Origin and Expansion of Rwanda Kingdom
Senior 1 · History and Citizenship
Origin and Expansion of Rwanda Kingdom
Lesson 4 of 4
25 min
This photograph of Yuhi V Musinga was taken in the 1910s, when Rwanda was under colonial rule. Musinga became king as a boy in 1896 and reigned until 1931. Look carefully at his clothing and his expression before you read on.
Worked example: what can this photograph tell us?
Definition
Decline: a gradual loss of power, wealth or independence. Example: the decline of the Rwanda Kingdom after 1895, when the mwami's power passed step by step to colonial rulers.
Definition
Coup: the sudden, often violent, overthrow of a ruler by a group within the state. Example: the Rucunshu coup of December 1896.
Definition
Colonialism: the rule of one country by another, foreign power, which takes control of its government, land and resources. Rwanda was ruled by Germany (1897 to 1916) and by Belgium (1916 to 1962).
Definition
Mandate: a territory placed by the League of Nations, after the First World War, under the rule of another country until it could govern itself. Example: Ruanda-Urundi, a Belgian mandate from 1922.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1894 | Gustav Adolf von Götzen, a German, is the first European to reach the royal court. |
| 1895 | Kigeli IV Rwabugiri dies; his chosen son Mibambwe IV Rutarindwa becomes king. |
| July 1896 | At Shangi, near Lake Kivu, the royal army attacks a Congo Free State post and is defeated by rifles. |
| December 1896 | Rucunshu coup: Rutarindwa is overthrown and dies; the boy Musinga is made king (Yuhi V). |
| 1897 | The court accepts German "protection": the start of colonial rule. |
| 1900 | The first Catholic mission opens at Save. |
| 1907 to 1908 | The German Resident, Richard Kandt, sets up his administration at Kigali. |
| 1916 | Belgian troops occupy Rwanda during the First World War. |
| 1922 | The League of Nations makes Ruanda-Urundi a Belgian mandate. |
| 1926 to 1931 | Belgian reforms merge chiefships and replace many chiefs. |
| 12 November 1931 | The Belgians depose Musinga and install his son, Mutara III Rudahigwa. |
| 1954 | Rudahigwa abolishes ubuhake, the cattle clientship contract. |
| 25 July 1959 | Rudahigwa dies suddenly in Bujumbura; Kigeli V Ndahindurwa succeeds him. |
| November 1959 | Violence breaks out against Tutsi across the country; many are killed and tens of thousands flee into exile. |
| 28 January 1961 | At Gitarama, politicians backed by the Belgian administration proclaim a republic and the end of the monarchy. |
| September 1961 | A referendum supervised by the United Nations confirms the end of the monarchy. |
| 1 July 1962 | Rwanda becomes independent. |
| Factor | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Succession crisis (internal) | Rwabugiri's death was followed by a struggle for power. In the Rucunshu coup, the faction of the queen mother Kanjogera and her brother Kabare, of the Abega clan, overthrew Rutarindwa. Rivalries at court weakened the monarchy for years. |
| Revolts in the regions (internal) | Several regions conquered by Rwabugiri broke away after his death, and a large revolt led by Ndungutse broke out in the north in 1912. |
| Military weakness (external) | Spears and bows could not defeat rifles, as the defeat at Shangi in 1896 showed. The court chose to accept German protection rather than fight. |
| Colonial rule (external) | The Germans and then the Belgians took the real power. The court needed their support against its enemies, but paid for it with its independence. |
| Colonial reforms (external) | From 1926 the Belgians reorganised the chiefships, chose chiefs themselves and in 1931 deposed the king, showing that the mwami now ruled only with their permission. |
| Christian missions (external) | Missionaries and mission schools spread new beliefs and weakened the religious and ritual basis of the kingship, including ubwiru. |
| Division of society (external and internal) | In the 1930s the Belgian administration issued identity cards recording an "ethnic" category for every person. This fixed divisions that had been more flexible and set Rwandans against one another in the 1950s. |
| Death of Rudahigwa and political violence (1959 to 1961) | The sudden death of the king, the violence of November 1959 and Belgian support for parties opposed to the monarchy led to its abolition in 1961. |
Tip
Exam hook: sort decline factors into internal (inside the kingdom) and external (from outside). A strong answer then says which mattered more, and why: for example, "internal crises made the kingdom weak, but it was colonial rule that took away its power".
Before he died, Rwabugiri had named his son Rutarindwa as heir and co-ruler. Custom required a queen mother to rule beside the new king. Rutarindwa's own mother could not fill that role, so Rwabugiri appointed another of his wives, Kanjogera, of the powerful Abega clan. She had a son of her own, the young Musinga.
After the defeat at Shangi in July 1896, Rutarindwa lost prestige and some of his best commanders. In December 1896 Kanjogera's brother Kabare led an attack on the king's residence at Rucunshu. Rutarindwa and many of his followers died; tradition says the king set fire to his house rather than surrender. Musinga was proclaimed king, but real power lay with Kanjogera and Kabare.
The new rulers faced enemies at home. When a German officer, Hans von Ramsay, reached the court in March 1897 and offered protection, they accepted it. The coup therefore helped to open the door to colonial rule.
Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy: "Kings' Palace Museum (Ingoro y'Abami mu Rukari)", Nyanza. A short aerial tour of the museum at Nyanza: notice the layout of the royal compound, with its fences and courtyards around the thatched residence.
Class debate: "The Rwanda Kingdom was destroyed from outside, not from inside." Use at least two internal and two external factors from the table. Then decide: could the kingdom have kept its independence in the 1890s? Why or why not?
Practice
Further reading for this unit
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
