The Changing Political Game
New Goals, New Rules, New Strategies During his long retreat and flight, Ndogosa had acted to avoid relinquishing sovereignty. For him, the question of sovereignty had been more important than preserving and extending his internal power by manipulating or negotiating…
The Changing of the Guard under Colonial Rule
The death of Rwabugiri, the Rwandan conqueror, led to the withdrawal of direct Rwandan power from Ijwi. But the reestablishment of the royal Sibula line in the southern part of Ijwi after the death of Rwabugiri did not signal a…
The Court, the Germans, and the Missionaries
Faced with further trouble with the Fathers in the next months, Musinga again made use of Kandt and von Grawert. When the Fathers wanted to cut timber in the forest of Budaha, north of Nyantango, Musinga replied that this was…
From The War Years To The Abolition Of Ubuhake(1940-1954)
In 1943, a severe famine devastated many areas of Rwanda. Food shortages were less severe in Kinyaga, but Bunyambiriri and other areas to the north and east of the region were hard hit. This famine, called Ruzagayura, is remembered by…
The Early Years Of Belgian Rule (1916-1940)
We haveseen that Rwidegembya sent his son Rwagataraka to Kinyaga to administer the Impara region in 1911, not long after the establishment of German civil administration in Rwanda. Initially, the young chief left the region south of the Mwaga River…
The Transformation Of Client Institutions
The colonial policies of Germany and Belgium altered the powers of chiefs and accelerated the growth of social stratification in Rwanda. At the same time the progressive incorporation of this state into the world economy-an integral part of the colonial…
Revival Of Kin-Group Status
Although lineages gradually lost their corporate and political functions, they continued to serve as an important medium for social identification and, to judge from later events, kinship linkages retained their organizational alternatives became available through socio-economic change, younger members of…
Lineages And Government Exactions
Theintroduction of land prestations to Kinyaga during the reign of Rwabugiri altered the hereditary rights which Kinyagan lineages had previously held over their land, as occupation became conditional upon compliance with a hill chief's demands. Subsequently, authority which formerly had…