Burundi

Once a part of German East Africa, the land encompassing the Republic of Burundi (République du Burundi) became a Belgian mandate territory following the First World War, part of a suzerainty called Ruanda-Urundi. Belgium administrated the region, but allowed the continuation of traditional kingship dynasties for the next thirty years. In 1959, Burundi's ruler Mwami Mwambutsa IV requested that Ruanda-Urundi be dissolved into two seperate nations, Burundi and Rwanda, influenced to some extent by the instability and ethnic persecution that was happening in Rwanda, in which thousands of ethnic Tutsi had been slaughtered by the more numerous Hutu. In Burundi, meanwhile, many Hutu were killed in retaliation. The nation declared its independence in July 1962, officially changing its name to Burundi and naming Mwami Mwambutsa IV as monarch.