Kingdoms and Empires in West, Central and South Africa
Senior 4 · History
Kingdoms and Empires in West, Central and South Africa
Lesson 3 of 5
25 min
The Kingdom of Rwanda had no written records before the colonial period. Its history was kept in oral traditions: royal genealogies, dynastic poems, accounts of reigns and the secret ritual code of the monarchy, ubwiru. Most of what is written about the kingdom today comes from two kinds of historian.
Weigh them. Kagame had unique access but also a position to defend; later research, by taking account of the hard labour contract uburetwa, largely disproved his picture of a harmonious society built on cattle clientship. Vansina had method and distance but depended on traditions collected by others. Even the founding of the kingdom is debated: the Rwandan historians Déogratias Byanafashe and Paul Rutayisire regard Ruganzu I Bwimba as the first king, while Vansina saw Ruganzu II Ndori, in the 17th century, as the true founder of the strong state.
The diagram shows the problem in miniature. Oral genealogies record the order of kings and the generations, not calendar years; converting them to dates requires assumptions about the length of a generation, so different historians reach different dates for the same reign.
Definition
Oral tradition: knowledge of the past passed on by word of mouth across generations, such as genealogies, poems and narratives. Chronology: the order and dating of events.
Mwami: the king of Rwanda. Umugabekazi: the queen mother, who shared in royal power. Abiru: the ritual specialists who kept ubwiru, the secret code of the monarchy. Clientship: a relationship in which a patron gives protection or the use of property (in Rwanda, cattle under ubuhake) in return for service.
In S1 you traced the kings and their conquests. At A-level, explain the factors:
| Factor | Evidence |
|---|---|
| A strong central monarchy and its ideology | The Mwami was held to be chosen by Imana, was head of army and government, and was surrounded by the rituals of ubwiru kept by the abiru |
| Military organisation | Armies raised from youth trained in the itorero; Kigeli IV Rwabugiri reformed the royal army with conscription and new permanent units |
| Expansion by conquest and absorption | Central Rwanda was absorbed into the expanding kingdom in the 16th century; outlying communities were brought under the court in the 17th century under Ruganzu II Ndori; under Rwabugiri, regarded as Rwanda's greatest king, the borders were rounded out in the late 19th century |
| A productive economy | Fertile, well-watered hills supported farming (sorghum, beans) and large herds of cattle, which were both wealth and the basis of clientship |
| Administration that reached the hills | Chiefs appointed by the court for land, for pastures and for the army, with hill chiefs below them, linked the centre to every region |
Power was centralised but not unlimited. The Mwami ruled with the queen mother; the abiru announced the heir chosen by the late king and led the royal rituals; the three kinds of chief in each region watched one another and all depended on the court for their posts. Clans (ubwoko) cut across the social groups: one clan included families of every social category. Hutu, Tutsi and Twa were social categories, linked above all to wealth and way of life, not races; a family's position could change, and all Rwandans shared one language, one religion and one culture.
| Criterion | Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu | Kingdom of Rwanda |
|---|---|---|
| Basis of wealth | Taxing long-distance trade across the Sahara (gold, salt, enslaved people) | Farming and cattle on fertile hills; regional trade, but no Saharan trade |
| Religion of the state | Islam at court (Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu) | Rwandan religion centred on Imana, with royal ritual |
| Evidence | Arabic writings by outsiders, archaeology, oral tradition | Oral tradition, later recorded; archaeology; outside reports only from the 1870s |
| Size | Very large, loosely held empires | A compact, densely governed kingdom |
When Rwabugiri died unexpectedly in late 1895, a succession crisis followed. In 1896 the Rucunshu coup, led by the queen mother Kanjogera and her Abega relatives, overthrew his heir Mibambwe IV Rutarindwa and placed her young son Yuhi V Musinga on the throne. Weakened by division and threatened by Congo Free State soldiers in the west, the court accepted German protection in 1897. Colonial rule then transformed the monarchy from within: the Belgians deposed Musinga in 1931, and the monarchy was abolished in 1961 (Unit 7).
Warning
Never use racial or "migration" myths as fact. Colonial writers invented theories that some Rwandans were a foreign race who had conquered the others. These theories had no scientific basis and were later used to divide Rwandans (Unit 8). Describe Hutu, Tutsi and Twa as social categories within one people, and name the genocide correctly: the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Tip
For any "factors for the rise" question, use LAMPE: Leadership, Administration, Military, Production (the economy) and Expansion or external relations. It works for Rwanda and for the empires in lessons 1, 2 and 4.
Important
Discuss. Kagame was an insider who defended the old order; Vansina was a foreign scholar. Whose account of the kingdom would you trust more, and for which questions? How can a historian check oral traditions against other evidence, such as archaeology or neighbouring kingdoms' traditions?
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the source analysis, the chronology diagram, the tables and the exercises. This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Why do sources give different reign dates for Kigeli IV Rwabugiri?
