Beligian Colonisation in RwandaThe world war 1 led to the coming of the Beligian Colonisation in Rwanda.While the agreements dividing the region had called for the region to remain neutral in the event of any European war, this was disregarded after the outbreak of World War I. Small forces of Europeans, backed by large numbers of locals fought for control of the region.
The main offensive was by the Belgians who quickly forced the German forces out of the region. A British offensive from Uganda aided them. The Belgian army was mostly made up of Congolese forces who proceeded to loot and pillage the region. A great number of Rwandans, who were fighting alongside the Germans, were killed in the long German retreat. 
Belgian colonialismThe Belgian government continued to rely on the Tutsi power structure for administering the country. It also consistently favoured the direct and harsh polices that had been instituted by the Germans. The Belgians insisted that the colony turn a profit, and this meant forcing the population to grow large quantities of coffee. 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., labour that was enforced by the whip - eight strokes before work each morning. 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 draconian policies.Click here for more information about Uganda colonialisim and protectorate As mentioned above, Hutus and Tutsis lived together as neighbors before the colonial period. However, Belgian rule solidified the racial divide. The Belgians then gave political power to the Tutsis. 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. Current academic thought is that the European emphasis on racial division led to many of the difficulties of racialism, as structured at the time of German and Belgian colonisation, and that this was the engine behind later conflicts. In the 1920s, Belgian ethnologists analysed (measured skulls, etc) thousands of Rwandans on analogous racial criteria, such as which would be used later by the Nazis. In 1931, an ethnic identity was officially mandated and administrative documents systematically detailed each person's "ethnicity," just as Jewish identity would be specified a few years later in Germany. Each Rwandan had an ethnic identity card. The Belgians considered the Tutsis to be the superior race and systematically imposed their authority over the Hutus across the colonial administration and the access to education, engendering great frustration among the other Rwandans. A history of Rwanda that justified the existence of these racial distinctions was written (see History of Rwanda). No historical, archaeological, or above all linguistic traces have been found to date that confirm this official history. In fact, as those who have looked for such evidence have remarked, 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. Some observers have also noted an induced replica of the Belgian linguistic conflict in the Rwandan problem. It is undeniable that the Walloons, who were the majority in the beginning in Rwanda, and the Flemish continued their ideological fights and also tried to gain supremacy over one another on Rwandan soil. In the 1950s and 60s, the back and forth of Belgian support for the Tutsis over the Hutus was articled at the same time over Tutsis demands for political independence, like everywhere in Africa, and over the development of the presence of Flemish people in Rwanda who would see in the Hutu a people who were repressed just as they had been .
Rwandan history and the Colonial Times Colonial era change the history of Rwanda.Unlike much of Africa, the fate of Rwanda and the Great Lakes region was not decided by the 1884 Berlin Conference. Rather the region was divided in an 1890 conference in Brussels. This gave Rwanda and Burundi to the German Empire as colonial spheres of interest in exchangeMore _______________________________________________ Rwanda History and Catholic Influence The Belgian Roman Catholic influence favored the Tutsis and led to destabilisation in Rwanda, admiring Tutsi leadership qualities.More _________________________________________ • Rwandan history and strife for Independence Charles made many changes and these resulted into strife and independence - in 1954 he shared out the land between the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Tutsi were unhappy with this, which led to Charles' assassination in 1959.More _____________________________________________ • Rwandan History and Military rule On July 5, 1973 marked the start of military rule in Rwanda, while serving as defense minister, Maj. Gen. Juvénal Habyarimana, a native of the northwestern province of Gisenyi overthrew Grégoire Kayibanda, a native of central province of Gitarama. He dissolved the National Assembly and the PARMEHUTU Party and abolished all political activityMore ____________________________________________ • Rwandan history and Genocide aftermath and Peace On April 6, 1994 marked the start of the Rwandan Genocide, the airplane carrying Juvénal Habyarimana- the then President of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira, the President of Burundi, was shot down as it prepared to land at Kigali. Both presidents were killed when the plane crashed.More
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