Traditional Rwanda
Primary 4 · Social and Religious Studies
Traditional Rwanda
Lesson 1 of 5
13 min
Mugisha's class visits the King's Palace Museum in Nyanza. They step inside a huge round house made of wood, reeds and grass. "This is how a king's house was built long ago," says the guide. "Who can tell me how Rwandans lived before the Europeans came?" Everyone goes quiet. Let's find out.
A colony is a country ruled by another, foreign country. The colonial period is the time when Rwanda was ruled by Europeans. Pre-colonial means "before the colonial period" (pre means before). So pre-colonial Rwanda is Rwanda before it was ruled by Europeans.
Long ago, a small kingdom grew up around the hill of Gasabo, near Lake Muhazi, not far from today's Kigali. Over hundreds of years, its kings joined many smaller kingdoms to it, and Rwanda grew bigger and stronger. Its history was not written in books. It was passed down by word of mouth, in stories, poems and songs.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| Hundreds of years ago | A small kingdom grows around Gasabo, near Lake Muhazi |
| 1800s | King Kigeli IV Rwabugiri, a famous king, makes the kingdom much bigger. He died in 1895. |
| 1894 | The first Europeans arrive in Rwanda |
| 1897 | Germany begins to rule: the colonial period starts |
| Later | Belgium takes over from Germany |
| 1 July 1962 | Rwanda becomes independent |
In pre-colonial Rwanda, the people, called Banyarwanda, shared a great deal:
Families lived in round houses with grass roofs, inside a fenced homestead called urugo. People farmed, kept cows and made the tools and things they needed by hand.
Tip
PRE = BEFORE. A pre-school comes before primary school; pre-colonial Rwanda came before colonial rule.
Remember: one language, one king, one culture, one people.
Answer: Rwanda before it was ruled by Europeans.
Answer: Gasabo, near Lake Muhazi.
Answer: Germany.
Answer: By word of mouth, in stories, poems and songs.
Answer: Any three: one language (Kinyarwanda); one king; one culture; belief in Imana; the same clans.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
Only a few names and dates are taken from the Wikipedia article. The rest of the lesson, including the practice questions, is written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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