Pre-Colonial Rwanda

A complex web of events composes Rwanda's history; an ancient common thread - a deep-seated social divide between the two major ethnic groups of the country: the Hutu and the Tutsi - defines its modern state.  Historically, ancient hunter-gatherers, from whom the Twa descended, an ethnic group which now comprises no more than 1% of the total population, initially inhabited the land that is now Rwanda since 10,000 B.C. (C).  Around 700 B.C., an agricultural people known as the Hutu discovered the region’s fertile highlands and consequently forced them to give up the best farmland.  A few hundred years later, a pastoral people called the Tutsi migrated into Rwanda, only to become the dominant force in the country.  A social system known as buhake (literally “cattle contract”) similar to European feudalism soon emerged, with the tall and lighter Tutsi fulfilling the role parallel to European nobles and the shorter and darker Hutu serving as the equivalent of serfs (C).  Additionally, the Tutsi adamantly maintained control over Rwandan political life, as every king or mwami up until the creation of the Rwandan Republic was of Tutsi descent (C).  This division not only prevented the two ethnic groups from intermarrying and thus fusing both cultures into one contiguous society, but also created a divide so sharp, that it escalated into a violent division instead of the glorious unity that walks hand in hand with independence.