The Kingdom of Rwanda was a kingdom in East Africa which grew to be ruled by a

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic ...

monarchy. It was later annexed under

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and Belgian colonial rule while retaining some of its autonomy. The Tutsi monarchy was abolished in 1961 after ethnic violence between the

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the p ...

and Tutsi during the

Rwandan Revolution The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction ( rw, muyaga), was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in R ...

. After a 1961 referendum, Rwanda became a

-dominated republic and received its independence from Belgium in 1962. After the revolution, the last ruling monarch, Kigeli V, was exiled and he eventually settled in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. A court in exile has been maintained outside Rwanda ever since the abolition of the monarchy. As of 9 January 2017, the current proclaimed

King of Rwanda This article contains a list of kings of Rwanda. The Kingdom of Rwanda was ruled by sovereigns titled '' mwami'' (plural ''abami''), and was one of the oldest and the most centralized kingdoms in the history of Central and East Africa. Its stat ...

is Yuhi VI.

History

In the 15th century, one kingdom, under King Gihanga, managed to incorporate several of its close neighbor territories establishing the Kingdom of Rwanda. The

majority, 82–85% of the population, were mostly free peasants while the kings, known as

Mwami ''Mwami'' () is an honorific title common in parts of Central and East Africa. The title means ''chief'' or ''tribal chief'' in several Bantu languages. It was historically used by kings in several African nations, and is still used for traditi ...

, were exclusively Tutsis of the Nyiginya clan. Certainly some Hutus were nobility and, equally, considerable intermingling took place. Before the 19th century, it was believed that the Tutsis held military leadership power while the Hutus possessed agricultural skills. The position of Queen Mother was an important one, managing the royal household and being heavily involved in court politics. When their sons ascended to the throne, mothers would take a new name. This would be composed of ''nyira-'', meaning "mother of", followed by, usually, the regal name of the new king; only kings named ''Mutara'' do not follow this convention, their mothers taking the name ''Nyiramavugo'' (mother of good counsel). As the kings centralized their power and authority, they distributed land among individuals rather than allowing it to be passed down through lineage groups, of which many hereditary chiefs had been Hutu. Most of the chiefs appointed by the Mwamis were Tutsi. The redistribution of land, enacted between 1860 and 1895 by

Kigeli IV Rwabugiri Kigeli IV Rwabugiri (1840? - November 1895) was the king ('' mwami'') of the Kingdom of Rwanda in the mid-nineteenth century. He was among the last Nyiginya kings in a ruling dynasty that had traced their lineage back four centuries to Gihanga, ...

, resulted in an imposed patronage system, under which appointed Tutsi chiefs demanded manual labor in return for the right of Hutus to occupy their land. This system left Hutus in a serf-like status with Tutsi chiefs as their feudal masters. Under Mwami Rwabugiri, Rwanda became an expansionist state. Rwabugiri did not bother to assess the ethnic identities of conquered peoples and simply labeled all of them "Hutu". The title "Hutu", therefore, came to be a trans-ethnic identity associated with subjugation. While further disenfranchising Hutus socially and politically, this helped to solidify the idea that "Hutu" and "Tutsi" were socioeconomic, not

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

, distinctions. In fact, one could ''kwihutura'', or "shed Hutuness", by accumulating wealth and rising through the

social hierarchy Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). As ...

. Owing to its isolation, Rwanda's engagement with the

Indian Ocean slave trade The Indian Ocean slave trade, sometimes known as the East African slave trade or Arab slave trade, was multi-directional slave trade and has changed over time. Africans were sent as slaves to the Middle East, to Indian Ocean islands (including Ma ...

was extremely limited until the end of the 19th century. The first Europeans in Rwanda did not arrive until 1894, making Rwanda one of the last regions of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

to have been explored by Europeans. In 1897, Germany established a presence in Rwanda with the formation of an alliance with the king, beginning the colonial era.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingdom Of Rwanda * Rwanda 1959 establishments in Rwanda 1962 disestablishments in Africa Rwanda Rwanda

History

See also

References