title: High-tech architecture

text: Buildings built in the high-tech style often share a number of characteristic layout elements. These include an open floor plan, a large central area serviced by many smaller maintenance spaces, and repeated elements which either can be or appear to be able to be detached and replaced as needed. Spaces or elements dedicated to service and mechanical components like air conditioners, water processors, and electrical equipment are left exposed and visible to the viewer. Often these spaces are placed in large service towers external to the building, as in the Lloyd's building in London by Richard Rogers. The Lloyd's building also has offices designed to be changed and configured as needed by the shifting and removal of partitions - creating a flexible and adaptable interior environment that can be changed to meet the needs of the building's occupants. This theme of reconfigurable spaces is an important component of high-tech buildings. The HSBC Building in Hong Kong, designed by Norman Foster, is another excellent example of a high-tech building designed to be changed over time according to the needs of its users. Its use of suspended floor panels and the design of its social spaces as individual towers both place emphasis on the new approach to creating and servicing an office building.


title: High-tech architecture

text: The high-tech style is often interpreted as glorifying technology and emphasizing the functional purpose of each element of the building. These designs incorporate elements that obviously display the technical nature of the components within them, creating a sense of honest, open transparency. The Centre Pompidou in Paris, by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, exemplifies the technicality and focus on the exposure of service elements. The externalization of functional components is a key concept of high-tech architecture, though this technique may also be applied to generate an aesthetic of dynamic light and shadow across the facade of a building. Color also plays an important role in the decoration of high-tech buildings, as various colors can be used to represent different service elements or to give the building the appearance of a set of architectural diagrams.


title: High-tech architecture

text: As of 2016, recent Structural Impressionism has two major trends: braced systems and diagrid systems. Both structural systems have the structural support elements visible from the outside, unlike many postmodern architecture buildings where most structural elements are hidden in the interior.


title: High-tech architecture

text: The diagrid system consists of a lattice of "light" diagonal elements and horizontal rings forming triangles, without vertical columns.


title: High-tech architecture

text: High-tech architecture attempts to embody a series of ideals that its practitioners felt were reflective of the "spirit of the age". Concerns over adaptability, sustainability, and the changing industrial world drove a shift in the way that many architects around the world approached the challenge of designing buildings. Norman Foster's HSBC Building was specifically designed to be built over a public plaza, so as not to take up more land in space conscious Hong Kong. Minoru Yamasaki's World Trade Center had centered around a five-acre, raised public plaza, completely devoid of cars, so pedestrians could walk freely through the complex. Additionally, the World Trade Center had led to the construction of a brand new PATH station, serving the rail commuters coming from New Jersey into New York. This approach to building, with the architect having just as much responsibility to the city surrounding their building as the building itself, was a key theme of many structures designed in the high-tech style. The appropriate utilization and distribution of space is often an integral component of high-tech theory, and as such these ideals are often found in concert with practical concerns over habitability and practicality of design.


title: High-tech architecture

text: At the core of many high-tech buildings is the concept of the "omniplatz". This is the idea that a building and the spaces within it should not necessarily be absolutely defined, but rather perform a range of desired functions. As such, a room in a high-tech building could be used as a factory floor, a storage room, or a financial trading center all with minimal re-distribution of structural elements. The external services of a high-tech building, in this understanding of the style, exist solely to make the central space habitable and do not define its function. This can lead to an effect wherein the maintenance elements of a building can be understood and interpreted without issue, but the function of the interior space is difficult to guess. The Lloyd's building is an excellent example of this, wherein its service towers quite clearly communicate their function but the usage of the central atrium is difficult to determine from the exterior.


title: High-tech architecture

text: While the goal of many high-tech buildings is to honestly and transparently communicate their form and function, practical considerations may prevent the absolute expression of this principle. The Centre Pompidou, for example, has several elements that are built up or covered over due to concerns over fire safety and structural soundness. In many cases high-tech buildings exhibit compromises between radical honesty in design and considerations of safety in implementation. High-tech architecture balances art and engineering as its primary themes, and as such incurs trade-offs between the aesthetics of the two disciplines.


title: High-tech architecture

text: High-tech architecture has generated some criticism for its forays into home building and design, an issue it shares in common with Modernism. Many of the houses designed by high-tech architects were never inhabited by anyone other than themselves or their close relatives. Many outside observers found the high-tech style's focus on industry and expression of services to be antithetical to comfort and home living. Norman Foster's housing at Milton Keynes was never particularly popular, and other high-tech designs were seen as uncomfortable or awkward to live in.


title: High-tech architecture

text: High-tech architecture was most commonly employed in the construction of factories, corporate offices, or art galleries, all spaces that could effectively leverage the aesthetic of industry and find good use for the flexible spaces the style created. The application of technological themes throughout high-tech buildings intends to convey an ethos of science and progress. While transparency and honesty of materials is heavily valued, high-tech designs strive to evoke an ever dynamic sense of movement and change. Adaptability, flexibility, and openness are all key aims of the high-tech style. To obviously and creatively display the functional nature of service elements and to clearly communicate the changeable nature of the spaces created inside them are important goals of the vast majority of high-tech buildings.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: A mole is a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or a causeway separating two bodies of water. The word comes from Middle French "mole", ultimately from Latin "mōlēs", meaning a large mass, especially of rock; it has the same root as molecule and mole, the chemical unit of measurement. A mole may have a wooden structure built on top of it that resembles a wooden pier. The defining feature of a mole, however, is that water cannot freely flow underneath it, unlike a true pier. The oldest known mole is at Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor complex on the Red Sea, constructed ca. 2500 BCE.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: In the San Francisco Bay Area in California, there were several moles, combined causeways and wooden piers or trestles extending from the eastern shore and utilized by various railroads, such as the Key System, Southern Pacific Railroad (two), and Western Pacific Railroad: the Alameda Mole, the Oakland Mole, and the Western Pacific Mole. By extending the tracks the railroads could get beyond the shallow mud flats and reach the deeper waters of the Bay that could be navigated by the Bay Ferries. A train fell off the Alameda Mole through an open drawbridge in 1890 killing several people. None of the four Bay Area moles survive today, although the causeway portions of each were incorporated into the filling in of large tracts of marshland for harbor and industrial development.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: A large mole was completed in 1947 at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco to accommodate the large Hunters Point gantry crane. The mole required of fill.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: The two concrete moles protecting the outer harbour at Dunkirk played a significant part in the evacuation of British and French troops during World War II in May/June 1940. The harbour had been made unusable by German bombing and it was clear that troops were not going to be taken directly off the beaches fast enough. Naval captain W. G. Tennant had been placed ashore to take charge of the navy shore parties and organise the evacuation. Tennant had what proved to be the highly successful idea of using the East Mole to take off troops. The moles had never been designed to dock ships, but despite this, the majority of troops rescued from Dunkirk were taken off in this way. James Campbell Clouston, pier master on the east mole, organised and regulated the flow of men on that site.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: The Churchill Barriers are a series of four causeways in the Orkney Islands with a total length of 1.5 miles (2.4 km). They link the Orkney Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: The barriers were built in the 1940s as naval defences to protect the anchorage at Scapa Flow. They were commissioned following the sinking of HMS "Royal Oak" in 1939 by German U-boat "U-47" which had penetrated the existing defences of sunken blockships and anti-submarine nets. The barriers now serve as road links, carrying the A961 road from Kirkwall to Burwick.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: Notable in antiquity was the Heptastadion, a giant mole built in the 3rd century BC in the city of Alexandria, Egypt to join the city to "Pharos Island" where the Pharos lighthouse stood. The causeway formed a barrier separating Alexandria's oceanfront into two distinct harbours, an arrangement which had the advantage of protecting the harbours from the force of the strong westerly coastal current. The Heptastadion is also believed to have served as an aqueduct while Pharos was inhabited, and geophysical research indicates that it was part of the road network of the ancient city. Silting over the years resulted in the former dyke disappearing under several metres of accumulated silt and soil upon which the Ottomans built a town from 1517 onwards. Part of the modern city of Alexandria is now built on the site.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: When the Kingdom of England acquired the north African city of Tangier as English Tangier in 1661, the English began building a mole to improve the harbour. The mole was planned to be long and cost £340,000, and the improved harbour was to be long, deep at low tide, and capable of keeping out the roughest of seas. Work began on the mole in August 1663 and continued for some years under a succession of Governors. With an improved harbour the town would have played the same role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: However, Parliament expressed concern about the cost of maintaining the Tangier garrison, and by 1680 King Charles II had threatened to give up Tangier unless the supplies were voted for its sea defences. A crippling blockade by the Jaysh al-Rifi finally forced the English to withdraw from Tangier in 1683. The King gave secret orders to abandon the city, level the fortifications, destroy the harbour, and evacuate the troops. Samuel Pepys was present at the evacuation and wrote an account of it.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: Stone quaysides are sometimes called moles. A well-known example is the Molo in Venice. It is the site of the Doge's Palace and two pillars which form a gateway to the sea. It has been depicted numerous times by artists such as Canaletto.


title: Mole (architecture)

text: In Swakopmund, on the coast of Namibia, a mole was built in 1899. Designed by the engineer F. W. Oftloff, it was intended to develop the city's harbour. However, the Benguela Current continually deposited sand onto the mole until it became a promontory. The adjacent area has since become a popular leisure beach, known as the Mole Beach.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: Thulladha Manamum Thullum () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by debutant Ezhil. It stars Vijay and Simran, while Manivannan, Dhamu and Vaiyapuri among others play supporting roles. The film is produced by R. B. Choudary and has its score and soundtrack composed by S. A. Rajkumar and cinematography performed by R. Selva. The film released on 29 January 1999 and became a commercial success.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: Kutty is an aspiring but struggling singer who works for a local cable provider Mani. He is unable to get recognition and a stage to exhibit his musical talent. Rukmini "Rukku", a college student, is new to the locality where Kutty stays, and on hearing Kutty's voice, she becomes his fan and decides to seek him and encourage his talent as his voice resembles that of her late father. However, Rukku always catches Kutty in negative situations and, not knowing that he is Kutty, develops a hatred for him as she feels that he is a rowdy. Once, when Kutty is pickpocketed, he pursues the pickpocket to Rukku's college. In the process, he accidentally drops a bottle of acid to the ground, which causes Rukku, who is present at the spot where the acid bottle fell, to become blind.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: Kutty is horrified when he finds out that he is the reason Rukku had become blind. To make amends, he decides to become her close companion and help her in every way possible. Soon, love blossoms between the two. When Kutty's mother dies, Kutty finds out that her eyes had been donated. He decides to arrange the operation to restore Rukku's eyesight with his mother's eyes, but as the price of the operation turns out to be very high, he accepts an offer from a Sikh man to donate a kidney for his Pune-based father for 40,000. Having paid for Rukku's surgery, Kutty leaves for Pune to donate his kidney. While waiting at the railway station to return to Chennai, he is framed as a terrorist and is jailed in Pune prison.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: Seven years later, Kutty is released from prison and returns to Chennai, only to find out that Rukku has moved out of their locality and is now a collector, her eyesight having been restored as well. But Rukku, on seeing Kutty and not knowing that he is Kutty, orders for him to be arrested, in revenge for his "rowdy activities" in the past and for making her blind. But when Kutty begins to sing, Rukku realises that the "rowdy" she had arrested is none other than Kutty. She apologises for misunderstanding him, and they happily embrace, rekindling their relationship.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: The film saw director Ezhil, an erstwhile assistant to Robert–Rajasekar, Panneer and Parthiban, make his debut as a filmmaker under R. B. Choudary's production house Super Good Films. The film's concept was inspired from Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" (1931) that Ezhil had watched during a film festival. An earlier version of the script showed the lead character as a painter. The initial title for the film was "Rukmanikkaga" but Choudary later changed it to "Thulladha Manamum Thullum".


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: Ezhil initially wanted comedian Vadivelu to play the lead role. Vadivelu, who was impressed with the story, told Ezhil that the storyline was too good and he did not know whether it would work with him in the lead. Vadivelu asked Ezhil to wait for six months, and if he did not find anyone else by then, he would take the role. Vadivelu was ultimately replaced by Vijay. Murali was also considered for the lead role before Vijay was selected. On the suggestion of his friends, Ezhil decided to make the film with a commercial hero and changed the entire script retaining only the emotional core of "City Lights". Prior to its release, the role of Vijay's mother in the film was kept under wraps with the media speculating who would play the role. Eventually, no actress played the role although the character played a pivotal part in the film. Rambha was initially supposed to do the project, but as the project underwent changes, the actress opted out before she was replaced by Simran.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: Principal photography began with the "Dhuddu" song as the director felt it would give the team some time to gel. This was the first Vijay song which Raju Sundaram choreographed. The story takes place in Triplicane because Ezhil had lived there for a while in his uncle's house. The team scouted for a long time to find a suitable location that fit the story's requirements however a chance visit to the set of a Malayalam film at Murugalaya Studios convinced Ezhil that erecting a set would be far more cost-effective and thus set resembling Triplicane was erected.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: The soundtrack was composed by S. A. Rajkumar, while lyrics were written by Vairamuthu and Muthu Vijayan. Rajkumar agreed to compose the music for this film after learning that Ezhil had assisted Robert–Rajasekar, the duo who introduced him in films.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: The song "Meghamaai Vandhu" which was supposed to be the theme song of the film, was inspired from Urdu song "Sayonee" sang by the band Junoon in 1997 in Pakistan; Ezhil wanted a Tamil version of it. After the song was recorded, he learned that Deva had used the same tune for "Salomiya" from "Kannedhirey Thondrinal". Rajkumar told him not to worry and gave him the tune of "Innisai Paadi Varum".


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: "Thulladha Manamum Thullum" was released on 29 January 1999. The film received positive reviews and became a commercial success (ran over 200 days at the box office).


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: Lakshmy from "Deccan Herald" mentioned that "the experience of seeing the film is simply thrilling", mentioning that the success comes from "the naivete, the simplicity, the absolute lack of sophistication, and from the delightful hero (Vijay)". Rajitha of Rediff.com praised the "unusual premise" and wrote that Ezhil "makes a strong debut with this film". Sandya Krishna wrote for "Indolink", "A typical R.B.Choudhri production with a debutante director, Ezhil at the helm. If you don't carry huge expectations to the theater or to the video store, you might actually enjoy this film. But mind you... You have to be a Vijay and Simran fan first!" "Ananda Vikatan" rated the film 41 out of 100.


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: The film won three awards at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, which include second prize for Best Film (R. B. Choudary), Best Actress (Simran), and the MGR Honorary Award (Vijay).


title: Thulladha Manamum Thullum

text: The success of "Thulladha Manamum Thullum" led to more offers for Simran, who with "Thulladha Manamum Thullum" and "Vaali", established herself among the leading actresses in Tamil films. Vijay and Simran were also paired together in several other films after the film's success, with projects titled "Priyamaanavale" (2000) and "Udhaya" (2004) launched weeks after the film's release. The film went on to be remade in Telugu as "Nuvvu Vastavani", in Kannada as "O Nanna Nalle", in Indian Bengali as "Sathi", in Odia as "I Love You," in Manipuri as Angaobasu Thamoi Palli, in Bangladeshi Bengali as Prio Shathi and in Bhojpuri as Pyar Jab Kenhu Se Hoi Jala.


title: Rough Trade Records

text: Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-punk and indie pop bands such as the Normal and Desperate Bicycles, Travis began to manage acts and distribute bands such as Scritti Politti and began the label, which was informed by left-wing politics and structured as a co-operative. Soon after, Rough Trade also set up a distribution arm that serviced independent retail outlets across Britain, a network that became known as the Cartel. In 1983, Rough Trade signed the Smiths.


title: Rough Trade Records

text: Interest and investment of major labels in the UK indie scene in the late 1980s, as well as overtrading on behalf of Rough Trade's distribution wing, led to cash flow problems, and eventually to bankruptcy, forcing the label into receivership. However, Travis resurrected the label in the late 1990s, finding success with the Libertines, the Strokes and Antony and the Johnsons. The roster has been diverse, ranging stylistically through alternative rock, post-punk and new wave, garage rock, and psychedelic rock, but also art pop, folk, electronic, and soul.


title: Rough Trade Records

text: Rough Trade began as a record shop, opened by Geoff Travis on Kensington Park Road, West London, in February 1976, with Travis reportedly taking the label name from the Canadian art punk/new wave band Rough Trade. It was inspired by what Travis has described as the "community-based environment" of the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, and specialised in garage rock and reggae. Steve Montgomery, initially a customer of the shop, was offered a job soon after it opened and became its effective co-manager. Travis and Montgomery were joined by a further employee, Richard Scott, in June 1977.


title: Rough Trade Records

text: Rough Trade produced its own record for the first time after French punk band Métal Urbain came into the shop asking for assistance in publicising their music. In 1978, the shop began organising a record distribution network, dubbed "The Cartel", in collaboration with other independent record stores in the UK. This network enabled small record labels such as Factory Records and 2 Tone Records to sell their releases nationally. It specialised primarily in European post-punk and other alternative rock of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It also distributed & sold a range of contemporary British fanzines such as "Sniffin’ Glue", "No Cure", "Vague", "Acts of Defiance", "Love and Molotov Cocktails", "Attack on Bzag", "Ded Yampy" and "Alternative Sounds".


title: Rough Trade Records

text: The Rough Trade label subsequently issued a single by Jamaican reggae singer Augustus Pablo, the debut EP by Sheffield band Cabaret Voltaire and the second Stiff Little Fingers single, "Alternative Ulster". During 1978, the label released singles by the Monochrome Set, Subway Sect, Swell Maps, Electric Eels, Spizzoil and Kleenex. In 1979, Rough Trade's first album, "Inflammable Material" by Stiff Little Fingers, reached number 14 in the UK charts and became the first independently released album to sell over 100,000 copies in the UK. Rough Trade's significance by this time was such that it was made the subject of a South Bank Show documentary.


title: Rough Trade Records

text: In 1982, the retail outlets broke with the A&R and distribution divisions, after a decision to allow the shop staff buy out. The distribution wing found itself overtrading by 1991 and shortages of cash flow led to a filing for bankruptcy. The entire company ended up in receivership.


title: Rough Trade Records

text: Rough Trade Records was relaunched in 2000 as an independently owned entity, a partnership between Travis, Jeanette Lee (a former member of Public Image Ltd.), and minority partners Sanctuary Records, as a part of the Zomba Group until 11 June 2002 when BMG bought out this business. Prior to the BMG buyout, Rough Trade Records released the Strokes' debut EP The Modern Age in the spring of 2001. In July 2007 Sanctuary Records then sold Rough Trade to the Beggars Group for £800,000 making Rough Trade independent once again. However, it can be argued that Rough Trade is not truly independent as it is owned by another company. Rough Trade is more accurately a subsidiary that is owed by Beggars Group, which in turn is a privately held company not publicly traded on the stock market.


title: Rough Trade Records

text: Since its rebirth and partnership with the Beggars Group, Rough Trade has re-confirmed their place in the marketplace with recording acts such as Warpaint, Howler, Pantha Du Prince, Emiliana Torrini, Dean Blunt and more.


title: Sujatha (actress)

text: Sujatha (10 December 1952 – 6 April 2011) was an Indian actress who performed and staggered in a number of unique and variety of characters in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films- in addition to few in Kannada and Hindi languages as well. The actress was best known for restraint and subtlety in portrayal of varied emotions. After starring in numerous Malayalam films in her mother-tongue, Sujatha later got introduced to the Tamil film industry by veteran director K. Balachander and producer P.R. Govindarajan as a protagonist in her first Tamil film, "Aval Oru Thodar Kathai" (1974). It was a critically acclaimed film and launched the actress's first commecrical breakthrough in her acting career. Whereas, her first Telugu picture happened to be a Telugu/Tamil bilingual titled as "Guppedu Manasu" (1979) in Telugu and was simultaneously shot as Nool Veli in Tamil of the same year. She died of a cardiac arrest on 6 April 2011 in Chennai (aged 58).


title: Sujatha (actress)

text: Sujatha was born in a Malayali-speaking family on 10 December 1952 in Galle, Sri Lanka where she spent most of her early days of childhood over there. She participated in school plays, and later moved to Tamil Nadu when she was about 15. She acted in "Ernakulam Junction", a Malayalam movie.


title: Sujatha (actress)

text: Sujatha made her debut in the Malayalam film "Thapasvini". Her first Tamil film was "Aval Oru Thodar Kathai" directed by K. Balachander. She again collaborated with K. Balachander in "Avargal" (1977)- starring leading stars "Rajinikanth" and "Kamal Haasan". Sujatha acted in over 240 films in five languages namely Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi movies. She appeared in films like "Aval Our Thodar Kadhai", "Annakkili", "Avargal" as a tortured wife, "Vidhi", "Mayangugiraal Oru Maadhu", "Sentamizh Paattu" and "Aval Varuvaala", and in Telugu such as her debut in "Guppedu Manasu".


title: Sujatha (actress)

text: During the 1980s, she started playing character roles, often portraying mothers. Her performances as a senior actor in films like "Kodi Parakuthu", "Uzhaippali", "Baba" in all which she played the mother of Rajinikanth; and "Villain" in which she played Ajith Kumar's wellwisher. "Varalaru" (2006) was her last film.


title: Sujatha (actress)

text: While undergoing treatment for a heart ailment, Sujatha died of cardiac arrest in Chennai on 6 April 2011.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Fin Fang Foom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as an extraterrestrial creature resembling a dragon. The character first appeared in "Strange Tales" #89 (cover-dated Oct. 1961), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Later, the character becomes part of the superhero Iron Man's rogues gallery.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: The character has also appeared in associated Marvel merchandise including animated television series, toys, trading cards, and video games. IGN's List of Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Fin Fang Foom #99.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Debuting in "Strange Tales" #89 (Oct. 1961) during the Silver Age of Comic Books, Fin Fang Foom appeared during Marvel Comics' "pre-superhero" period, which would not become integrated into Marvel's mainstream fictional continuity until the 1970s.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Writer-editor Stan Lee's inspiration for the character's name was the title of the 1934 movie version of the long-running British stage musical "Chu Chin Chow." As Lee described in 2005:


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: The character first appeared in the standalone story "Fin Fang Foom" in "Strange Tales" #89 (Oct. 1961) where a Nationalist Chinese scholar Chan Liuchow awakened Fin Fang Foom and tricked him into destroying a Communist Chinese invasion force of Taiwan. Fin Fang Foom reappeared in "Astonishing Tales" #23-24 (April and June 1974) where he battled It! The Living Colossus. He was impersonated by the Midgard Serpent in "Thor" #379 (May 1987). His first story was reprinted in "Fantasy Masterpieces" #2 (April 1966), "Where Monsters Dwell" #21 (May 1973) and "Marvel Monsterworks" (1990). Foom, as well as his opponent, Chan Liuchow, eventually reappeared in Marvel continuity in "Legion of Night" #1-2 (Oct. 1991), and then made multiple appearances in "Iron Man" #261 - 264 (Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991); 267 (April 1991) and 270 - 275 (July-Dec. 1992), and returned in "Iron Man" vol. 3 #15-18 (April–July 1999).


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: An alternate version appears in "Mutant X Annual" 2001. Foom briefly appeared in the intercompany crossover "JLA/Avengers" #1 (Sept. 2003). The villain Nightmare changed a creature called a Mindless One into a copy of Foom to battle the Hulk in "Hulk" vol. 3 #79 (May 2005).


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: The character's origins and early days are developed in "Marvel Monsters: Monsters On The Prowl" #1 (Dec. 2005) and "Fin Fang Four" #1 (Dec. 2005). Foom also appeared in "Nextwave" #1-2 (March–April 2006), "Marvel Holiday Special 2006" (Jan. 2007), in a dream in "Howard the Duck" vol. 3 #1 (Nov. 2007), in "Iron Man: Las Vegas" (May - June 2008); and appeared briefly in the limited series "Age of the Sentry" #1-6 (Sept. 2008 - May 2009); one-shot titles "Monster-Size Hulk" #1 (Dec. 2008) and "Dark Reign Files" #1 (April 2009) and featured in another monster one-shot title, "Fin Fang Four Return!" (July 2009) as well as another version in "Hulk: Broken Worlds" #2 (July 2009).


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: It is revealed in flashback that Fin Fang Foom is an alien being from the world of Kakaranathara (also known as Maklu IV) in the Maklu star-system of the Greater Magellanic Cloud. The aliens arrive on Earth in China nearing the end of its ancient periods, intending to conquer the planet. Because of them, the Chinese dragons symbolize potent and auspicious powers in culture, allowing monarchs, especially emperors, to claim the banner "Sons of Heaven" since King Wen of the Zhou dynasty. In time, during the Qin dynasty, their presences signal the beginning of the country's imperial periods. Using their natural shapeshifting powers to mimic human form, the aliens infiltrate human society to study it before beginning their conquest. Foom, the navigator, is the exception and, acting as a reserve, is placed in a tomb in a catatonic state.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Sometime during the early Qing dynasty, Fin Fang Foom attacked the Tianjin Prefecture for constructing the governor's mansion on top of the land's dragon lines, but was thwarted by Zheng Zu and the Five Weapons Society.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: In the 1960s, Fin Fang Foom is awakened by a scholar Chan Liuchow, whose homeland of Taiwan is under threat from invading forces of Communist China. Liuchow goads the dragon into chasing him into the Communist invasion force which Foom destroys and then back to Fin Fang Foom's tomb, where the creature is returned to sleep via the use of a rare herb. The mad scientist Doctor Vault locates and mentally controls the dragon for use against Vault's foe, It, the Living Colossus. Fin Fang Foom resists the control and aids the Colossus against an alien invasion by the gargoyles of the planet Stonus V (intent on preserving Earth for the gargoyles to conquer at a later date), then briefly battles the Colossus before being freed from Vault's control and returning to hibernation once again. Fin Fang Foom is again roused from his slumber when his body is possessed by the demon "Aan Taanu". Combating a group of occult adventurers (including an older Chan Liuchow, now a professor) known as the Legion of Night in New York, Taanu is exorcised from Foom's body, and the creature once again returns to hibernation.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: The Makluan vessel is eventually found by a man who steals 10 sophisticated rings from it, and becomes the supervillain the Mandarin. The Mandarin is directed to the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon by a man called Chen Hsu, who is actually the captain of Foom's vessel. The Mandarin finds and wakes Fin Fang Foom, using the dragon to threaten the Chinese government. Fin Fang Foom helps the Mandarin take control of one-third of China, and is then revealed as an alien of Kakaranathara. With "Chen Hsu", whose true form is also revealed, the pair begin to summon the rest of the crew, who had been disguised as humans for centuries. Realizing he has been tricked, the Mandarin joins forces with heroes Iron Man and War Machine to defeat the dragons, the battle ending with their apparent annihilation.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Although Fin Fang Foom's body is destroyed, the alien's spirit survives and bonds itself to a small dragon statue, which was stolen from a curio shop by teenager Billy Yuan at Fin Fang Foom's mental urging. Using Yuan's body as a conduit for his power, Fin Fang Foom summons thousands of lizards from the sewers beneath New York, merging them with Yuan's body to recreate his own form. Iron Man, however, defeats Foom with assistance from the last remnants of Yuan's mind. Due to legal complications, the defeated dragon is sent to Monster Isle once again.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: In the four-issue crossover miniseries "JLA/Avengers", Fin Fang Foom and several other monsters are seen briefly battling the dimension-displaced superhero team the Justice League of America.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Fin Fang Foom is captured by the Elder of the Universe known as the Collector, and imprisoned with a subterranean collection of monsters. After being captured, along with other monsters, by the recently formed Fantastic Four and deposited on "Monster Isle", Fin Fang Foom returns to China and hibernation.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: With the other members of the Makluan crew dead, Fin Fang Foom decides to reform and becomes a follower of Buddhism. Entering into a rehabilitation program with three other monsters - the robot Elektro; the giant ape Gorgilla, and the alien Googam - Foom is shrunk down to human size, hypnotically stripped of all his powers and allowed to enter human society. Fin Fang Foom becomes head chef in a Chinese restaurant within the Baxter Building, and teams with the other monsters to defeat the size-changing warlord Tim Boo Ba. Fin Fang Foom begrudgingly aids Wong (the servant of Doctor Strange) in defeating a force of HYDRA agents.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Howard the Duck also has dreams of playing cards with the Thing; the Man-Thing; Bigfoot; Frankenstein's Monster and Fin Fang Foom.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: There have also been two imitations of Fin Fang Foom. The Midgard Serpent imitated Foom to attempt to trick the thunder god Thor, while the villain Nightmare changed a Mindless One into a copy of Fin Fang Foom to battle the Hulk. Thor also claims to have killed the true Fin Fang Foom in battle, and uses the dragon's bones to build a tomb in the realm of Nidavellir.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Under orders from the Roxxon Energy Corporation, Mentallo controls the mind of Fin Fang Foom and other giant monsters in a plot to take over an island and drill for oil.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: During the "Monsters Unleashed" storyline, Fin Fang Foom, Gorgilla, the Green Thing, and Zzutak confront Kei Kawade in the forest outside his house and warned Kei Kawade against the preceding monster summoning. He was later seen falling from the sky alongside the other monsters, because they had been summoned by Kei Kawade to help superheroes fight the Leviathons. He was told by Tim Boo Ba that he and the other monsters are not fighting of their own volition. Kei Kawade later sends Fin Fang Foom to assist the Heroes for Hire against the Leviathons in Hell's Kitchen. When the Leviathon Mother shows up and calls out to Kei Kawade, Fin Fang Foom shows up to challenge her. When Kei Kawade confronts the Leviathon Mother and gets her attention, she spits out Fin Fang Foom. Following the Leviathon Mother's death, Fin Fang Foom and the other Goliathons confront Kei Kawade. Even though Kei Kawade thanks the Goliathons for their help in fending off the Leviathons, Fin Fang Foom warns him about summoning them again before the Goliathons are teleported away.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Fin Fang Foom later embarks on a relationship with Gwenpool's tailor Ronnie, helping her drum up customers for her Pantsgiving Day sale.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Meeting Kei again, Foom would be called upon when an alternate verse iteration of itself had influenced the you Nuhuman into summoning him. This doppelgänger; a venomized entity enthralled to the poisons, sought to push Kid Kaiju into bringing more of their hive into Kei's native reality. But the prime universe Foom was able to convince Kawade that their adversary had been using its own mental abilities to undermine Kei's strength of will, thus weakening his titanic companions. The confidence boost enabled both Kei and prime Foom to topple their assailant, forestalling the eventual incursion by the rest of its kind.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Fin Fang Foom possesses super-strength and endurance, the abilities to fly via his wings at supersonic speeds and spew combustible acid mist from his mouth. Foom is also extremely durable and can regenerate at a rapid rate. In the event his body were to be damaged beyond his capacity to heal, he can overshadow a waiting host & reshape a new physical body for himself from them. By entering into long periods of hibernation, Foom has managed to survive for centuries. Foom possesses a gifted intellect and can communicate telepathically (which, in his true form, is his "only" form of communication), shapeshift into almost any animal and shrink to human size. Foom also has access to advanced alien technology from his homeworld. Foom can also drain, metabolize and redirect energy of all kinds to make himself larger and stronger. At one time, Foom underwent intense meditative training in order to excise himself of his negative traits. The end result of divesting his rage, guilt and selfishness caused him to shrink yet gave rise to his malignant aspects in physical form. Fin Fang Foom also has the unique power to cause phy/men. transmogrification through optic beam emissions, having not only changed and rewired the persona's of the Avengers to mimic that of their animal forms. But Foom could even use these powers to bring inanimate objects to life at his discretion.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: In the "Marvel 1602" universe, Fin Fang Foom rampaged through China before he was killed by the Hulk at the Great Wall of China.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: In an alternate universe story in "Mutant X Annual 2001", Fin Fang Foom is a member of the Lethal Legion, who dies in battle against the Goblin Queen (posing as the entity the Beyonder).


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Fin Fang Foom appears in the miniseries "Nextwave" as a pawn of the Beyond Corporation. He is now back to his original size. Despite having no genitals, he wears purple pants. Captions indicate his mother became pregnant after interacting with radioactive materials. Foom had been buried for many years; when the Beyond Corp. releases him, he goes on a human-eating rampage. According to "Volume 4" of "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z" hardcover books, this Fin Fang Foom was a clone created by the Beyond Corporation.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Foom returns from his slumber and transforms Earth's Mightiest into frogs, he and several Makluans come into conflict with the Pet Avengers. But hostilities are pacified when Lockheed explains that the space dragons were simply looking for space dragon hatchlings buried there thousands of years ago.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: In "" #6, Heimdall takes the form of Fin Fang Foom, calling it "one which is common throughout the cosmos... echoes of a single, ancient dragon, now tamed and humbled".


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: Fin Fang Foom appears in a cameo in Ty Templeton's comic "Stig's Inferno" #4, in a parody cigarette advertisement on the inside back cover.


title: Fin Fang Foom

text: An iteration of Foom had been assimilated by the Poisons after being bonded to a symbiote. Upon sensing Kid Kaiju out amongst the ether of worlds, the Poison Foom would attempt to push his ability to create monsters to its own ends so it could summon it and others of its collective into the primary Marvel Universe for invasion.


title: Nucleophile

text: In chemistry, a nucleophile is a chemical species that forms bonds by donating an electron pair. All molecules and ions with a free pair of electrons or at least one pi bond can act as nucleophiles. Because nucleophiles donate electrons, they are Lewis bases.


title: Nucleophile

text: "Nucleophilic" describes the affinity of a nucleophile to bond with positively charged atomic nuclei. Nucleophilicity, sometimes referred to as nucleophile strength, refers to a substance's nucleophilic character and is often used to compare the affinity of atoms. Neutral nucleophilic reactions with solvents such as alcohols and water are named solvolysis. Nucleophiles may take part in nucleophilic substitution, whereby a nucleophile becomes attracted to a full or partial positive charge, and nucleophilic addition. Nucleophilicity is closely related to basicity.


title: Nucleophile

text: The terms "nucleophile" and "electrophile" were introduced by Christopher Kelk Ingold in 1933, replacing the terms "anionoid" and "cationoid" proposed earlier by A. J. Lapworth in 1925. The word nucleophile is derived from nucleus and the Greek word φιλος, philos, meaning friend.


title: Nucleophile

text: In general, in a group across the periodic table, the more basic the ion (the higher the pK of the conjugate acid) the more reactive it is as a nucleophile. Within a series of nucleophiles with the same attacking element (e.g. oxygen), the order of nucleophilicity will follow basicity. Sulfur is in general a better nucleophile than oxygen.


title: Nucleophile

text: Many schemes attempting to quantify relative nucleophilic strength have been devised. The following empirical data have been obtained by measuring reaction rates for many reactions involving many nucleophiles and electrophiles. Nucleophiles displaying the so-called alpha effect are usually omitted in this type of treatment.


title: Nucleophile

text: This free-energy relationship relates the pseudo first order reaction rate constant (in water at 25 °C), "k", of a reaction, normalized to the reaction rate, "k", of a standard reaction with water as the nucleophile, to a nucleophilic constant "n" for a given nucleophile and a substrate constant "s" that depends on the sensitivity of a substrate to nucleophilic attack (defined as 1 for methyl bromide).


title: Nucleophile

text: This treatment results in the following values for typical nucleophilic anions: acetate 2.7, chloride 3.0, azide 4.0, hydroxide 4.2, aniline 4.5, iodide 5.0, and thiosulfate 6.4. Typical substrate constants are 0.66 for ethyl tosylate, 0.77 for β-propiolactone, 1.00 for 2,3-epoxypropanol, 0.87 for benzyl chloride, and 1.43 for benzoyl chloride.


title: Nucleophile

text: The equation predicts that, in a nucleophilic displacement on benzyl chloride, the azide anion reacts 3000 times faster than water.


title: Nucleophile

text: where "N" is the nucleophile dependent parameter and "k" the reaction rate constant for water. In this equation, a substrate-dependent parameter like "s" in the Swain–Scott equation is absent. The equation states that two nucleophiles react with the same relative reactivity regardless of the nature of the electrophile, which is in violation of the reactivity–selectivity principle. For this reason, this equation is also called the "constant selectivity relationship".


title: Nucleophile

text: In the original publication the data were obtained by reactions of selected nucleophiles with selected electrophilic carbocations such as tropylium or diazonium cations:


title: Nucleophile

text: or (not displayed) ions based on malachite green. Many other reaction types have since been described.


title: Nucleophile

text: Typical Ritchie N values (in methanol) are: 0.5 for methanol, 5.9 for the cyanide anion, 7.5 for the methoxide anion, 8.5 for the azide anion, and 10.7 for the thiophenol anion. The values for the relative cation reactivities are −0.4 for the malachite green cation, +2.6 for the benzenediazonium cation, and +4.5 for the tropylium cation.


title: Nucleophile

text: The second order reaction rate constant "k" at 20 °C for a reaction is related to a nucleophilicity parameter "N", an electrophilicity parameter "E", and a nucleophile-dependent slope parameter "s". The constant "s" is defined as 1 with 2-methyl-1-pentene as the nucleophile.


title: Nucleophile

text: Many of the constants have been derived from reaction of so-called benzhydrylium ions as the electrophiles:


title: Nucleophile

text: Typical E values are +6.2 for R = chlorine, +5.90 for R = hydrogen, 0 for R = methoxy and −7.02 for R = dimethylamine.


title: Nucleophile

text: Typical N values with s in parenthesis are −4.47 (1.32) for electrophilic aromatic substitution to toluene (1), −0.41 (1.12) for electrophilic addition to 1-phenyl-2-propene (2), and 0.96 (1) for addition to 2-methyl-1-pentene (3), −0.13 (1.21) for reaction with triphenylallylsilane (4), 3.61 (1.11) for reaction with 2-methylfuran (5), +7.48 (0.89) for reaction with isobutenyltributylstannane (6) and +13.36 (0.81) for reaction with the enamine 7.


title: Nucleophile

text: With E = −9.15 for the "S-methyldibenzothiophenium ion", typical nucleophile values N (s) are 15.63 (0.64) for piperidine, 10.49 (0.68) for methoxide, and 5.20 (0.89) for water. In short, nucleophilicities towards sp or sp centers follow the same pattern.


title: Nucleophile

text: with s the electrophile-dependent slope parameter and s the nucleophile-dependent slope parameter. This equation can be rewritten in several ways:


title: Nucleophile

text: Examples of nucleophiles are anions such as Cl, or a compound with a lone pair of electrons such as NH (ammonia) and PR.


title: Nucleophile

text: In the example below, the oxygen of the hydroxide ion donates an electron pair to form a new chemical bond with the carbon at the end of the bromopropane molecule. The bond between the carbon and the bromine then undergoes heterolytic fission, with the bromine atom taking the donated electron and becoming the bromide ion (Br), because a S2 reaction occurs by backside attack. This means that the hydroxide ion attacks the carbon atom from the other side, exactly opposite the bromine ion. Because of this backside attack, S2 reactions result in a inversion of the configuration of the electrophile. If the electrophile is chiral, it typically maintains its chirality, though the S2 product's absolute configuration is flipped as compared to that of the original electrophile.


title: Nucleophile

text: An ambident nucleophile is one that can attack from two or more places, resulting in two or more products. For example, the thiocyanate ion (SCN) may attack from either the sulfur or the nitrogen. For this reason, the S2 reaction of an alkyl halide with SCN often leads to a mixture of an alkyl thiocyanate (R-SCN) and an alkyl isothiocyanate (R-NCS). Similar considerations apply in the Kolbe nitrile synthesis.


title: Nucleophile

text: While the halogens are not nucleophilic in their diatomic form (e.g. I is not a nucleophile), their anions are good nucleophiles. In polar, protic solvents, F is the weakest nucleophile, and I the strongest; this order is reversed in polar, aprotic solvents.


title: Nucleophile

text: Carbon nucleophiles are often organometallic reagents such as those found in the Grignard reaction, Blaise reaction, Reformatsky reaction, and Barbier reaction or reactions involving organolithium reagents and acetylides. These reagents are often used to perform nucleophilic additions.


title: Nucleophile

text: Enols are also carbon nucleophiles. The formation of an enol is catalyzed by acid or base. Enols are ambident nucleophiles, but, in general, nucleophilic at the alpha carbon atom. Enols are commonly used in condensation reactions, including the Claisen condensation and the aldol condensation reactions.


title: Nucleophile

text: Examples of oxygen nucleophiles are water (HO), hydroxide anion, alcohols, alkoxide anions, hydrogen peroxide, and carboxylate anions.


title: Nucleophile

text: Of sulfur nucleophiles, hydrogen sulfide and its salts, thiols (RSH), thiolate anions (RS), anions of thiolcarboxylic acids (RC(O)-S), and anions of dithiocarbonates (RO-C(S)-S) and dithiocarbamates (RN-C(S)-S) are used most often.


title: Nucleophile

text: In general, "sulfur is very nucleophilic because of its large size", which makes it readily polarizable, and its lone pairs of electrons are readily accessible.


title: Nucleophile

text: Nitrogen nucleophiles include ammonia, azide, amines, nitrites, hydroxylamine, hydrazine, carbazide, phenylhydrazine, semicarbazide, and amide.


title: Nucleophile

text: Although metal centers (e.g., Li, Zn, Sc, etc.) are most commonly cationic and electrophilic (Lewis acidic) in nature, certain metal centers (particularly ones in a low oxidation state and/or carrying a negative charge) are among the strongest recorded nucleophiles and are sometimes referred to as "supernucleophiles." For instance, using methyl iodide as the reference electrophile, PhSn is about 10000 times more nucleophilic than I, while the Co(I) form of vitamin B (vitamin B) is about 10 times more nucleophilic. Other supernucleophilic metal centers include low oxidation state carbonyl metalate anions (e.g., CpFe(CO)).


title: History of Rwanda

text: Human occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the 11th century, the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms. In the 19th century, "Mwami" (king) Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda conducted a decades-long process of military conquest and administrative consolidation that resulted in the kingdom coming to control most of what is now Rwanda. The colonial powers, Germany and Belgium, allied with the Rwandan court.


title: History of Rwanda

text: A convergence of anti-colonial, and anti-Tutsi sentiment resulted in Belgium granting national independence in 1962. Direct elections resulted in a representative government dominated by the majority Hutu under President Grégoire Kayibanda. Unsettled ethnic and political tensions were worsened when Juvénal Habyarimana, who was also Hutu, seized power in 1973. In 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed of 10,000 Tutsi refugees from previous decades of unrest, invaded the country, starting the Rwandan Civil War. The war ground on, worsening ethnic tensions, as the Hutu feared losing their gains.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The assassination of Habyarimana was the catalyst for the eruption of the 1994 genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and some moderate Hutus were killed, including the prime minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. The Tutsi RPF conquered Rwanda, and thousands of Hutu were imprisoned pending the establishment of the Gacaca courts. Millions of Hutu fled as refugees, contributing to large refugee camps of Hutu in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there were already refugees from other countries. These were disbanded by an RPF-sponsored invasion in 1996 that replaced the new Congolese president as the result of the First Congo War. A second invasion to replace the new Congolese president initiated the Second Congo War, the deadliest war since World War II and one involving many African nations including Rwanda for many years to come.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The territory of present-day Rwanda has been green and fertile for many thousands of years, even during the last ice age, when part of Nyungwe Forest was fed by the alpine ice sheets of the Rwenzoris. It is not known when the country was first inhabited, but it is thought that humans moved into the area shortly after that ice age, either in the Neolithic period, around ten thousand years ago, or in the long humid period which followed, up to around 3000 BC. The earliest inhabitants of the region are generally thought to have been the Twa, a group of Pygmy forest hunters and gatherers, whose descendants still live in Rwanda today.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Archaeological excavations conducted from the 1950s onwards have revealed evidence of sparse settlement by hunter gatherers in the late Stone Age, followed by a larger population of early Iron Age settlers. These later groups were found to have manufactured artifacts, including a type of dimpled pottery, iron tools and implements.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Hundreds of years ago, the Twa were partially supplanted by the immigration of a Bantu group, the ancestors of the agriculturalist ethnic group, today known as the Hutus. The Hutu began to clear forests for their permanent settlements. The exact nature of the third major immigration, that of a predominantly pastoralist people known as Tutsi, is highly contested. Oral histories of the Kingdom of Rwanda often trace the origins of the Rwandan people back nearly 10,000 years ago to a legendary king named Gihanga, to whom metalworking and other modernizing technologies are also commonly attributed.


title: History of Rwanda

text: By the 15th century, many of the Bantu-speakers, including both Hutu and Tutsi, had organized themselves into small states. According to Bethwell Allan Ogot, these included at least three. The oldest state, which has no name, was probably established by the Renge lineages of the Singa clan and covered most of modern Rwanda, besides the northern region. The Mubari state of the Zigaba (Abazigaba) clan also covered an extensive area. The Gisaka state in southeast Rwanda was powerful, maintaining its independence until the mid-19th century. However, the latter two states are largely unmentioned in contemporary discussion of Rwandan civilization.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In the 19th century, the state became far more centralized, and the history far more precise. Expansion continued, reaching the shores of Lake Kivu. This expansion was less about military conquest and more about a migrating population spreading Rwandan agricultural techniques, social organization, and the extension of the political control of a "Mwami". Once this was established camps of warriors were established along the vulnerable borders to prevent incursions. Only against other well developed states such as Gisaka, Bugesera, and Burundi was expansion carried out primarily by force of arms.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Under the monarchy the economic imbalance between the Hutus and the Tutsis crystallized, and a complex political imbalance emerged as the Tutsis formed into a hierarchy dominated by a "Mwami" or 'king'. The King was treated as a semi-divine being, responsible for making the country prosper. The symbol of the King was the Kalinga, the sacred drum.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The "Mwami"s main power base was in control of over a hundred large estates spread through the kingdom. Including fields of banana plants and many head of cattle, the estates were the basis of the rulers' wealth. The most ornate of the estates would each be home to one of the king's wives, monarchs having up to twenty. It was between these estates that the Mwami and his retinue would travel.


title: History of Rwanda

text: All the people of Rwanda were expected to pay tribute to the Mwami; it was collected by a Tutsi administrative hierarchy. Beneath the Mwami was a Tutsi ministerial council of great chiefs, some of them were the chiefs of cattle, chiefs of land and last but not least the military chiefs. "batware b'intebe", while below them was a group of lesser Tutsi chiefs, who for the large part governed the country in districts, each district having a cattle chief and a land chief. The cattle chief collected tribute in livestock, and the land chief collected tribute in produce. Beneath these chiefs were hill-chiefs and neighborhood chiefs. More than 95% of hill and neighborhood chiefs were of Tutsi descent.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Also important were military chiefs, who had control over the frontier regions. They played both defensive and offensive roles, protecting the frontier and making cattle raids against neighboring tribes. Often, the Rwandan great chief was also the army chief. Lastly, the biru or "council of guardians" was also an important part of the administration. The Biru advised the Mwami on his duties where supernatural king-powers were involved. These honored people advised also on matters of court ritual. Taken together, all these posts from great chiefs, military chiefs and Biru members existed to serve the powers of the Mwami, and to reinforce the king's leadership in Rwanda.


title: History of Rwanda

text: It was after the formation of the kingdom of Rwanda that the differences between Hutu and Tutsi became more rigid and tensions began to arise. King Rwabugiri´s rule was harsh and taxes were heavy. The Tutsi aristocracy ruled by force and only Tutsi men were allowed as warriors. Hutu and Twa were allowed to fight or function as auxiliaries but did not receive the Tutsi warrior training. These young men were indoctrinated during their training with the idea of Tutsi supremacy.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Due to their position of power and system of exploitation of the Hutu peasantry a sort of feudal relationship developed where Tutsi aristocracy started to see themselves as superior beings, turning the Hutu into second class citizens. Rebellions by Hutu peasantry were struck down without mercy, with villages being massacred and property being confiscated.


title: History of Rwanda

text: A traditional local justice system called "Gacaca" predominated in much of the region as an institution for resolving conflict, rendering justice and reconciliation. The Tutsi king was the ultimate judge and arbiter for those cases that reached him. Despite the traditional nature of the system, harmony and cohesion had been established among Rwandans and within the kingdom since the beginning of Rwanda. This justice system became however more and more biased against the Hutu over time. For instance, Tutsi who stole cattle from Hutu would generally remain unpunished while Hutu stealing cattle from Tutsi would generally receive the death penalty for their crime. If a Tutsi murdered a Hutu the Mwami could order the killing of one of the Tutsi's kinsmen as a form of retribution. When a Hutu killed a Tutsi the punishment differed, with the Mwami ordering the execution of not one but two of the Hutu's kinsmen as punishment.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The distinction between the three ethnic groups was somewhat fluid, in that Tutsis who lost their cattle due to a disease epidemic, such as "rinderpest", sometimes would be considered Hutu. Likewise Hutu who obtained cattle would come to be considered Tutsi, thus climbing the ladder of the social strata. This process was called Kwihutura and was performed with permission from the Mwami. By the 19th century the rate of social mobility had severely dwindled and cases of "class promotion" had become exceedingly rare, which slowly changed the kingdom into a caste system. What little social mobility was left ended abruptly with the onset of colonial administration.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Unlike much of Africa, Rwanda and the Great Lakes region was not divided by the 1884 Berlin Conference. This declared Rwanda and Burundi as part of the German Empire as colonial spheres of interest in exchange for renouncing all claims on Uganda. The inferior European maps referenced in these agreements left Belgium with a claim on the western half of the country; after several border skirmishes the final borders of the colony were not established until 1900. These borders contained the Kingdom of Rwanda as well as a group of smaller kingdoms on the shore of Lake Victoria.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In 1894 Rutarindwa inherited the kingdom from his father Rwabugiri IV, but many on the king's council were unhappy. There was a rebellion and the family was killed. Yuhi Musinga inherited the throne through his mother and uncles, but there was still dissent.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The first European to visit or explore Rwanda was a German, Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen, who from 1893 to 1894 led an expedition to claim the hinterlands of the Tanganyika colony. Götzen entered Rwanda at Rusumo Falls, and then travelled through Rwanda, visiting the court of Rwabugiri in 1894, at his palace in Nyanza, and eventually reached Lake Kivu, the western edge of the kingdom. The next year the king died. With Rwanda in turmoil over the succession, the Germans moved in (in 1897, from Tanzania) to claim the region for the Kaiser. With only 2,500 soldiers in East Africa, Germany hardly changed the social structures in much of the region, especially in Rwanda.


title: History of Rwanda

text: War and division opened the door for colonialism, and in 1897 German colonialists and missionaries arrived in Rwanda. The Rwandans were divided; a portion of the royal court was wary and the other thought the Germans might be a good alternative to dominance by Buganda or the Belgians. Backing their faction in the country a pliant government was soon in place. Rwanda put up less resistance than Burundi did to German rule.


title: History of Rwanda

text: German rule in this most inaccessible of colonies was indirect, achieved mainly by placing agents at the courts of the various local rulers. The Germans did not encourage modernization and centralization of the regime; however, they did introduce the collection of cash taxes. The Germans hoped cash taxes, rather than taxes in kind, would force farmers to switch to tradable crops, like coffee, in order to acquire the required cash to pay taxes. This policy led to changes in the Rwandan economy.


title: History of Rwanda

text: During this period, increasing numbers accepted race. German officials and colonists in Rwanda incorporated these theories into their native policies. The Germans believed the Tutsi ruling class was racially superior to the other native peoples of Rwanda because of their alleged "Hamitic" origins on the Horn of Africa, which they believed made them more "European" than the Hutu. The colonists, including powerful Roman Catholic officials, favored the Tutsis because of their taller stature, more "honorable and eloquent" personalities, and willingness to convert to Roman Catholicism. The Germans favored Tutsi dominance over the farming Hutus (almost in a feudalistic manner) and granted them basic ruling positions. These positions eventually turned into the overall governing body of Rwanda.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Prior to the colonial period the Tutsis comprised about 15 to 16% of the population. While many Hutus were poor peasants, they comprised the majority of the ruling elite and monarchy. A significant minority of the remaining non-Tutsi political elite were Hutu.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The German presence had mixed effects on the authority the Rwandan governing powers. The Germans helped the Mwami increase their control over Rwandan affairs. But Tutsi power weakened with the growth of trade and through increased integration with outside markets and economies. Money came to be seen by many Hutus as a replacement for cattle, in terms of both economic prosperity and for purposes of creating social standing. Another way in which Tutsi power was weakened by Germany was through the introduction of the head-tax on all Rwandans. As some Tutsis had feared, the tax also made the Hutus feel less bonded to their Tutsi patrons and more dependent on the European foreigners. A head-tax implied equality among those being counted. Despite Germany's attempt to uphold traditional Tutsi domination of the Hutus, the Hutu began to shift their ideas.


title: History of Rwanda

text: By 1899 the Germans had placed advisors at the courts of local chiefs. The Germans were preoccupied with fighting uprisings in Tanganyika, especially the Maji Maji war of 1905–1907. On May 14, 1910 the European Convention of Brussels fixed the borders of Uganda, Congo, and German East Africa, which included Tanganyika and Ruanda-Urundi. In 1911, the Germans helped the Tutsi put down a rebellion of Hutu in the northern part of Rwanda who did not wish to submit to central Tutsi control.


title: History of Rwanda

text: At the end of WWI, Belgium accepted the League of Nations Mandate of 1916 to govern Rwanda as one of the two kingdoms making up the territory Ruanda-Urundi, along with its existing Congo colony to the west. The portion of the German territory, never a part of the Kingdom of Rwanda, was stripped from the colony and attached to Tanganyika mandate. A colonial military campaign from 1923 to 1925 brought the small independent kingdoms to the west, such as Kingogo, Bushiru, Bukunzi and Busozo, under the power of the central Rwandan court.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The Belgian government continued to rely on the Tutsi power structure for administering the country, although they became more directly involved in extended its interests into education and agricultural supervision. The Belgians introduced cassava, maize and the Irish potato, to try to improve food production for subsistence farmers. This was especially important in the face of two droughts and subsequent famines in 1928–29 and in 1943–44. In the second, known as the Ruzagayura famine, one-fifth to one-third of the population died. In addition, many Rwandans migrated to neighboring Congo, adding to later instability there.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The Belgians intended the colony to be profitable. They introduced coffee as a commodity crop and used a system of forced labor to have it cultivated. Each peasant was required to devote a certain percentage of their fields to coffee and this was enforced by the Belgians and their local, mainly Tutsi, allies. A system of "corvée" that had existed under "Mwami" Rwabugiri was used. This forced labour approach to colonization was condemned by many internationally, and was extremely unpopular in Rwanda. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandans immigrated to the British protectorate of Uganda, which was much wealthier and did not have the same policies.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Belgian rule reinforced an ethnic divide between the Tutsi and Hutu, and they supported Tutsis political power. Due to the eugenics movement in Europe and the United States, the colonial government became concerned with the differences between Hutu and Tutsi. Scientists arrived to measure skull—and thus, they believed, brain—size. Tutsi's skulls were bigger, they were taller, and their skin was lighter. As a result of this, Europeans came to believe that Tutsis had Caucasian ancestry, and were thus "superior" to Hutus. Each citizen was issued a racial identification card, which defined one as legally Hutu or Tutsi. The Belgians gave the majority of political control to the Tutsis. Tutsis began to believe the myth of their superior racial status, and exploited their power over the Hutu majority. In the 1920s, Belgian ethnologists analysed (measured skulls, etc.) thousands of Rwandans on analogous racial criteria. These measurements were however not used during the implementation of the identity card. In 1931, the ethnic identity was officially mandated and administrative documents systematically detailed each person's "ethnicity,". Rwandans had to apply for their identity card. During their application they were asked basic information such as their name, age and ethnicity. They could choose between Hutu, Tutsi or Twa. Most Rwandans were Hutu and answered as such, although when people started to suspect being Tutsi came with special privileges some lied and stated their ethnicity as Tutsi. When they applications were over however, the ethnic identity was fixed, as it was inherited patrilinealy. 84% of Rwandans were assigned Hutu, 14% Tutsi and around 1% Twa. Each Rwandan had an ethnic identity card.


title: History of Rwanda

text: A history of Rwanda that justified the existence of these racial distinctions was written. No historical, archaeological, or above all linguistic traces have been found to date that confirm this official history. The observed differences between the Tutsis and the Hutus are about the same as those evident between the different French social classes in the 1950s. The way people nourished themselves explains a large part of the differences: the Tutsis, since they raised cattle, traditionally drank more milk than the Hutu, who were farmers.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The fragmenting of Hutu lands angered Mwami Yuhi IV, who had hoped to further centralize his power enough to get rid of the Belgians. In 1931 Tutsi plots against the Belgian administration resulted in the Belgians' deposing the Tutsi Mwami Yuhi. The Tutsis took up arms against the Belgians, but feared the Belgians' military superiority and did not openly revolt. Yuhi was replaced by Mutara III, his son. In 1943, he became the first Mwami to convert to Catholicism.


title: History of Rwanda

text: From 1935 on, "Tutsi", "Hutu" and "Twa" were indicated on identity cards. However, because of the existence of many wealthy Hutu who shared the financial (if not physical) stature of the Tutsi, the Belgians used an expedient method of classification based on the number of cattle a person owned. Anyone with ten or more cattle was considered a member of the Tutsi class. The Roman Catholic Church, the primary educators in the country, subscribed to and reinforced the differences between Hutu and Tutsi. They developed separate educational systems for each, although throughout the 1940s and 1950s the vast majority of students were Tutsi.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Following World War II, Ruanda-Urundi became a United Nations trust territory with Belgium as the administrative authority. Reforms instituted by the Belgians in the 1950s encouraged the growth of democratic political institutions but were resisted by the Tutsi traditionalists, who saw them as a threat to Tutsi rule.


title: History of Rwanda

text: From the late 1940s, King Rudahigwa, a Tutsi with democratic vision, abolished the "ubuhake" system and redistributed cattle and land. Although the majority of pasture lands remained under Tutsi control, the Hutu began to feel more liberation from Tutsi rule. Through the reforms, the Tutsis were no longer perceived to be in total control of cattle, the long-standing measure of a person's wealth and social position. The reforms contributed to ethnic tensions.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The Belgian institution of ethnic identity cards contributed to the growth of group identities. Belgium introduced electoral representation for Rwandans, by means of secret ballot. The majority Hutus made enormous gains within the country. The Catholic Church, too, began to oppose Tutsi mistreatment of Hutus, and began promoting equality.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Mwami Mutara took steps to end the destabilization and chaos he saw in the land. Mutara made many changes; in 1954 he shared out the land between the Hutu and the Tutsi, and agreed to abolish the system of indentured servitude ("ubuhake" and "uburetwa") the Tutsis had practised over the Hutu until then.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In the 1950s and early 1960s, a wave of Pan-Africanism swept through Central Africa, expressed by leaders such as Julius Nyerere in Tanzania and Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. Anti-colonial sentiment rose throughout central Africa, and a socialist platform of African unity and equality for all Africans was promoted. Nyerere wrote about the elitism of educational systems.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Encouraged by the Pan-Africanists, Hutu advocates in the Catholic Church, and by Christian Belgians (who were increasingly influential in the Congo), Hutu resentment of the Tutsi increased. The United Nations mandates, the Tutsi elite class, and the Belgian colonialists added to the growing unrest. Grégoire Kayibanda, founder of PARMEHUTU, led the Hutu "emancipation" movement. In 1957, he wrote the "Hutu Manifesto". His party quickly became militarized. In reaction, in 1959 the Tutsi formed the UNAR party, lobbying for immediate independence for Ruanda-Urundi, to be based on the existing Tutsi monarchy. This group also became militarized. Skirmishes began between UNAR and PARMEHUTU groups. In July 1959, when the Tutsi Mwami (King) Mutara III Charles died following a routine vaccination, some Tutsi thought he had been assassinated. His younger half-brother became the next Tutsi monarch, Mwami (King) Kigeli V.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In November 1959, Tutsis tried to assassinate Kayibanda. Rumors of the death of Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa at the hands of Tutsis, who had beaten him, set off a violent retaliation, called the wind of destruction. Hutus killed an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 Tutsi; thousands more, including the Mwami, fled to neighboring Uganda before Belgian commandos arrived to quell the violence. Tutsi leaders accused the Belgians of abetting the Hutus. A UN special commission reported racism reminiscent of "Nazism" against the Tutsi minorities, and discriminatory actions by the government and Belgian authorities.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The revolution of 1959 marked a major change in political life in Rwanda. Some 150,000 Tutsis were exiled to neighboring countries. Tutsis who remained in Rwanda were excluded from political power in a state becoming more centralized under Hutu power. Tutsi refugees also fled to the South Kivu province of the Congo, where they were known as "Banyamalenge".


title: History of Rwanda

text: In 1960, the Belgian government agreed to hold democratic municipal elections in Ruanda-Urundi. The Hutu majority elected Hutu representatives. Such changes ended the Tutsi monarchy, which had existed for centuries. A Belgian effort to create an independent Ruanda-Urundi with Tutsi-Hutu power sharing failed, largely due to escalating violence. At the urging of the UN, the Belgian government divided Ruanda-Urundi into two separate countries, Rwanda and Burundi.


title: History of Rwanda

text: On 25 September 1961, a referendum was held to establish whether Rwanda should become a republic or remain a kingdom. Citizens voted overwhelmingly for a republic. After parliamentary elections held on the same day, the first Rwandese Republic was declared, with Kayibanda as prime minister. Dominique Mbonyumutwa was named the first president of the transitional government.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Between 1961 and 1962, Tutsi guerrilla groups staged attacks into Rwanda from neighboring countries. Rwandan Hutu-based troops responded, and thousands more were killed in the clashes.


title: History of Rwanda

text: On 1 July 1962, Belgium, with UN oversight, granted full independence to the two countries. Rwanda was created as a republic governed by the majority MDR-Parmehutu, which had gained full control of national politics. In 1963, a Tutsi guerrilla invasion into Rwanda from Burundi unleashed another anti-Tutsi backlash by the Hutu government; their forces killed an estimated 14,000 people. The economic union between Rwanda and Burundi was dissolved and tensions between the two countries worsened. Rwanda became a Hutu-dominated one-party state. In excess of 70,000 people had been killed.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Kayibanda became Rwanda's first elected president, leading a government chosen from the membership of the directly elected unicameral National Assembly of Rwanda. Peaceful negotiation of international problems, social and economic elevation of the masses, and integrated development of Rwanda were the ideals of the Kayibanda regime. He established formal relations with 43 countries, including the United States, in the first ten years. Despite the progress made, inefficiency and corruption developed in government ministries in the mid-1960s.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The Kayibanda administration established quotas to try to increase the number of Hutu in schools and the civil service. This effort ended up penalizing the Tutsi. They were allowed only nine percent of secondary school and university seats, which was their proportion of the population. The quotas also extended to the civil service. With unemployment high, competition for such opportunities increased ethnic tensions. The Kayibanda government also continued the Belgian colonial government's policy of requiring ethnic identity cards, and it discouraged "mixed" marriages.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Following more violence in 1964, the government suppressed political opposition. It banned the political parties UNAR and RADER and executed Tutsi members. Hutu militants used the term "inyenzi" (cockroaches) as a pejorative to describe Tutsi rebels for what was perceived as infiltrating the country. Hundreds of thousands of refugees moved to neighbouring countries.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The Catholic Church was closely involved with Parmehutu, and they shared local resources and networks. Through the church, the government maintained links with supporters in Belgium and Germany. The country's two newspapers supported the government and were Catholic publications.


title: History of Rwanda

text: On July 5, 1973, Defence Minister Maj. Gen. Juvénal Habyarimana overthrew Kayibanda. He suspended the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly of Rwanda and imposed a strict ban on all political activity.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Initially, Habyarimana abolished the quota system, winning him favour among Tutsi. However, this didn't last. In 1974, a public outcry developed over Tutsi over-representation in professional fields such as medicine and education. Thousands of Tutsi were forced to resign from such positions, and many were forced into exile. In associated violence, several hundred Tutsi were killed. Gradually, Habyarimana reimposed many of his predecessor's policies favouring Hutu over Tutsi.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In 1975, President Habyarimana formed the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND) whose goals were to promote peace, unity, and national development. The movement was organized from the "hillside" to the national level and included elected and appointed officials.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Under MRND aegis, a new constitution making the country a totalitarian one-party state under the MRND was approved in a referendum in December 1978. These were shortly followed by presidential elections a few weeks later. Habyarimana, as president of the MRND, was the only candidate on the ballot. He was re-elected in 1983 and again in 1988, each time as sole candidate. However, in a minor concession to democracy, voters were given a choice of two MRND candidates in elections to the National Development Council of Rwanda. Responding to public pressure for political reform, President Habyarimana announced in July 1990 his intention to transform Rwanda's one-party state into a multi-party democracy.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The situation in Rwanda had been influenced in great detail by the situation in Burundi. Both countries had a Hutu majority, yet an army-controlled Tutsi government in Burundi persisted for decades. After the assassination of Rwagasore, his UPRONA party was split into Tutsi and Hutu factions. A Tutsi Prime Minister was chosen by the monarch, but, a year later in 1963, the monarch was forced to appoint a Hutu prime minister, Pierre Ngendandumwe, in an effort to satisfy growing Hutu unrest. Nevertheless, the monarch soon replaced him with another Tutsi prince. In Burundi's first elections following independence, in 1965, Ngendandumwe was elected Prime Minister. He was immediately assassinated by a Tutsi extremist and he was succeeded by another Hutu, Joseph Bamina. Hutus won 23 of the 33 seats in national elections a few months later, but the monarch nullified the elections. Bamina was soon also assassinated and the Tutsi monarch installed his own personal secretary, Leopold Biha, as the Prime Minister in his place. This led to a Hutu coup from which the Mwami fled the country and Biha was shot (but not killed). The Tutsi-dominated army, led by Michel Micombero brutally responded: almost all Hutu politicians were killed. Micombero assumed control of the government and a few months later deposed the new Tutsi monarch (the son of the previous monarch) and abolished the role of the monarchy altogether. He then threatened to invade Rwanda. A military dictatorship persisted in Burundi for another 27 years, until the next free elections, in 1993.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Another seven years of sporadic violence in Burundi (from 1965–1972) existed between the Hutus and Tutsis. In 1969 another purge of Hutus by the Tutsi military occurred. Then, a localized Hutu uprising in 1972 was fiercely answered by the Tutsi-dominated Burundi army in the largest Burundi genocide of Hutus, with a death toll nearing 200,000.


title: History of Rwanda

text: This wave of violence led to another wave of cross border refugees into Rwanda of Hutus from Burundi. Now there were large numbers of both Tutsi and Hutu refugees throughout the region, and tensions continued to mount.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In 1988, Hutu violence against Tutsis throughout northern Burundi again resurfaced, and in response the Tutsi army massacred approximately 20,000 more Hutu. Again thousands of Hutu were forced into exile into Tanzania and Congo to flee another genocide of Hutu.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Many exiled refugee Rwandan Tutsis in Uganda had joined the rebel forces of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in the Ugandan Bush War and had then become part of the Ugandan military upon the rebel victory in 1986. Among these were Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, who rose to prominence in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Rwandan rebel group largely consisting of Tutsi veterans of the Ugandan war. On October 1, 1990, the RPF invaded Rwanda from their base in neighboring Uganda. The rebel force, composed primarily of ethnic Tutsis, blamed the government for failing to democratize and resolve the problems of some 500,000 Tutsi refugees living in diaspora around the world.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The Tutsi diaspora miscalculated the reaction of its invasion of Rwanda. Though the Tutsi objective seemed to be to pressure the Rwandan government into making concessions, the invasion was seen as an attempt to bring the Tutsi ethnic group back into power. The effect was to increase ethnic tensions to a level higher than they had ever been. Nevertheless, after 3 years of fighting and multiple prior "cease-fires," the government and the RPF signed a "final" cease-fire agreement in August 1993, known as the Arusha Accords, in order to form a power sharing government, a plan which immediately ran into problems.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The situation worsened when the first elected Burundian president, Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, was assassinated by the Burundian Tutsi-dominated army in October 1993. In Burundi, a fierce civil war then erupted between Tutsi and Hutu following the army's massacre. This conflict spilled over the border into Rwanda and destabilized the fragile Rwandan accords. Tutsi-Hutu tensions rapidly intensified. Although the UN sent a peacekeeping force named the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), it was underfunded, under-staffed, and largely ineffective in the face of a two country civil-war. The UN denied Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire's request for additional troops and changes to the rules of engagement to prevent the coming genocide.


title: History of Rwanda

text: On April 6, 1994, the airplane carrying Juvénal Habyarimana, the President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, the Hutu President of Burundi, was shot down as it prepared to land at Kigali. Both presidents were killed when the plane crashed.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Military and militia groups began rounding up and killing Tutsis "en masse", as well as political moderates irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds. The killing swiftly spread from Kigali to all corners of the country; between April 6 and the beginning of July, a genocide of unprecedented swiftness left between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsis (800,000 is a commonly noted number) and moderate Hutus dead at the hands of organized bands of militia (Interahamwe). Even ordinary citizens were called on by local officials to kill their neighboring Tutsis who were called "Inyenzi" (cockroaches) by the local radio stations inciting fear and hatred. The president's MRND Party was implicated in organizing many aspects of the genocide. The Hutu genocidaires were abetted by the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines broadcasting hate speech advocating violence against Tutsis. It broadcast at the same time as Radio Muhabura broadcast from Uganda, sponsored by the RPF and their Ugandan allies.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The RPF renewed its civil war against the Rwanda Hutu government when it received word that the genocidal massacres had begun. Its leader Paul Kagame directed RPF forces in neighboring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania to invade the country, but here, Paul Kagame did not direct RPF Forces from neighbouring countries because RPF was already in Rwanda for three years and half battling the Hutu forces and Interahamwe militias who were committing the massacres. The resulting civil war raged concurrently with the genocide for two months. The Tutsi-led RPF continued to advance on the capital, and soon occupied the northern, eastern, and southern parts of the country by June. Thousands of additional civilians were killed in the conflict. UN member states refused to answer UNAMIR's requests for increased troops and money. The remaining part of the country not under RPF control was occupied by France in Operation Turquoise. While the French operation did prevent mass killings it has been alleged that the deployment of French troops was intended to allow the Hutu militias to escape, and that the slaughter of Tutsis continued in the French controlled area.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Between July and August 1994, Kagame's Tutsi-led RPF troops first entered Kigali and soon thereafter captured the rest of the country. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and ended the genocide, but approximately two million Hutu refugees—some who participated in the genocide and fearing Tutsi retribution—fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire. This exodus became known as the Great Lakes refugee crisis.


title: History of Rwanda

text: After the Tutsi RPF took control of the government, in 1994, Kagame formed a government of national unity headed by a Hutu president, Pasteur Bizimungu. Kagame became Minister of Defence and Vice-President of Rwanda, and was the de facto leader of the country.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Following an uprising by the ethnic Tutsi, sometimes referred to as a whole as Banyamulenge (although this term only represents people from one area in eastern Zaire—other ethnic Tutsi Kinyarwanda-speaking people include the "Banyamasisi" and the "Banyarutshuru", as an example) people in eastern Zaire in October 1997, a huge movement of refugees began which brought more than 600,000 back to Rwanda in the last two weeks of November. This massive repatriation was followed at the end of December 1996 by the return of another 500,000 from Tanzania, again in a huge, spontaneous wave. Less than 100,000 Rwandans are estimated to remain outside of Rwanda, and they are thought to be the remnants of the defeated army of the former genocidal government, its allies in the civilian militias known as Interahamwe, and soldiers recruited in the refugee camps before 1996. There are also many innocent Hutu who remain in the forests of eastern Congo, particularly Rutshuru, Masisi and Bukavu, who have been misinformed by rebel forces that they will be killed upon return to Rwanda. Rebels also use force to prevent these people from returning, as they serve as a human shield.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In northwest Rwanda, Hutu militia members killed three Spanish aid workers, three soldiers and seriously wounded one other on January 18, 1997. Since then, most of the refugees have returned and the country is secure for tourists.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Rwandan coffee began to gain importance after international taste tests pronounced it among the best in the world, and the U.S. responded with a contribution of 8 million dollars. Rwanda now earns some revenue from coffee and tea export, although it has been difficult to compete with larger coffee-producing countries. The main source of revenue, however, is tourism, mainly mountain gorilla visitation. Their other parks, Nyungwe Forest (one of the last high-altitude tropical forests in the world) and Akagera National Park (a safari game park) have also become popular on the tourism circuit. The lakeside resorts of Gisenyi and Kibuye are also gaining ground.


title: History of Rwanda

text: When Bizimungu became critical of the Kagame government in 2000, he was removed as president and Kagame took over the presidency himself. Bizimungu immediately founded an opposition party (the PDR), but it was banned by the Kagame government. Bizimungu was arrested in 2002 for treason, sentenced to 15 years in prison, but released by a presidential pardon in 2007.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The postwar government has placed high priority on development, opening water taps in the most remote areas, providing free and compulsory education, and promulgating progressive environmental policies. Their Vision 2020 development policy has the aim of achieving a service-based society by 2020, with a significant middle class. There is remarkably little corruption in the country.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Hutu Rwandan genocidal leaders were put on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in the Rwandan National Court system, and, most recently, through the informal Gacaca programme. Recent reports highlight a number of reprisal killings of survivors for giving evidence at Gacaca. These Gacaca trials are overseen by the government established National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. "Gacaca" is a traditional adjudication mechanism at the "umudugudu" (village) level, whereby members of the community elect elders to serve as judges, and the entire community is present for the case. This system was modified to try lower-level "génocidaires", those who had killed or stolen but did not organize massacres. Prisoners, dressed in pink, stand trial before members of their community. Judges accord sentences, which vary widely, from returning to prison, to paying back the cost of goods stolen, to working in the fields of families of victims. "Gacaca" officially concluded in June 2012. For many, "gacaca" has been a vehicle for closure, and prisoners' testimonies have helped many families locate victims. "Gacaca" takes place once a week in the morning in every village across Rwanda, and is compulsory.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Ethnicity has been formally outlawed in Rwanda, in the effort to promote a culture of healing and unity. One can stand trial for discussion of the different ethnic groups.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Rwanda has become a President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) focus country, and the United States has been providing AIDS programming, education, training, and treatment. Rwandans who have been infected can now receive free antiretroviral drugs in health centers across the country, as well as food packages.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In order to protect the country against the Hutu Interahamwe forces, which had fled to Eastern Zaire, RPF forces invaded Zaire in 1996, following talks by Kagame with US officials earlier the same year. In this invasion Rwanda allied with Laurent Kabila, a progressist revolutionary in Eastern Zaire who had been a foe of Zaire's long-time dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. In addition to Rwandan forces, Laurent Kabila's AFDL (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo) forces were also supported by Ugandan forces, with whom Kagame had trained in the late 1980s, which then invaded Eastern Zaire from the northeast. This became known as the First Congo War.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In this war, militarized Tutsi elements in the South Kivu area of Zaire, known as Banyamulenge to disguise their original Rwandan Tutsi heritage, allied with the Tutsi RDF forces against the Hutu refugees in the North Kivu area, which included the Interahamwe militias.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In the midst of this conflict, Kabila, whose primary intent had been to depose Mobutu, moved his forces to Kinshasa, and in 1997, the same year Mobutu Sese Seko died of prostate cancer, Kabila captured Kinshasa and then became president of Zaire, which he then renamed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With Kabila's success in the Congo, he no longer desired an alliance with the Tutsi-RPF Rwandan army and the Ugandan forces, and in August 1998 ordered both the Ugandans and Tutsi-Rwandan army out of the DRC. However, neither Kagame's Rwandan Tutsi forces nor Museveni's Ugandan forces had any intention of leaving the Congo, and the framework of the Second Congo War was laid.


title: History of Rwanda

text: During the Second Congo War, Tutsi militias among the Banyamulenge in the Congo province of Kivu desired to annex themselves to Rwanda (now dominated by Tutsi forces under the Kagame government). Kagame also desired this, both to increase the resources of Rwanda by adding those of the Kivu region, and also to add the Tutsi population, which the Banyamulenge represented, back into Rwanda, thereby reinforcing his political base and protecting the indigenous Tutsis living there, who had also suffered massacres from the Interhamwe.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In the Second Congo War, Uganda and Rwanda attempted to wrest much of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Kabila's forces, and nearly succeeded. However, the DRC being a member of the SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) organisation, President Laurent Kabila called this regional organisation to the rescue. Armies were sent to aid Kabila, most notably those of Angola and Zimbabwe. These armies were able to beat back Kagame's Rwandan-Tutsi advances and the Ugandan forces.


title: History of Rwanda

text: In the great conflict between 1998 and 2002, during which Congo was divided into three parts, multiple opportunistic militias, called Mai Mai, sprang up, supplied by the arms dealers around the world that profit in small arms trading, including the US, Russia, China, and other countries. Over 5.4 million people died in the conflict, as well as the majority of animals in the region.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Laurent Kabila was assassinated in the DRC (Congo) in 2001, and was succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. The latter was chosen unanimously by the political class because of the role he played in the army, being the "de facto' officer in charge of the well trained batailions that defeated the Mobutu army and were fighting alongside SADC coalition forces. Joseph speaks fluent French, English and Swahili, one of the four national languages of the DRC. He studied in Tanzania and Uganda in his earlier years. He completed his military training in China. After serving 5 years as the transitional government president, he was freely-elected in the Congo to be president, in 2006, largely on the basis of his support in the Eastern Congo.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Ugandan and Rwandan forces within Congo began to battle each other for territory, and Congolese Mai Mai militias, most active in the South and North Kivu provinces (in which most refugees were located) took advantage of the conflict to settle local scores and widen the conflict, battling each other, Ugandan and Rwandan forces, and even Congolese forces.


title: History of Rwanda

text: The war was ended when, under Joseph Kabila's leadership, a ceasefire was signed and the all-inclusive Sun City (South Africa) talks were convened to decide on a two years transition period and the organisation of free and fair elections.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Rwandan RPF troops finally left Congo in 2002, leaving a wake of disease and malnutrition that continued to kill thousands every month. However, Rwandan rebels continue to operate (as of May 2007) in the northeast Congo and Kivu regions. These are claimed to be remnants of Hutu forces that cannot return to Rwanda without facing genocide charges, yet are not welcomed in Congo and are pursued by DRC troops. In the first 6 months of 2007, over 260,000 civilians were displaced. Congolese Mai Mai rebels also continue to threaten people and wildlife. Although a large scale effort at disarming militias has succeeded, with the aid of the UN troops, the last militias are only being disarmed in 2007. However, fierce confrontations in the northeast regions of the Congo between local tribes in the Ituri region, initially uninvolved with the Hutu-Tutsi conflict but drawn into the Second Congo War, still continue.


title: History of Rwanda

text: Rwanda today struggles to heal and rebuild, showing signs of rapid economic development, but with growing international concern about the decline of human rights within the country.