Hutu
Encyclopedia
The Hutu ˈhuːtuː, or Abahutu, are a Central Africa
n people, living mainly in Rwanda
, Burundi
, and eastern DR Congo.
and Rwanda
; according to the United States
Central Intelligence Agency
, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians are Hutu, although other sources have found statistics that differ by several percent. The division between the Hutu and the Tutsi
(the larger of the other two groups) is based more upon social class than ethnicity, as there are no significant linguistic, physical, or cultural differences between them. (The Twa
pygmies
, the smallest of Rwanda and Burundi's three groups, also share language and culture with the Hutu and Tutsi, but are much shorter and are genetically distinct.)
's Great Lakes
region from what is now Chad
during the 11th century, displacing the Twa pygmies, and dominated the area with a series of small kingdoms until the arrival of the Tutsi. Several theories exist to explain the Tutsi and their differences (if any) from the Hutu. One is that the Tutsi were a "Hamitic
" people who migrated south from what is now Ethiopia
, conquering the Hutu kingdoms and establishing dominance over the Hutu and Twa between the 15th and 18th centuries. However, an alternate theory, that the Hutu and Tutsi were originally one people, but were artificially divided by German
and then Belgian
colonists so the Tutsi minority could serve as local overseers for Berlin
and Brussels
, has received support among those supporting Rwandan national unity, but may be an attempt at historical revisionism
. Still others suggest that the two groups are related but not identical, and that the differences between the two were exacerbated by Europeans or by a gradual, natural split as those who owned cattle became known as Tutsi and those who did not became Hutu. Mahmood Mamdani
states that the Belgian colonial power
designated people as Tutsi or Hutu on the basis of cattle ownership, physical measurements and church records.
survived until 1959, when Kigeli V was exiled from the colony (then called Ruanda-Urundi
). In Burundi, Tutsis, who are the minority, maintained control of the government and military. In Rwanda, the political power was transferred from the minority Tutsi to the majority Hutu.
In Burundi, a campaign of genocide was conducted against Hutu population in 1972, and an estimated 100,000 Hutus died. In 1993, Burundi's first democratically elected president and also a Hutu, Melchior Ndadaye
, was assassinated by Tutsi officers, as was the person constitutionally entitled to succeed him. This sparked a period of civil strife between Hutu political structures and the Tutsi military, in which an estimated 500,000 Burundians have died. There were indiscriminate mass killings first of Tutsis, then of Hutus; of these, the former have been described as genocide by the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi.
While Tutsi remained in control of Burundi
, the conflict resulted in genocide in Rwanda as well. A Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front
, started a civil war against Rwanda's Hutu government in 1990. A peace agreement was signed, but violence erupted again, culminating in the Rwandan Genocide
of 1994, when Hutu extremists killed an estimated 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis. About 30% of the Twa population of Rwanda also died in the fighting. At the same time, the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country and is still the ruling party as of 2011. Burundi is also currently governed by a former rebel group, the Hutu CNDD-FDD
.
As of 2006, violence between the Hutu and Tutsi has subsided, but the situation in both Rwanda and Burundi is still tense, and tens of thousands of Rwandans are still living outside the country (see Great Lakes refugee crisis
).
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
n people, living mainly in Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
, and eastern DR Congo.
Population statistics
The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in BurundiBurundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
and Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
; according to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians are Hutu, although other sources have found statistics that differ by several percent. The division between the Hutu and the Tutsi
Tutsi
The Tutsi , or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group in Central Africa. Historically they were often referred to as the Watussi or Watusi. They are the second largest caste in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu and the Twa ....
(the larger of the other two groups) is based more upon social class than ethnicity, as there are no significant linguistic, physical, or cultural differences between them. (The Twa
Great Lakes Twa
The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Abatwa or Ge-Sera, or in English Batwa, are a pygmy people who are generally assumed to be the oldest surviving population of the Great Lakes region of central Africa, though currently they live as a Bantu caste...
pygmies
Pygmy
Pygmy is a term used for various ethnic groups worldwide whose average height is unusually short; anthropologists define pygmy as any group whose adult men grow to less than 150 cm in average height. A member of a slightly taller group is termed "pygmoid." The best known pygmies are the Aka,...
, the smallest of Rwanda and Burundi's three groups, also share language and culture with the Hutu and Tutsi, but are much shorter and are genetically distinct.)
Competing theories about origins
It is commonly believed that the Hutu arrived in AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
's Great Lakes
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes are a series of lakes and the Rift Valley lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African Rift on the continent of Africa...
region from what is now Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
during the 11th century, displacing the Twa pygmies, and dominated the area with a series of small kingdoms until the arrival of the Tutsi. Several theories exist to explain the Tutsi and their differences (if any) from the Hutu. One is that the Tutsi were a "Hamitic
Hamitic
Hamitic is an historical term for the peoples supposedly descended from Noah's son Ham, paralleling Semitic and Japhetic.It was formerly used for grouping the non-Semitic Afroasiatic languages , but since, unlike the Semitic branch, these have not been shown to form a phylogenetic unity, the term...
" people who migrated south from what is now Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, conquering the Hutu kingdoms and establishing dominance over the Hutu and Twa between the 15th and 18th centuries. However, an alternate theory, that the Hutu and Tutsi were originally one people, but were artificially divided by German
German colonial empire
The German colonial empire was an overseas domain formed in the late 19th century as part of the German Empire. Short-lived colonial efforts by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but Imperial Germany's colonial efforts began in 1884...
and then Belgian
Belgian colonial empire
The Belgian colonial empire consisted of three colonies possessed by Belgium between 1901 and 1962: Belgian Congo , Rwanda and Burundi...
colonists so the Tutsi minority could serve as local overseers for Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, has received support among those supporting Rwandan national unity, but may be an attempt at historical revisionism
Historical revisionism (negationism)
Historical revisionism is either the legitimate scholastic re-examination of existing knowledge about a historical event, or the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favourable light. For the former, i.e. the academic pursuit, see...
. Still others suggest that the two groups are related but not identical, and that the differences between the two were exacerbated by Europeans or by a gradual, natural split as those who owned cattle became known as Tutsi and those who did not became Hutu. Mahmood Mamdani
Mahmood Mamdani
Mahmood Mamdani is an academic, author and political commentator. He is a Professor and Director of the at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, and the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University, New York. He grew up in Uganda and acquired his B.A from the University of...
states that the Belgian colonial power
Belgian colonial empire
The Belgian colonial empire consisted of three colonies possessed by Belgium between 1901 and 1962: Belgian Congo , Rwanda and Burundi...
designated people as Tutsi or Hutu on the basis of cattle ownership, physical measurements and church records.
Post-colonial history of the Hutu and Tutsi
The Belgian-sponsored Tutsi monarchyRwandan monarchy
The Kingdom of Banyarwanda was founded in the 15th century by a pastoral group, the Tutsi. It occupied approximately the territory controlled by the modern state of Rwanda. The kingdom became gradually subdued by European colonial interests starting in 1890...
survived until 1959, when Kigeli V was exiled from the colony (then called Ruanda-Urundi
Ruanda-Urundi
Ruanda-Urundi was a Belgian suzerainty from 1916 to 1924, a League of Nations Class B Mandate from 1924 to 1945 and then a United Nations trust territory until 1962, when it became the independent states of Rwanda and Burundi.- Overview :...
). In Burundi, Tutsis, who are the minority, maintained control of the government and military. In Rwanda, the political power was transferred from the minority Tutsi to the majority Hutu.
In Burundi, a campaign of genocide was conducted against Hutu population in 1972, and an estimated 100,000 Hutus died. In 1993, Burundi's first democratically elected president and also a Hutu, Melchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election...
, was assassinated by Tutsi officers, as was the person constitutionally entitled to succeed him. This sparked a period of civil strife between Hutu political structures and the Tutsi military, in which an estimated 500,000 Burundians have died. There were indiscriminate mass killings first of Tutsis, then of Hutus; of these, the former have been described as genocide by the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi.
While Tutsi remained in control of Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
, the conflict resulted in genocide in Rwanda as well. A Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front
Rwandan Patriotic Front
The Rwandan Patriotic Front abbreviated as RPF is the current ruling political party of Rwanda, led by President Paul Kagame. It governs in a coalition with other parties...
, started a civil war against Rwanda's Hutu government in 1990. A peace agreement was signed, but violence erupted again, culminating in the Rwandan Genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
of 1994, when Hutu extremists killed an estimated 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis. About 30% of the Twa population of Rwanda also died in the fighting. At the same time, the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country and is still the ruling party as of 2011. Burundi is also currently governed by a former rebel group, the Hutu CNDD-FDD
National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy
The National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy was the most significant rebel group active in the Burundi Civil War and became a major political party in Burundi...
.
As of 2006, violence between the Hutu and Tutsi has subsided, but the situation in both Rwanda and Burundi is still tense, and tens of thousands of Rwandans are still living outside the country (see Great Lakes refugee crisis
Great Lakes refugee crisis
The Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide...
).
See also
- Burundi Civil WarBurundi Civil WarThe Burundi Civil War was an armed conflict lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of long standing ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes in Burundi...
- Hamitic theory
- HistoryHistory of BurundiBurundi is one of the few countries in Africa, along with its closely linked neighbour Rwanda among others, to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state.-Kingdom of Burundi:...
and demographics of BurundiDemographics of BurundiThis article is about the demographic features of the population of Burundi, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.... - HistoryHistory of RwandaHuman occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the fifteenth century the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms...
and demographics of RwandaDemographics of RwandaThis article is about the demographic features of the population of Rwanda, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....