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German East Africa

(Encyclopedia)German East Africa, former German colony, c.370,000 sq mi (958,300 sq km), E Africa. Dar es Salaam was the capital. German influence emerged in the area in 1884 when Carl Peters, the German explorer, ...

Great Lakes, lakes and region, E Africa

(Encyclopedia)Great Lakes, group of freshwater lakes lying along the Great Rift Valley, E Africa, including Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa, Turkana, Albert, Kivu, and Edward. Lakes Victoria, Albert, and Edward e...

Ndayishimiye, Évariste

(Encyclopedia)Ndayishimiye, Évariste, 1968–, Burundian political leader. He was a law student before he joined the rebel Hutu militia during the country's civil war (1993–2006), and rose through the ranks of w...

Tanganyika, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Tanganyika, Lake, second largest lake of Africa, c.12,700 sq mi (32,890 sq km), E central Africa on the borders of Tanzania, Congo (Kinshasa), Zambia, and Burundi. It is c.420 mi (680 km) long and up ...

East African Community

(Encyclopedia)East African Community (EAC), organization of E African nations established to promote regional economic and political cooperation. Its headquarters are in Arusha, Tanzania. It was first founded in 19...

Buyoya, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Buyoya, Pierre, 1949–2020, Burundian political leader. An ethnic Tutsi, he had a successful military career before he overthrew President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza and became president of a Tutsi-led mil...

Mukwege, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Mukwege, Denis, 1955–, Congolese gynecologist and human-rights activist. He studied medicine at the Univ. of Burundi (grad. 1983) and worked as a pediatrician in a hospital in Lemera, Congo (Kinshas...

Swahili language

(Encyclopedia)Swahili language, member of the Bantu group of African languages (see African languages and Bantu languages). Swahili is spoken by 30 million people, chiefly in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo (Kinshasa), Buru...

Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla

(Encyclopedia)Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla khōl-ēhläˈhlä mändāˈlä [key], 1918–2013, South African statesman. He earned a degree (B.A., 1943) after being expelled from the University College of Fort Hare (f...

White Nile

(Encyclopedia)White Nile, river, one of the chief tributaries of the Nile, E Africa. The name is sometimes used for the 600 mi (970 km) long section of the river known as the Bahr el Abiad that extends upstream fro...

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