Tutsis
The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic group Hutu and the Pygmy group of the Twa). Historically, the Tutsi were pastoralists and filled the ranks of the warriors' caste. Before 1962, they regulated and controlled Rwandan society, which was composed of Tutsi aristocracy and Hutu commoners, utilizing a clientship structure. They occupied the dominant positions in the sharply stratified society and constituted the ruling class. Origins and classification The historian Christopher Ehret believes that the Tutsi mainly descend from speakers of an extinct branch of South Cushitic he calls "Tale south Cushitic." The Tale southern cushites entered the Great Lakes region sometime before 800BC and were pastoralists par excellence, relying only on their ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hutu
The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great Lakes Twa. Demographics The Hutu is the largest of the three main population divisions in Burundi and Rwanda. Prior to 2017, the CIA World Factbook stated that 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians are Hutu, with Tutsis being the second largest ethnic group at 15% and 14% of residents of Rwanda and Burundi, respectively. However, these figures were omitted in 2017 and no new figures have been published since then. The Twa pygmies, the smallest of the two countries' principal populations, share language and culture with the Hutu and Tutsi. They are distinguished by a considerably shorter stature. Etymology The idea that Hutu is etymologically derived from a word that signifies slave was advanced by Ernest Viaene (1910, p.1047) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hima People
The Hima or Huma are a pastoralist social class that is native to the grasslands of Western Uganda and Karagwe, Tanzania. Etymology Birgitta Farelius claims that the term "Hima" probably derives from the Bantu word for monkey ( enkíma), which is a totem animal of some clans originating from Karagwe and Ankole. The name "Bahuma" comes from the verb "okuhuma", which means the "cacophony of sound made by a herd of cattle on the move, lowing, thudding of hooves, and cries of herdsmen". Genetics According to data from 1969, the Hima and Tutsi groups possessed the enzyme of milk sugar lactose tolerance, which is highly prevalent in European populations, but the other Bantu-speaking tribes were largely lactose deficient, similar results and conclusions were reached by the geneticist Sarah A. Tishkoff in 2007. Excoffier ''et al.'' (1987) claimed that the Hima and Tutsi, despite being surrounded by other Bantu speakers, are "closer genetically to Cushites and Ethiosemites". Phys ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Burundi
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million people. It is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwestern border. The political capital city is Gitega and the economic capital city is Bujumbura. The Great Lakes Twa, Twa, Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. For more than 200 of those years, Burundi was an independent Kingdom of Burundi, kingdom. In 1885, it became part of the German colony of German East Africa. After the First World War and German Revolution of 1918–19, Germany's defeat, the League of Nations mandated the territories of Burundi and neighboring Rwanda to Belgium in a combined territory called Rwanda-Urundi. After the Se ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With a comparatively high elevation, Rwanda has been given the sobriquet "land of a thousand hills" (), with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the southeast, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. It is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the third-most densely populated country in the world. Its Capital city, capital and largest city is Kigali. Hunter-gatherers settled the territory in the Stone Age, Stone and Iron Ages, followed later by Bantu peoples. The population coalesce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose coming as the Messiah#Christianity, messiah (Christ (title), Christ) was Old Testament messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament, prophesied in the Old Testament and chronicled in the New Testament. It is the Major religious groups, world's largest and most widespread religion with over 2.3 billion followers, comprising around 28.8% of the world population. Its adherents, known as Christians, are estimated to make up a majority of the population in Christianity by country, 157 countries and territories. Christianity remains Christian culture, culturally diverse in its Western Christianity, Western and Eastern Christianity, Eastern branches, and doctrinally diverse concerning Justification (theology), justification and the natur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nilo-Saharan
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of around 210 African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. The languages extend through 17 nations in the northern half of Africa: from Algeria to Benin in the west; from Libya to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the centre; and from Egypt to Tanzania in the east. As indicated by its hyphenated name, Nilo-Saharan is a family of the African interior, including the greater Nile Basin and the Central Sahara Desert. Eight of its proposed constituent divisions (excluding Kunama, Kuliak, and Songhay) are found in the modern countries of Sudan and South Sudan, through which the Nile River flows. In his book '' The Languages of Africa'' (1963), Joseph Greenberg named the group and argued it was a genetic family. It contained all the languages that were not included in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ruzizi River
The Ruzizi (also sometimes spelled Rusizi, French language, French: ''Rivière Ruzizi''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Ruzizi Rivier'') is a river, long, that flows from Lake Kivu to Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, descending from about to about above sea level over its length. The steepest gradients occur over the first , where Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric dams have been built. Further downstream, the Ruzizi Plain, the floor of the Albertine Rift, Western Rift Valley, has gentle hills, and the river flows into Lake Tanganyika through a River delta, delta, with one or two small channels splitting off from the main channel. The Ruzizi is a young river, formed about 10,000 years ago when volcanism associated with continental rifting created the Virunga Mountains. The mountains blocked Lake Kivu's former outlet to the drainage basin of the Nile and instead forced the lake overflow south down the Ruzizi and the drainage basin of the Congo River, Congo. Course Along its upstream ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Southern Eastern Sudanic Languages
The Southern Eastern Sudanic, Eastern ''n'' Sudanic, En Sudanic or Kir-Abbaian languages form one of two primary divisions of the Eastern Sudanic languages in the classification of Bender (2000). It is rejected as an established group in Starostin (2015). The Southern Eastern Sudanic languages are characterized by having an /n/ in the pronoun "I/me", as opposed to the Northern Eastern Sudanic languages, which have a /k/. The best known Southern Eastern Sudanic language group, as well as the largest, is Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are peoples Indigenous people of Africa, indigenous to South Sudan and the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan and the Gambela Region of Ethiopia, while also being a large minority in Kenya, Uga ..., which includes such languages as Maasai. Southern Eastern Sudanic roots Bender (1996) offers fifteen possible ''En'' Sudanic innovations. References * Eastern Sudanic languages Southern Eastern Sudanic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nilotic Languages
The Nilotic languages are a group of related languages spoken across a wide area between South Sudan and Tanzania by the Nilotic peoples. Etymology The word Nilotic means of or relating to the Nile river, Nile River or to the Nile region of Africa. Demographics Nilotic peoples, who are the native speakers of the languages, originally migrated from the Gezira (state), Gezira area in Sudan. Nilotic language speakers live in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Subdivisions According to linguist Joseph Greenberg, the language family is divided up into three subgroups: *Eastern Nilotic languages such as Turkana language, Turkana and Maasai language, Maasai *Southern Nilotic languages such as Kalenjin languages, Kalenjin and Datooga language, Datooga *Western Nilotic languages such as Luo languages, Luo, Nuer languages, Nuer and Dinka language, Dinka Before Joseph Greenberg, Greenberg's reclassification, Nil ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Surmic Languages
The Surmic languages are a branch of the Eastern Sudanic language family. Today, the various peoples who speak Surmic languages make their living in a variety of ways, including nomadic herders, settled farmers, and slash and burn farmers. They live in a variety of terrain, from the lowlands of South Sudan and the banks of the Omo River to mountains over 2,300 meters. Languages According to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Surmic languages are classified as follows: * Surmic ** Majang ** South Surmic *** Southeast Surmic **** Kwegu **** Pastoral Surmic ***** Me'en ***** Tirma–Chai–Mursi ****** Mursi ****** Tirma–Chai *** Southwest Surmic **** Baale–Olam ***** Kacipo–Balesi ***** Ngaalam **** Didinga–Murle ***** Didinga–Longarim ****** Didinga ****** Narim ***** Murle ***** Tennet The Surmic languages are found in southwest Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocke ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Western Lakes Bantu Languages
The Western Lakes Bantu languages form a subgroup of the Great Lakes Bantu languages spoken in Rwanda, Burundi the DRC, Uganda and Tanzania. Classification The Western Lakes Bantu languages are classified within the Glottolog database as follows: * Kabwari *Kivu **Forest Kivu ***Fuliiric ****Fuliiru-Vira ***** Fuliiru ***** Vira (also called Joba) **** Nyindu ****Nyindu ***Hunde-Havu **** Havu **** Hunde *** Shi *** Tembo **West Highlands Kivu ***Kinyarwanda ***Rundic **** Ha ****Hangaza-Shubi *****Hangaza ***** Shubi ****Kirundi *** Kitwa *** Vinza *Rwenzori **Konzo ** Nande History Proto-Western Lakes Bantu was developed in 400 AD by those who remained in the original Proto-Great Lakes Bantu homeland, which was in and on the hillsides of the Kivu Rift Valley. Similar to the Okiek people in Kenya, the Great Lakes Twa The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Batwa (singular Mutwa), Abatwa or Ge-Sera, are a Bantu speaking group native to the African Great Lakes region on the bord ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |