Kigali

Rwanda was a kingdom long before it had a capital. For several centuries a line of kings, the mwami, ruled a growing state from royal courts in the hills, and the country's people shared one language, Kinyarwanda, and a single culture of cattle, farming and clan ties. The population had three groups, the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, whose meanings changed over time and were hardened later by colonial rule.

European contact came late. The first German explorer reached the king's court in 1894, and Germany claimed the area as part of German East Africa. In 1907 an officer and doctor, Richard Kandt, chose a low ridge in the middle of the country as the site of the resident's post. That small station, chosen for its central position and the healthy air at about 1,500 metres, became Kigali. The house he lived in is now a small museum.

After the First World War Belgium took over the territory under a League of Nations mandate, and later a United Nations trusteeship. Belgian administrators ruled through the Tutsi elite, introduced identity cards that recorded a person's group, and made the divisions between groups a legal fact. Kigali stayed small and Butare and Nyanza were more important towns for much of the colonial period.

Independence came on 1 July 1962, after a revolution in the late 1950s that ended the monarchy and brought a Hutu-led republic to power. Kigali became the capital and slowly grew into an administrative town. Years of tension and violence against Tutsi followed, with many people fleeing to neighbouring countries. The events of 1994 changed everything, and the capital was rebuilt from the base of a damaged, half-emptied city.

Since the mid-1990s Kigali has been rebuilt and planned. A master plan set out zones for housing, commerce and green space along the ridges and valleys, roads were widened, and new buildings such as the Kigali Convention Centre were added. Today the city has well over a million residents and is a regional hub for conferences and business, still small enough to cross by car in half an hour outside rush hour.

On 6 April 1994 a plane carrying the Rwandan president was shot down near Kigali airport. Within hours, roadblocks appeared and killings began, planned and led by extremist officials and militias. Over about 100 days, an estimated 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutu and others, were murdered. Neighbours, colleagues and even family members took part, and the speed and scale of the killing made it one of the worst genocides of the twentieth century.

The killing ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front, an army led by exiled Tutsi, took control of the country. Kigali fell on 4 July 1994, which is now celebrated as Liberation Day. Millions of people had fled or been displaced, the state was in ruins, and the courts were overwhelmed. The new government set up community courts known as gacaca, which heard about two million cases between 2002 and 2012 and aimed to combine justice with truth-telling.

Remembrance is part of daily life. Each April the country begins a 100-day period of mourning called Kwibuka, meaning to remember. The first week is the most solemn: flags fly at half-mast, entertainment is restrained and public events are held at memorials. Many shops and venues change their hours, and visitors are asked to dress quietly and avoid loud behaviour.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi opened in 2004 and holds the remains of more than 250,000 people in its mass graves. It has exhibitions on the events of 1994, on genocide elsewhere and on the story of individual victims, and a room dedicated to children. It is run in partnership with a charity, the Aegis Trust, and entry is free with donations welcome. A second museum in the Parliament building tells the military and political side of the story, and smaller sites, such as the Nyamata church south of the city, hold remains in the places where people were killed.

How you behave matters. Speak softly, dress modestly, keep your phone silent and follow the site's rules on photography. Do not ask people about their ethnicity, which is a sensitive subject and can be treated as divisionism under Rwandan law. Plan one heavy visit at a time, keep the afternoon quiet and give yourself a chance to talk about what you have seen.

Rwanda is called the land of a thousand hills, and Kigali is a scatter of them. The old centre and its market sit on one hill, Kimihurura and Kacyiru on eastern ridges, Gisozi to the north and Nyamirambo on a long hillside to the south-west. The valleys between them hold marshes, streams and small farms that the city has protected as green corridors. The result is a capital with many views and few straight lines.

The hills shape every plan. A map may suggest a ten-minute walk, but the slope adds time, the sun at altitude is strong and the rain is heavy in the wet months. That is why the four clusters in our plan are joined by short car or moto rides, not walks. The roads follow the ridges and are well kept, and the pavements in Kimihurura and Kacyiru are wide, but in the older parts they narrow and break.

Each hill has a character. The centre is commercial, busy on weekdays and quiet at night, with banks, small shops, a covered market and older hotels. Kimihurura and Kacyiru are the newer, greener districts with embassies, cafés, art centres and the Convention Centre. Gisozi is residential and solemn, dominated by the memorial. Nyamirambo, the oldest and most diverse quarter, has a long Muslim tradition, tailors, barbers and grills, and it is the liveliest place in the evening.

Motorbike taxis, called motos, are the fastest way through the traffic and are a feature of the city. Riders must wear a helmet and carry a spare for the passenger, and they are cheap. They are also the main cause of injuries to visitors, so ride only in daylight, take the helmet and skip them in the rain. Ride-hail cars are a calmer option and show the fare in advance.

For a visitor, the best advice is to accept the hills. Pick a base near the cluster you will use most, ask for a lift or a car for the long legs, and use walks as rewards: the Kimihurura streets in the early evening, the Nyamirambo main street in the late afternoon. Slow days work better than packed ones.

Kigali is known for being clean and calm, and that is a result of deliberate habits. The best known is umuganda, a community work morning held on the last Saturday of every month. The word means coming together for a common purpose, and the tradition has roots in older forms of communal labour. It was revived in the late 1990s and later placed in law. On the morning, from about 08:00 to 11:00, people clear drains, repair roads and plant trees, and most traffic stops. Shops stay closed until the work ends.

For a visitor, umuganda is both a treat and a constraint. You may see neighbours in bright vests cleaning their streets, and you may be welcome to join if you are invited. But airport transfers, tours and shopping are hard, so check whether the last Saturday of the month falls during your stay and plan around it. Cars are allowed for emergencies and airport travel, but check with your hotel.

Other rules are part of the same civic picture. Plastic carrier bags have been banned since 2008, and shops offer paper or cloth bags. Motorbike riders must wear helmets, and traffic police are visible. Public spaces are swept daily and rubbish is not left on the street. Foreigners are expected to follow the same rules and to be polite: shouting, littering and rude behaviour stand out.

Order also has a political side. The government is strong and centralised, the press is limited and criticism of the state is discouraged. Many visitors find the calm reassuring and many Rwandans point to the security it brings after 1994. Others note the costs of restricted debate. As a visitor you are not asked to take a side, but you should avoid political arguments, do not photograph government buildings or the military and follow instructions from officials.

The practical result is a city where you can walk with less worry than in many capitals, use apps with confidence and expect a queue to be respected. It also means that small rules matter: dress neatly, greet people before you ask them anything, and leave a place as tidy as you found it.

Rwandan food is simple and hearty. The staple is starch with a sauce: beans, cassava, plantains, potatoes, maize and rice. Beans are the daily protein, stewed with onion and tomato. Cassava leaves are pounded and cooked with peanut paste and aubergine to make isombe. Plantains, called ibitoke, are boiled or stewed. A typical lunch is a buffet plate with several of these and a piece of grilled meat or fish.

Meat is eaten as brochettes, skewers of goat, beef or sometimes fish grilled over charcoal and sold at small bars and roadside stands. Goat is the traditional choice, and a plate with roasted banana, a few chips and a beer is the classic evening. Nyamirambo, with its grills, is the best-known place. From Lake Kivu come small fried fish, sambaza, and cattle bring milk: ikivuguto, a fermented milk, is a cool, tangy drink and a national favourite.

Coffee is the country's pride. It was introduced by missionaries in the early twentieth century and is now grown by hundreds of thousands of smallholders on the hills. Most is Arabica and much of it is washed at local stations, giving a bright, floral cup. Kigali has a lively café scene, from small local chains that began in Rwanda to specialty shops that work with women's cooperatives. Tea is grown too, in the south-west, and drunk sweet and milky.

Meals follow a rhythm. Breakfast is light, with tea, mandazi (fried dough) or bread. Lunch is the main meal, with buffets serving from about noon. Dinner is often later and lighter, with brochettes or a restaurant meal. Many restaurants close by 22:00 on weekdays. Prices are low at buffets and street stalls, and rise sharply in Kimihurura and Kacyiru restaurants aimed at expatriates and visitors.

For a first visit, eat a buffet lunch in the centre, drink a coffee in Kimihurura, and have brochettes in Nyamirambo. Drink only bottled or filtered water, and check that fresh juices and ice come from safe sources. Vegetarians do well because beans, plantains and greens are everywhere; vegans should ask about milk and stock.

Rwandan culture is built on shared traditions that survive in dance, drumming, crafts and everyday courtesy. The best-known is the intore dance, a warrior dance performed by men with spears and shields and by women with graceful arm movements. Drumming groups, who play in tight ensembles with large drums, are a separate tradition. You can see performances at cultural centres and some hotels, and some events are open to visitors.

Craft has a clear identity. The agaseke, a woven basket with a conical lid, is a national symbol and a common gift, made mainly by women's cooperatives. Imigongo is a geometric art form from the east of the country, once made with cow dung and now often painted on boards, with strong black, white and red patterns. Kitenge cloth, printed in bold colours, is sold at markets and turned into shirts and dresses by tailors in Nyamirambo and the centre.

Contemporary art has grown quickly. Inema Arts Center in Kacyiru shows painting, sculpture and mixed media by Rwandan artists and offers workshops. Other galleries and studios, many set up after 1994, use art to explore memory, identity and change. Music ranges from traditional song to gospel, hip-hop and Afro-pop, and Kigali has a small jazz scene that includes monthly nights.

Fashion, film and design are also on the rise. Kigali hosts fashion shows and film festivals, and young designers use local cloth and craft. The national museum in Huye, the largest in the country, and the smaller museums in Kigali give context, but the best route is to talk to people: a guide on a walking tour, a stallholder at the market, or a teacher in a craft class.

A useful principle for visitors is to buy direct and buy well. Take small notes to the market, ask about the maker, compare two stalls, and pay a fair price for a hand-made piece. Ask before photographing people. Rwandans are proud of their culture and will often stop to explain what an object means if you ask politely and greet first.