1890-1918







Rwanda's Procolonial History



Rwanda, together with it's neighbour Burundi, thanks to fertile volcanic soil, grows 4 harvests per year and therefore has, together with Java (Indonesia) the highest agrarian population density in the world.
The HUTUS, a Bantu people, immigrated ca. 1000 A.D., soon outnumbering the indigenous TWA (a pygmee people). In the 15th century, the TUTSI immigrated, a proud people. The Tutsi, catthe herders and warriors, subdued the Hutus and established a number of statelets. Tutsi and Hutu preserved both their ethnicity; yet intermarriage occurred. The Tutsi assimilated in part, adopting the Hutu language of KINYARWANDA..
The Kingdom of NYIGINYA expanded to form the Tutsi Kingdom of Rwanda in the late 18th century; the king ruled under the title of MWAMI. His successors continued to rule until 1931/1960. In 1860, the Kingdom of Rwanda was first mentioned by JOHN SPEKE.
At the Africa Conference in Berlin in 1884/85, Rwanda was allocated to the German sphere of interest.


Kings of Rwanda, 1792-1931
Source : Rwandan Kings , World Statesmen by Ben Cahoon (more detailed)







1792-1797
1797-1830
1830-1860
1860-1895 		Mibambwe III Seetaabyo
Yuhi IV Gahindiro
Mutara II Rwogera
Kigeri IV Rwabugiri
EXTERNAL
FILES 		Encyclopedic descriptions : Rwanda History : Precolonial History, from NewAfrica.com detailed yet concise
Rwanda -- History, from African Studies, UPenn has flaws
Articles from Infoplease : Rwanda encyclopedic
Timetable of Rwandese History, from RwandaNet
List of Rwandan Bamis (Kings), from RwandaNet
DOCUMENTS Maps of Rwanda from National Geographic, from CIA World Factbook
REFERENCE



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 7th 2004

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