Colonization+and+History

 =The History and the Colonization of Rwanda =

History of Rwanda: the people who lived here were known as Twa or the Europeans would know them as pygmies. These people came from central Africa around 1000 B.C.E. These people were known as the Hutus. Around 1300, another group of Africans came to this land that is currently named Rwanda. They are known as the Tutsi. The Hutu and the Tutsi lived together. As time went on this land became a kingdom. The Hutu and the Tutsi had a king or a mwami. The king lived a lavished life style. He was always surrounded by guards, story tellers, dancers, and his chiefs. The king of the kingdom would divide up his land and put his chiefs in charge of them. The jobs of the Chiefs would be to administer the land and agriculture, supervision of grazing cattle and land, and recruiting men for the king’s army. Most of the chiefs that was appointed by the king would be a Tutsi. The Tutsi were mainly the people who were in charged.

The Colonization: At the Berlin conference in 1884-1885, Great Britain and Germany divide up land known as the Great Lakes Region. The Great Lake Region is where most of the fresh water is at and also where some of the richest soil in Africa is held. At the time Rwanda and Burundi were located in German, British, and Belgian territories. There were constant fights between these countries on who owns the land. In 1910, Germany owned the land and called it “Ruanda-Urundi.” The Germans were harsh rulers to the people of Rwanda. Germans made them grow massive amounts of coffee plants and taxed the Rwandans very highly. However the Germans give up their colonies to the Belgians after World War I, in the Treaty of Versailles. Once when the Belgians came to rule this land, they changed the names from “Ruanda-Urundi” to Rwanda and Burundi. The Belgians let the monarchy in this country rule. They would control the Africans from the monarchy. The belgians made all Rwandans carry a iodentification card. This card would allow the Belgains to know who were Tutsi and who were Hutu. King Rudahigwa was influenced by the Belgians band polythesistic religion and to enforce the people of his kingdom to convert to Christianity. The Belgians had influenced the king to increase taxs also. And if the people of Rwanda did not pay them, their land would be taken away from them. In 1945, Rwanda became part of the United Nations Trustworthy Territory. The leaders in this country were mainly Tutsis. This would make the Htuts' angry. Because the Tutsis were in control, the Hutus did not get thir ideas and thought heard. In 1957, Bahtutu Manifesto happened. Here the the Hutus challeged the Tutsi's powered and demanded to be part of the political party. Then the Rwandan National Union (Tutsi) and the Party for the Emancipation of the Hutu (Hutu) were the two political parties that were created.