftwares Village at Giheta, plus sculptures, wickerware and paintings in the town's Art School
• ancient game of urubugu (also known as mancala). It is played with pebbles or seashells on hollows scooped out on the ground, or with seeds on expensive, elaborately carved wooden boards
• excellent bird-watching, especially in Kibira Natonal Park