Musinga’s Coming of Age 1905-1913
Ahaje ubwanwa haba hanze ubwana. When Kabare won supreme influence at Court in late 1904, Musinga was a young man of twenty or twenty-one. He had already taken several wives and fathered two or three children. According to Rwandan practice,…
The Dilemma of Proselytization
During their first years in Rwanda, the Fathers asked a different kind of service from the people in their vicinity, one that previous authorities had never demanded. Anxious to win converts, the missionaries and their catechists visited the neighboring bills…
The Extension of Royal Power to the North
During the months when the Court was beginning its attacks on clients of the Europeans in central Rwanda, Fathers at the northern mission of Rwaza had been experiencing growing difficulties with their "Bakiga" neighbors (The people of these regions did…
The Catholic Church,the German Administration,and the Court Of Nyanza
Although the attention of the Court was focused mostly on its internal struggles, Kanjogera and her brothers carefully watched the installation of European soldiers in the southwestern corner of Rwanda. Since the border between the Congo Free State and German…
The Fall Of The Reign Of Rutarindwa
As Rwabugiri grew older, he became concerned with providing for an orderly succession that would guarantee the gains in power and territory he had made. Hoping to break the pattern of children being installed as bami, he ordered that his…
The Troubled Accession of Musinga
Near the end of February 1897, Musinga and Kanjogera were officially enthroned, the son taking the reign name of Yuhi V, the mother, Nyirayuhi. Those biru who had opposed the illegitimate transfer of power had already been eliminated by Kanjogera,…
The Rwandan State at Rwabugiri’s Death
The political system left by Rwabugiri was extraordinarily complex and flexible. In the most intensively governed areas of the kingdom, batware, banyabutaka, and banyamukenke shared authority, the first collecting ikoro taxes from men according to lineage, the others controlling the…
The Accession of Musinga
In late 1896, Yuhi Musinga acceded to power as king of Rwanda. Located just south of the equator in central Africa, on the highlands that mark the geographic backbone of the African continent, this was a region of remarkable ecological…
The Eruption Of Vilence
In the historical data we have noted the success with which the peripheral areas had withstood the attempted incursion of the traditional power structure of central Rwanda up to the time of colonial rule. We have also noted that with…
The Central Court: Myth Of Origin II
The Queen Mother Although the Mwami’s powers were absolute he shared his prerogatives with the queen mother. She ruled with the king, had her own court and her own personal clients on Ibikingi land. She had her own herds and…