ABSTRACT
This study examines the data compiled within the framework of two successive surveys: the first conducted in 1988 and spread over five months; the second took place over a period of 14 months between the end of 1992 and the beginning of 1994. 1 Both successive surveys were conducted on the same hill in north-west Rwanda, in a densely populated region, located near commercial and administrative centres. Here, the land 'market' is very active and land purchases and sales multiplied between 1988 and 1993: the proportion of land purchased in relation to those inherited increased relatively quickly within both comparable samples [Andre and Platteau, 1998: 19].
