The Republic of Rwanda (pronounced /ruːˈændə/ or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English, or in Kinyarwanda) is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approximately 10.1 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom engage in subsistence agriculture. A verdant country of fertile and hilly terrain, the small republic bears the title "Land of a Thousand Hills" (French: Pays des Mille Collines ; Kinyarwanda: Igihugu cy'Imisozi Igihumbi ).
The country has received considerable international attention due to its 1994 genocide, in which between 800,000 and one million people were killed. In 2008, Rwanda became the first country in history to elect a national legislature in which a majority of members were women. Three quarters of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
History
Main article: History of RwandaIt is not known when the territory of present day Rwanda was first inhabited, but it is thought that humans moved into the area following the last ice age either in the Neolithic period, around ten thousand years ago, or in the long humid period which followed, up to around 3000 BC. Considerable controversy surrounds the origins and the organization of Rwandan society before the arrival of Europeans, principally because Rwanda was colonized by turn-of-the-20th-century Germans, who simplified Rwanda by superimposing their racial concepts upon a society quite peculiar with its own internal inconsistencies. They speculated that certain segments of the population may have obtained white blood through hypothesized ancient migrations. These theories are often repeated today with an occasional reference to a colonial source, but without any support in actual physical evidence.
What is known is that in pre-colonial Rwanda, the entire population shared the Kinyarwanda language, and of course, language has always been the primary basis for the idea of the ethnic group. In some parts of Rwanda, people who raised cattle, or who found themselves called upon to fight in the King's forces in time of war, were known as "Tutsi". Farmers were sometimes known as "Hutu". Prior to the divide and rule tactics of the colonizers, there is no physical evidence of social discord in pre-colonial Rwanda.
A traditional local justice system called Gacaca predominated in much of the region as an institution for resolving conflict, rendering justice and reconciliation. The Tutsi king was the ultimate judge and arbiter for those cases that ever reached him. Despite the traditional nature of the system, harmony and cohesion had been established among Rwandans and within the kingdom.
Colonial era
After signing treaties with chiefs in the Tanganyika region in 1884-1885, Germany claimed Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi as its own territory. Count von Götzen met the Tutsi Mwami (king) for the first time in 1894. However, with only 2,500 soldiers in East Africa, Germany did little to change societal structures in much of the region, especially in Rwanda. After the Mwami's death in 1895, a period of unrest followed. Germans and missionaries then began to enter the country from Tanganyika in 1897-98.
By 1899 the Germans exerted some influence by placing advisors at the courts of local chiefs. Much of the Germans' time was spent fighting uprisings in Tanganyika, especially the Maji Maji war of 1905-1907. On May 14, 1910 the European Convention of Brussels fixed the borders of Uganda, Congo, and German East Africa which included Tanganyika and Ruanda-Urundi. In 1911, the Germans helped the Tutsi put down a rebellion of Hutus in the northern part of Rwanda who did not wish to submit to central Tutsi control.
In 1916, during World War I, Belgian forces advanced from the Congo into Germany's East African colonies. After Germany lost the War, Belgium accepted the League of Nations Mandate of 1923 to govern Ruanda-Urundi along with the Congo, while Great Britain accepted Tanganyika and other German colonies. After World War II Ruanda-Urundi became a United Nations (UN) "trust territory" administered by Belgium. The Belgian involvement in the region was far more direct than German involvement and extended its interests into education and agricultural supervision. The latter was especially important in the face of two droughts and subsequent famines in 1928-29 and in 1943. These famines forced large migrations of Rwandans to neighboring Congo. In 1933 ethnic identification cards were used to classify one's ethnicity.
The Belgian colonizers also accepted the existing class system, featuring a minority Tutsi upper class and lower classes of Hutus and Tutsi commoners. However, in 1926 the Belgians abolished the local posts of "land-chief", "cattle-chief" and "military chief," and in doing so they stripped the Hutu of their limited local power over land. In the 1920s, under military threat, the Belgians finally helped to bring the northwest Hutu kingdoms, who had maintained local control of land not subject to the Mwami, under the Tutsi royalty's central control. These two actions disenfranchised the Hutu. Large, centralized land holdings were then divided into smaller chiefdoms.
The fragmenting of Hutu lands angered Mwami Yuhi IV, who had hoped to further centralize his power enough to rid himself of the Belgians. In 1931 Tutsi plots against the Belgian administration resulted in the Belgians deposing the Tutsi Mwami Yuhi. This caused the Tutsis to take up arms against the Belgians, but because of their fear of the Belgians' military superiority, they did not openly revolt.
The Roman Catholic Church and Belgian colonial authorities considered the Hutus and Tutsis different ethnic races based on their physical differences and patterns of migration. However, because of the existence of many wealthy Hutu who shared the financial (if not physical) stature of the Tutsi, the Belgians used an expedient method of classification based on the number of cattle a person owned. Anyone with ten or more cattle was considered a member of the aristocratic Tutsi class. From 1935 on, "Tutsi", "Hutu" and "Twa" were indicated on identity cards.
The Roman Catholic Church, the primary educators in the country, subscribed to and reinforced the differences between Hutu and Tutsi. They developed separate educational systems for each. In the 1940s and 1950s the vast majority of students were Tutsi. In 1943, Mwami Mutari III became the first Tutsi monarch to convert to Catholicism.The Belgian colonialists continued to depend on the Tutsi aristocracy to collect taxes and enforce Belgian policies. It maintained the dominance of the Tutsi in local colonial administration and expanded the Tutsi system of labor for colonial purposes. The United Nations later decried this policy and demanded a greater self-representation of the Hutu in local affairs. In 1954 the Tutsi monarchy of Ruanda-Urundi demanded independence from Belgian rule. At the same time it agreed to abolish the system of indentured servitude ( ubuhake and uburetwa ) the Tutsis had practiced over the Hutu until then.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, a wave of Pan-Africanism swept through Central Africa, with leaders such as Julius Nyerere in Tanzania and Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. Anti-colonial sentiment stirred throughout central Africa, and a socialist platform of African unity and equality for all Africans was forwarded. Nyerere himself wrote about the elitism of educational systems, which Hutus interpreted as an indictment of the elitist educations provided for Tutsis in their own country.
Encouraged by the Pan-Africanists, Hutu advocates in the Catholic Church, and by Christian Belgians (who were increasingly influential in the Congo), Hutu sentiment against the aristocratic Tutsi was increasingly inflamed. The United Nations mandates, the Tutsi overlord class, and the Belgian colonialists themselves added to the growing unrest. The Hutu "emancipation" movement was soon spearheaded by Gregoire Kayibanda, founder of PARMEHUTU, who wrote his "Hutu Manifesto" in 1957. The group quickly became militarized. In reaction, in 1959 the UNAR party was formed by Tutsis who desired an immediate independence for Ruanda-Urundi, to be based on the existing Tutsi monarchy. This group also became quickly militarized. Skirmishes began between UNAR and PARMEHUTU groups. Then in July 1959, the Tutsi Mwami (King) Mutara III Charles was believed by Rwandan Tutsis to have been assassinated when he died following a routine vaccination by a Flemish physician in Bujumbura. His younger half-brother then became the next Tutsi monarch, Mwami (King) Kigeli V.
In November 1959, Tutsi forces beat up a Hutu politician, Dominique Mbonyumutwa, and rumors of his death set off a violent backlash against the Tutsi known as "the wind of destruction." Thousands of Tutsis were killed and many thousands more, including the Mwami, fled to neighboring Uganda before Belgian commandos arrived to quell the violence. Several Belgians were subsequently accused by Tutsi leaders of abetting the Hutus in the violence. Tutsi refugees also fled to the South Kivu province of the Congo, where they called themselves Banyamalenge . They eventually became a prima
Bear Paper Bag Puppet Pattern | Pc Games Full Version Freeware, Phim ...
Beginning at last to understand that the shadow of rhyming pictures play free war games on pc paper bag lamb puppet rap feed data jquery realistic car driving test games pattern.
Puppets
Make Paper Bag Puppets Several animal bag puppet ideas at this site. (no patterns) Paper Bag ... Super Simple People Puppet Pattern This free pattern is from ...
Kids' Craft: Halloween - Paper Bag Pirate Puppet - Halloween ...
Free Crafts Email: Free Crafts Email ... It’s time to make some cute paper bag pirates and create your very own puppet show. ... across the front and back of the bag. Use pattern to ...
Paper Bag Puppets
Make paper bag puppets with this simple worm pattern. Paper Bag Puppet: Animals- Penguin ... Free Newsletter Only:
Free Puppet Patterns
Many free puppet patterns including sock puppets and paper bag puppets.
Kid's Paper-Bag Animal Puppets
Use our free instructions and patterns to create a fun lion, elephant, or bear puppet with paper lunch bags and your scrapbooking supplies.
Paper Bag Puppets
Rainbow® Paper Bag Puppets . Make those cloudy days fly away ... If you have trouble viewing Puppet Pattern.pdf download the latest version of Adobe Reader for free by clicking the Get ...
Paper Bag Puppets Crafts for Preschool and Kindergarten
Free printable paper pag puppet crafts for preschool and kindergarten. ... Paper Bag Puppets for Preschool and Kindergarten ... The craft patterns are available in color or ...
Cow Craft | Paper Bag Puppet | Bull | Ox | Preschool Lesson Plan ...
Cow Craft | Paper Bag Puppet | Bull | Ox ... color head pattern * color body pattern * black and ... 30 free books Search/ Site Map Home | | Links ...
Free Paper Bag Puppet Project
Free Paper Bag Puppet Pattern - Make a puppet out of a paper bag. Use paint, yarn, fabric and other household items to make a puppet. Fun and easy child's craft project.