Once known as Urundi, the Kingdom of Burundi emerged on the eastern foothills in the late 17th century. Burundi is a small land-locked country in the African Great Lakes region in central Eastern Africa bordering Lake Tanganyika in south west.
The country successfully gained freedom from Europe in 1962. Following their newly independent status, a constitutional monarchy was established. Since independence in 1962 it has been plagued by tension between the usually-dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority. Burundi, is one of the world’s poorest nations, and is struggling to emerge from the ethnic-based civil war. A particularly gruesome outbreak of violence occurred in 1972 as an estimated 300,000 Hutu were killed, and an additional 300,000 refugees fled to Tanzania. The capital city is Bujumbura. The official languages are French and Kirundi. The currency is the Burundian franc.
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