The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a
Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in th ...
region. They mainly live in
Rwanda,
Burundi and the eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
, where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the
Tutsi and the
Great Lakes Twa
The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Batwa (singular Mutwa), Abatwa or Ge-Sera, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region on the border of Central and East Africa. As an indigenous pygmy people, the Twa are generally assu ...
.
Demographics
The Hutu is the largest of the three main population divisions in
Burundi and
Rwanda. Prior to 2017, the
CIA World Factbook stated that 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians are Hutu, with
Tutsis being the second largest ethnic group at 15% and 14% of residents of Rwanda and Burundi, respectively. However, these figures were omitted in 2017 and no new figures have been published since then.
[
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The
Twa pygmies, the smallest of the two countries' principal populations, share language and culture with the Hutu and Tutsi. They are distinguished by a considerably shorter stature.
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]
Origins
The Hutu are believed to have first emigrated to the Great Lake region from
Central Africa in the great
Bantu expansion.
Various theories have emerged to explain the purported physical differences between them and their fellow
Bantu-speaking neighbors, the Tutsi. The Tutsi were pastoralists and are believed to have established aristocratic control over the sedentary Hutu and Twa. Through intermarriage with the Hutu, the Tutsi were gradually assimilated, culturally, linguistically, and racially.
Others suggest that the two groups are related but not identical, and they also suggest that the differences between them were exacerbated by Europeans,
[ excerpt from ] or they were exacerbated by a gradual, natural split, as those who owned cattle became known as the Tutsi and those who did not own cattle became known as the Hutu.
Mahmood Mamdani states that the
Belgian colonial power designated people as Tutsi or Hutu on the basis of cattle ownership, physical measurements and church records.
The debate over the ethnic origins of the Hutu and Tutsi within Rwandan politics predates the
Rwandan genocide
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed H ...
, and it continues to the present day, with the government of Rwanda no longer using the distinction.
Genetics
Y-DNA (paternal lineages)
Modern-day genetic studies of the
Y-chromosome suggest that the Hutu, like the Tutsi, are largely of
Bantu extraction (83%
E1b1a
Haplogroup E-V38 is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is primarily distributed in Sub Saharan Africa. E-V38 has two basal branches, E-M329 (formerly E1b1c or E1b1*) and E-M2 (formerly E3a & E1b1a). The E-M329 subclade is today almost excl ...
, 8%
E2). Paternal genetic influences associated with the
Horn of Africa and
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
are few (3%
E1b1b
E-M215, also known as E1b1b and formerly E3b, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is a division of the macro-haplogroup E-M96, which is defined by the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation M215. In other words, it is one of ...
and 1%
R1b), and are ascribed to much earlier inhabitants who were assimilated. However, the Hutu have considerably fewer
Nilo-Saharan paternal lineages (4.3% B) than the Tutsi (14.9% B).
Autosomal DNA (overall ancestry)
In general, the Hutu appear to share a close genetic kinship with neighboring Bantu populations, particularly the Tutsi. However, it is unclear whether this similarity is primarily due to extensive genetic exchanges between these communities through intermarriage or whether it ultimately stems from common origins:
..generations of gene flow obliterated whatever clear-cut physical distinctions may have once existed between these two Bantu peoples – renowned to be height, body build, and facial features. With a spectrum of physical variation in the peoples, Belgian authorities legally mandated ethnic affiliation in the 1920s, based on economic criteria. Formal and discrete social divisions were consequently imposed upon ambiguous biological distinctions. To some extent, the permeability of these categories in the intervening decades helped to reify the biological distinctions, generating a taller elite and a shorter underclass, but with little relation to the gene pools that had existed a few centuries ago. The social categories are thus real, but there is little if any detectable genetic differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi.
Tishkoff et al. (2009) found their mixed Hutu and Tutsi samples from Rwanda to be predominately of Bantu origin, with minor gene flow from
Afro-Asiatic communities (17.7% Afro-Asiatic genes found in the mixed Hutu–Tutsi population).
Language
Hutus speak
Rwanda-Rundi as their native tongue, which is a member of the
Bantu subgroup of the
Niger–Congo language family. Rwanda-Rundi is subdivided into the
Kinyarwanda and
Kirundi dialects, which have been standardized as
official languages of Rwanda and Burundi, respectively. It is also spoken as a mother tongue by the Tutsi and Twa.
Additionally, a small portion of Hutu speak
French, the other official language of Rwanda and Burundi, as a
lingua franca, although the population is dwindling given the poor relations between Rwanda and France.
Post-colonial history
The Belgian-sponsored
Tutsi monarchy survived until 1959 when
Kigeli V was exiled from the colony (then called
Ruanda-Urundi). In Burundi, Tutsis, who are the minority, maintained control of the government and military. In Rwanda, the political power was transferred from the minority Tutsi to the majority Hutu.
In Rwanda, this led
to the "Social revolution" and Hutu violence against Tutsis. Tens of thousands of Tutsis were killed, and many others fled to neighboring countries, such as Burundi,
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
, and expanding the
Banyamulenge Tutsi ethnic group in the South Kivu region of the
Belgian Congo. Later, exiled Tutsis from Burundi invaded Rwanda, prompting Rwanda to close its border to Burundi.
In
Burundi,
a campaign of genocide was conducted against the Hutu population in 1972, and an estimated 100,000 Hutus died.
[Rwanda 1994: Genocide + Politicide, Christian Davenport and Allan Stam](_blank)
/ref> In 1993, Burundi's first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye (28 March 1953 – 21 October 1993) was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election. Though he moved to attempt to ...
, who was Hutu, was believed to be assassinated by Tutsi officers, as was the person constitutionally entitled to succeed him.[International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi: Final Report. Part III: Investigation of the Assassination. Conclusions a]
USIP.org
This sparked a counter-genocide in Burundi between Hutu political structures and the Tutsi military, in which an estimated 500,000 Burundians died. There were many mass killings of Tutsis and moderate Hutus; these events were deemed to be a genocide by the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi.[International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi (2002)]
While Tutsis remained in control of Burundi, the conflict resulted in genocide in Rwanda
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
as well. A Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, invaded Rwanda from Uganda, which started a civil war against Rwanda's Hutu government in 1990. A peace agreement was signed, but violence erupted again, culminating in the Rwandan genocide
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed H ...
of 1994, when Hutu extremists killed an estimated 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis.
About 30% of the Twa pygmy population of Rwanda were also killed by the Hutu extremists. At the same time, the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country and is still the ruling party . Burundi is also currently governed by a former rebel group, the Hutu CNDD–FDD.
As of 2006, violence between the Hutu and Tutsi had subsided, but the situation in both Rwanda and Burundi was still tense, and tens of thousands of Rwandans were still living outside the country (see Great Lakes refugee crisis
The Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. Many ...
).
See also
*Burundi Civil War
The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding Ethnic conflict, ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first Mult ...
*History of Burundi
Burundi originated in the 16th century as a small kingdom in the African Great Lakes region. After European contact, it was united with the Kingdom of Rwanda, becoming the colony of Ruanda-Urundi - first colonised by Germany and then by Belgium. ...
* History of Rwanda
* Rwanda Civil War
References
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