The population of Rwanda is primarily made up of two ethnic groups, the Tutsi and the Hutu. Prior to colonization, Hutu peoples were typically farmers, while Tutsis were cattle herders. According to Jean-Marie Kamatali, Ubuhake, a social system in which the Hutus worked in the service of Tutsis in exchange for cattle, characterized relations between the two peoples. Ubahake, not unlike European feudalism, led to a class-dominated system instilling the Tutsis as a privileged minority and Hutus as the working class majority. Upon first entering the region, German colonizers rationalized subjugation of Rwanda’s large Hutu population under the flawed assumption that the Tutsi were more Caucasian and thus more fit to rule.
Belgian Rule
Allowing the existing Tutsi monarchs to exhibit control over the Hutus proved immediately effective, allowing for colonization without a large force of European troops. The Belgians further exploited the Tutsi-Hutu division, lending military and political support to Tutsi leaders who maintained the policies of their colonial rulers. According to the University of Pennsylvania’s African Studies Center, Belgium instituted political and economic reforms in the 1920s and 1930s in hopes of integrating native Rwandans into the political process. However, these policies only served to consolidate power among the Tutsi elite, who controlled much of the country’s resources and intuitions.
Now what happened later was def a conquest, they eventually covered the whole U.S, but that never happened here.
