The Rutara peoples (endonym: ''Banyakitara'', ''Abanyakitara'') are a group of closely related

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

ethnic groups 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 the ...

region. They speak

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

dialects and include groups such as the

Banyoro Bunyoro or Bunyoro-Kitara is a Bantu kingdom in Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is ruled by the King ('' Omukama'') of Bunyoro-Kitara. The cur ...

Banyankore Ankole (Runyankore: ''Nkore''), was a traditional Bantu kingdom in Uganda and lasted from the 15th century until 1967. The kingdom was located in south-western Uganda, east of Lake Edward. History Ankole Kingdom is located in the South-Western ...

and

Bahaya Mount Bahaya (Somali language: ''Buurta Baxaya'', sometimes spelled Mount Bahaja), also known as Mount Bahaya, is the fourth-tallest mountain in Somalia, after the triple-peaked mountains Mount Shimbiris, Mount Surud Cad, and Mount Warraq. It is ...

History

Proto-Rutara people originated in the

Kagera Region Kagera Region (''Mkoa wa Kagera'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Netherlands. Kagera Region is borde ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

near

Bukoba Bukoba is a city with a population of 128,796 (2012 census), situated in the north west of Tanzania on the south western shores of Lake Victoria. It is the capital of the Kagera region, and the administrative seat for Bukoba Urban District. T ...

in the year 700AD. They then expanded northwestwards spreading Rutara language and culture into western

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

and eastern

Democratic Republic of 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 ...

, regions that would one day become

Bunyoro Bunyoro or Bunyoro-Kitara is a Bantu kingdom in Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is ruled by the King (''Omukama'') of Bunyoro-Kitara. The current ...

, Mboga,

Nkore Ankole (Runyankore: ''Nkore''), was a traditional Bantu kingdom in Uganda and lasted from the 15th century until 1967. The kingdom was located in south-western Uganda, east of Lake Edward. History Ankole Kingdom is located in the South-Wester ...

, Mpororo, etc. This movement of ideas and practices is likely to have marked the inception of the eras of the ''Batembuzi'' and ''Bacwezi'', a period only dimly and fabulously remembered in the later oral traditions, but one in which the key political ideas and economic structures of the later kingdoms first began to be put into effect.

Notes

{{Reflist Bantu peoples Ethnic groups in Uganda Ethnic groups in Tanzania Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ethnic groups in Rwanda