Rwanda Trivia
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50 free Rwanda trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Forty-four questions on Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills. Geography covers Kigali at 1,567 metres, Mount Karisimbi, Lake Kivu and its explosive methane, the Nyabarongo as a claimant to the source of the Nile, and the three national parks that hold a third of the world's mountain gorillas. History runs from the Nyiginya kings and King Rwabugiri, German and Belgian rule and the 1935 identity cards, the 1959 revolution and 1962 independence, through the civil war, the shooting down of Habyarimana's plane and the hundred days of genocide, to Gacaca courts, the RPF, Paul Kagame and the new flag of 2001. Culture and modern life cover Kinyarwanda, umuganda community mornings, the plastic-bag ban, Kwita Izina gorilla naming, the world-leading share of women in parliament, Visit Rwanda on Arsenal shirts, brochettes and imigongo cow-dung art. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its parks, people and history, and the sentence that establishes it is quoted under each explanation. Suits a pub quiz, an African studies class or a gorilla-trekking trip.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Rwanda?
Kigali
Kigali, founded as a colonial post in 1907 by the explorer Richard Kandt, sits near the centre of the country at about 1,567 metres and is regularly ranked among Africa's cleanest cities.
Q 02Rwanda borders Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and which large country to the west?
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo shares a 217-kilometre border with Rwanda, much of it running down a lake; the Congolese city of Goma faces Rwanda's Rubavu across that frontier.
Q 03What is Rwanda's famous French-derived nickname?
Land of a thousand hills
Land of a thousand hills describes Rwanda's relentlessly rolling terrain: the whole country lies above 950 metres, and the Congo-Nile divide runs north to south through its western highlands.
Q 04Rwanda's highest point, at 4,507 metres, is which volcano in the Virunga chain?
Mount Karisimbi
Mount Karisimbi, a dormant volcano on the DRC border, rises to 4,507 metres; the Karisoke research camp, founded in 1967, took its name from Karisimbi and neighbouring Visoke (Bisoke).
Q 05Which lake on Rwanda's western border is one of three known to undergo limnic eruptions?
Lake Kivu
Lake Kivu, like Cameroon's Nyos and Monoun, holds vast dissolved carbon dioxide and methane at depth; Rwanda's KivuWatt plant has extracted the methane to generate electricity since 2015.
Q 06Which Rwandan river's source is a contender for the ultimate source of the Nile?
The Nyabarongo
About 80 percent of Rwanda drains to the Nile and 20 percent to the Congo; the Nyabarongo becomes the Kagera and reaches Lake Victoria.
Q 07Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park protects roughly what share of the world's mountain gorillas?
A third
A third: the world's roughly 1,000 mountain gorillas split between Uganda's Bwindi forest and the Virunga massif, and Volcanoes National Park's portion of the Virunga population is usually put at about a third of the global total.
Q 08The Volcanoes reserve, founded in 1925 to protect gorillas, holds what distinction?
First national park in Africa
First national park in Africa: King Albert I of Belgium created it in 1925 as a small gorilla sanctuary around three volcanoes, expanding it in 1929 into the Albert National Park spanning the Congo border.
Q 09Which American primatologist studied Rwanda's mountain gorillas from 1966 until her murder in 1985?
Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey founded the Karisoke Research Center in 1967 between two Virunga volcanoes and turned militant against poachers after her favourite gorilla, Digit, was killed in 1977; she was murdered there in December 1985.
Q 10Rwanda's annual Kwita Izina ceremony does what?
Names newborn baby gorillas
Kwita Izina names newborn baby gorillas: held since 2005 and modelled on the Rwandan naming ceremony for human infants, it lets guests name each year's new gorillas, helping rangers track every individual.
Q 11Which Rwandan forest is famous for chimpanzees, a canopy walkway and colobus troops of up to 400?
Nyungwe
Nyungwe National Park, a montane rainforest in the south-west, opened East Africa's first canopy walkway in 2010 and shelters chimpanzees plus Angolan colobus monkeys in troops of several hundred.
Q 12Which country donated seven lions to Rwanda's Akagera National Park in 2015?
South Africa
South Africa sent seven lions from KwaZulu-Natal reserves to Akagera in June 2015, some 15 years after the park's last lions were poisoned; 18 black rhinos followed in 2017 and 30 white rhinos in 2021.
Q 13Which European power first colonised Rwanda, in 1897, as part of its East African territory?
Germany
Q 21What name was given to the traditional village courts revived to try genocide cases?
Gacaca
Gacaca, named for the grass on which village elders traditionally sat, ran from 2002 to 2012 and tried some 1.9 million cases in community courts, alongside the UN tribunal in Arusha.
Q 22Which actor played hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in 'Hotel Rwanda' (2004)?
Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for playing Paul Rusesabagina in 'Hotel Rwanda' (2004); Sophie Okonedo was nominated for playing his wife Tatiana.
Q 23Who became president of Rwanda in 2000 after leading the RPF to power in 1994?
Paul Kagame
Germany incorporated Rwanda into German East Africa from 1897, ruling through the Tutsi monarchy with a handful of officials; Belgian forces occupied the territory in 1916 during World War I.
Q 14Under which League of Nations mandate did Belgium govern Rwanda together with its southern neighbour?
Ruanda-Urundi
Ruanda-Urundi, comprising today's Rwanda and Burundi, became a Belgian League of Nations mandate in 1922 and a UN trust territory after 1946; it was administered from Usumbura, now Bujumbura.
Q 15Rwanda became independent on 1 July of which year?
1962
1962: Rwanda and Burundi became separate independent states on 1 July 1962, after a September 1961 referendum had abolished the Rwandan monarchy in favour of a republic under Grégoire Kayibanda.
Q 16The 1994 genocide began within hours of what event on 6 April?
The president's plane was shot down
The president's plane was shot down: Juvénal Habyarimana's Falcon 50 jet was hit by missiles on approach to the capital's airport on the evening of 6 April 1994, and roadblocks went up within hours.
Q 17Over roughly how many days did the 1994 genocide unfold?
100
About 100 days: from 7 April to mid-July 1994, when the RPF captured the last government-held areas, between 500,000 and a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed.
Q 18Which broadcaster infamously fuelled the genocide with anti-Tutsi propaganda?
Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines
Radio remains most Rwandans' main news source, and the state-run Radio Rwanda is the largest station.
Q 19The Hutu militia whose name means 'those who stand together' was called what?
Interahamwe
Interahamwe, 'those who stand together', was the youth militia of Habyarimana's ruling MRND party, armed and trained from 1992; its members led the machete killings at roadblocks across the country.
Q 20Which Canadian general commanded the UN mission in Rwanda and sent the 'Genocide Fax' in January 1994?
Romeo Dallaire
His warning about militia arms caches went unheeded; the overstretched UNAMIR force was never reinforced.
Paul Kagame, raised as a refugee in Uganda, fought in Yoweri Museveni's rebel army and took command of the RPF after Fred Rwigema's death in 1990; he became president on 22 April 2000.
Q 24Rwanda's national language, spoken by about 98 percent of the population, is what?
Kinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda, a Bantu language mutually intelligible with Burundi's Kirundi, is spoken by nearly all Rwandans; English, French and Swahili are also official, and English has been the medium of schooling since the late 2000s.
Q 25Since 2003 Rwanda has led the world in which measure of political representation?
Share of women in parliament
Share of women in parliament: after the 2003 election Rwanda's lower house was 48.8 percent female, the world's highest, and at the following election women won a majority of seats, a world first; the constitution reserves 30 percent for women.
Q 26On the last Saturday of every month, Rwandans aged 18 to 65 must take part in what?
Umuganda community service
Umuganda community service, revived nationally in 1998, runs from 8 to 11 am on the last Saturday of the month, cleaning streets and building schools, with fines for unexcused absence; the word means 'coming together in common purpose'.
Q 27Rwanda's ban on plastic bags, one of the world's strictest, took effect in which year?
2008
2008: Rwanda's law banning the manufacture, import, use and sale of polythene bags took effect that year, building on a 2004 campaign; visitors have had bags confiscated at the airport.
Q 28Rwanda's 2001 flag replaced ethnic symbolism with which emblem in the upper corner?
A golden sun
A golden sun with 24 rays sits in the upper fly corner of the flag adopted on 25 October 2001; its blue, yellow and green stripes replaced the red-yellow-green tricolour with a black 'R'.
Q 29Which English football club did the 'Visit Rwanda' campaign first sponsor in 2018?
Arsenal
Arsenal became the first 'Visit Rwanda' partner in May 2018, wearing the logo on its shirt sleeves; Paris Saint-Germain followed in 2019 and Bayern Munich in 2023.
Q 30Rwanda joined which grouping in 2009 despite having no historical link to the British Empire?
The Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations admitted Rwanda in November 2009, only the second member after Mozambique with no British colonial past; the capital hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in June 2022.