2 QUESTIONS What can we learn from the myth presented in Source A about the views of the Tutsis and Hutus?
Rwanda 1990–98
SOURCE A There is a Rwandan dynastic myth which purports to explain the difference between Hutu, Tutsis and Hwa. It tells how the king of all the earth had three sons, Gatwa, Gahutu and Gatutsi. To test them he entrusted to each a churn of milk. Gatwa quenched his thirst, Gahutu spilt the milk but Gatutsi kept his intact so he was entrusted to command the others. Linda Melvern (2009), A People Betrayed, London: Zed Books, p. 11.
Theory of Knowledge History: perceptions and reality How useful is the study of myths in understanding the culture of a country? Why do myths about the origins of a people have such appeal? Fact: Slaves had been sold from Africa, particularly from the north and southeast to the Arabs during their period of conquest and this trade continued into the 19th century. It is estimated that between 650 CE and 1900, 18 million people were enslaved by Arab slave traders. The Atlantic slave trade involved European powers and saw slaves from West Africa taken to the Caribbean and the Americas to work on plantations and in mines in the south. This trade reached its height in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with slaves being exchanged for goods, particularly metal goods and guns. It is estimated that approximately 12 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic, but the death rate on the journey reduced this number by between 10 and 20 per cent.
The population had, by about 1700 developed into eight kingdoms, but it was the kingdom of Rwanda, ruled by the Tutsi Nyiginya clan, that became dominant in the mid-eighteenth century. The kingdom continued to expand through a process of both conquest and assimilation so that under King Kigeli IV, who ruled from 1853 to 1895, it reached its greatest extent, having expanded both west and north. However, he also introduced a number of administrative reforms that appear to have created further divisions between the Tutsi and Hutu people. There had been contacts with European powers, particularly among West African kingdoms through the slave trade, which was probably at its peak in the 18th century. However, most European contact was confined to the coastal areas and the fortified coastal posts that were established. Just beyond these were many powerful African kingdoms, not just in the west of the country, but in the east and central regions, which prevented the Europeans from penetrating further inland to tap the gold that was there. However, during the 19th century, the relationship changed and most of Africa came under European rule, and Rwanda would be no exception. Countries such as Britain and France, as well as Portugal – who had explored parts of Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries – were some of the earliest to establish empires on the continent, but as the century progressed this process sped up in what is known as the ‘Scramble for Africa’. The middle of the 19th century was a period of great exploration, with some explorers looking to spread Christianity, while others were geographers, naturalists or propagandists for expansion. Many of the explorers wrote of their travels and their activities became associated with the spread of European power, their works were often nationalistic and became concerned with stopping the spread of other powers. Moreover, European powers saw Africa as a place where they could trade goods and obtain raw materials, but there were also strategic considerations, as well as a growing belief that a ‘great power’ should have an empire to reflect its status. The new European countries of Germany and Italy were keen to show their power and influence, and wanted their ‘place in the sun’. This ultimately led to the Conference of Berlin in 1884, at which much of Africa was divided up and boundaries were drawn that often ignored cultures and ethnic groups. The European powers also brought in their own languages – and that legacy is still present today with some English- and French-speaking countries – as well as introducing their own religion, Christianity.
The long-term causes of ethnic tensions in Rwanda Unlike most of Africa, the future of Rwanda and the area around the Great Lakes was not settled at the Conference of Berlin, but was instead decided at the Brussels Conference of 1890. This conference gave both Rwanda and Burundi to Germany
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