Rwanda History in AfricaAll the Detailes about Rwanda History, Rwanda Culture, Rwanda People and Rwanda in AfricaThe Rwanda history starts with much of a myth. The earliest inhabitants of the region now known as Rwanda were the Twa, a group of diminutive forest hunters and gatherers. 
Click here to read more about the remaining group of these people in Ugandaaccording to Bethwell Ogot in the UNESCO History of Africa and Rwanda history. The Twa were supplanted by the immigration of the forbearers of the agriculturalist ethnic group, today known as the Hutus. We have tried our best to get details of Rwanda history,please you can click on any of the following menu for more detailed history • Rwandan history and the Colonial Times • Rwandan History and Belgian Colonisation • Rwanda History and Catholic Influence • Rwandan history and strife for Independence • Rwandan History and Military rule • Rwandan history and Genocide aftermath and Peace The Hutu began to clear forests for their permanent settlements. The nature of a third major migration, of a predominantly pastoralist people known as Tutsi, is highly contested. By the fifteenth century, many of the Bantu-speakers, including both Hutu and Tutsi, had organized themselves into small states. According to Ogot, these included at least three. Rwanda history proves that 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 clan also covered an extensive area. The Gisaka state in southeast Rwanda was powerful, maintaining its independence until the mid-nineteenth century. However, the latter two states are largely unmentioned in contemporary discussion of Rwandan civilization.
In the nineteenth 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 a Mwami's political control. 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. Under the monarchy the economic imbalance between the Hutus and the Tutsis crystallized, 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 hung with the genitals of conquered enemies or rebels against the King. The Mwami main power base was control of over a hundred large estates spread through the kingdom. They would include fields of banana trees and many heads of cattle and formed the base of the rulers' wealth. The most ornate of these 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.All the people of Rwanda were expected to do tribute to the Mwami, and this tribute was collected, in turn, by a Tutsi administrative hierarchy.
Beneath the Mwami was also a Tutsi ministerial council of great chiefs, the 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. Again, over 95% of hill and neighborhood chiefs were of Tutsi descent. 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 to military chiefs and to biru member existed to serve the powers of the Mwami, and to reinforce the control of the Tutsi race in Rwanda.The military, located in the border camps, were a mix of Hutu and Tutsi drawn from across the kingdom. This intermixing helped produce a uniformity of ritual and language in the region, and united the populace behind the Mwami. Most evidence suggests that relations between the Hutu and Tutsi were mostly peaceful at this time. Some words and expressions suggest there may have been friction, but other than that all evidence supports peaceful interaction.
Rwandan history and the Colonial Times Rwanda History and Catholic Influence • Rwandan history and strife for Independence • Rwandan History and Military rule • Rwandan history and Genocide aftermath and Peace • How the Rwanda Civil War led to Rwanda genocide |
