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{{Short description|Ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region}}
{{About|the ethnic group|other uses|Watusi (disambiguation){{!}}Watusi}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Copy edit|date=March 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2025}}
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{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Tutsi <br><small> Abatutsi</small>
| pop              = 
| region1          = {{flagcountry|Burundi}}
| pop1             = 1.7 million (14% of the total population)
| ref1             = 
| region2          = {{flagcountry|Rwanda}}
| pop2             = 1–2 million (9%–15% of the total population)
| ref2             = <ref>After the Rwandan genocide there was no more ethnic census; an estimated 9 to 15 percent of the population is Tutsi</ref>
| ref3             = 
| region4          = {{flagcountry|Belgium}}
| pop4             = 
| ref4             = 
| region5          = {{flagcountry|France}}
| pop5             = 
| ref5             = 
| region6          = 
| popplace         = 
| rels             = [[Christianity]] (80%), [[Islam]] (5%)
| langs = [[Kinyarwanda]],<!-- Note: Tutsi speak and learn English, French and Swahili as second languages for historical reasons in formal education rather than speak them as native languages which this section is supposed to emphasize --> [[Kirundi]]
| related = Other [[Rwanda-Rundi]] peoples and [[Hima people]]
| native_name_lang = 
}}
The '''Tutsi''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|ʊ|t|s|i}} {{respell|TUUT|see}}<ref>{{OED|Tutsi}}</ref>), also called '''Watusi''', '''Watutsi''' or '''Abatutsi''' ({{IPA|kin|ɑ.βɑ.tuː.t͡si|link=yes}}), are an [[ethnic group]] of the [[African Great Lakes]] region.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Tutsi | editor-last= Pauls | editor-first= Elizabeth Prine | display-editors= etal|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tutsi|access-date=2023-02-07|encyclopedia= Britannica | date= 2007|language=en}}</ref> They are a [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]-speaking<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Rwanda {{!}} Language & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rwanda-language|access-date=2021-01-15|encyclopedia =Britannica|date=2019}}</ref> ethnic group and the second largest of three main  ethnic groups in [[Rwanda]] and [[Burundi]] (the other two being the largest [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] ethnic group [[Hutu]] and the [[African Pygmies|Pygmy]] group of the [[Twa]]).<ref name="brenneman">{{cite book |last=Brenneman |first= Richard |year=1969 |title= Rwanda, a Country Study |edition= |location=United States|lccn=2007492448|publisher=US Government |isbn=|id=9910001051459703686|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/rwanda-a-country-study/oclc/22675245&id=72-606089 |page=46 |oclc= 22675245 }}</ref>

Historically, the Tutsi were [[Pastoralism|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.<ref name="brenneman"/>

==Origins and classification==
The historian [[Christopher Ehret]] believes that the Tutsi mainly descend from speakers of an extinct branch of [[South Cushitic languages|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 livestock and conceivably growing no grains themselves; they did not even practice the hunting of wild animals, and the consumption of fish was taboo, and heavily avoided. The Tale Southern Cushitic way of life shows striking similarities to the Tutsi, who heavily rely on the milk, blood, and meat of their cattle and traditionally shun the cultivation and consumption of grains, and who look down on pottery, hunting and avoid eating fish. A number of words related to pastoralism in the [[Rwanda-Rundi]] languages are [[wikt:Category:Rwanda-Rundi terms derived from South Cushitic languages|Tale Southern Cushitic loanwords]], such as "Bull" "cow dung" and "lion" (a livestock predator).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1i-IBmCeNhUC|title=An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400|pages=62, 86, 181-183|isbn=978-0-8139-2057-3 |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |date=1998 |publisher=University Press of Virginia }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xysSAQAAIAAJ|title=Ethiopians and East Africans: The Problem of Contacts|page=11 |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |date=1974 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/183030|jstor = 183030|title = We Are What We Eat: Ancient Agriculture between the Great Lakes|last1 = Schoenbrun|first1 = David L.|journal = The Journal of African History|year = 1993|volume = 34|issue = 1|pages = 1–31|doi = 10.1017/S0021853700032989| s2cid=162660041 |url-access = subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xysSAQAAIAAJ|title=Ethiopians and East Africans: The Problem of Contacts|date=1974 |page=31|publisher=East African Publishing House }}</ref>

{{blockquote|This late continuation of Southern Cushites as important pastoralists in the southern half of the lacustrine region raises the intriguing possibility that the latter-day Tutsi and [[Hima people|Hima]] pastoralism, most significant in the southern half of the region, is rooted in the Southern Cushitic culture and so derived from the east rather than the north.|[[Christopher Ehret]]|title=UNESCO General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|source=<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwV2a-lPB70C|title= UNESCO General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|date= 10 May 1998|page=503|publisher= University of California Press|isbn= 978-0-520-06699-1}}</ref>}}

The Tutsi also get a significant amount of their ancestry from the [[Eastern Sudanic|Sog Eastern Sahelians]] (a long-extinct [[Nilo-Saharan]] group). The Sog were agro-pastoralists who entered [[Rwanda]] and [[Burundi]] in 2,000 BC, mostly settling in southern Rwanda and to the east and west of the [[Ruzizi River]]. According to [[Christopher Ehret]] They spoke a [[Southern  Eastern Sudanic languages|Kir-Abbaian language]] which was related to [[Nilotic languages|Nilotic]] and [[Surmic languages]] (but still distinct from them). The [[Western Lakes Bantu languages]] spoken by the Tutsi have many [[wikt:Category:Rwanda-Rundi terms derived from Eastern Sudanic languages|Sog Eastern Sahelian loanwords]], such as the word for cow (inka), which originally meant "Cattle camp" in the Sog language, showing their contribution to Tutsi pastoralism.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1i-IBmCeNhUC|title=An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400|pages=81-85, 101, 306|isbn=978-0-8139-2057-3 |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |date=1998 |publisher=University Press of Virginia }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/183030|jstor = 183030|title = We Are What We Eat: Ancient Agriculture between the Great Lakes|last1 = Schoenbrun|first1 = David L.|journal = The Journal of African History|year = 1993|volume = 34|issue = 1|pages = 13-15, 30-31|doi = 10.1017/S0021853700032989| s2cid=162660041 |url-access = subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmdTAAAAYAAJ|title=Origins of Kingship Traditions and Symbolism in the Great Lakes Region of Africa|page=351|isbn=978-91-554-7295-5 |last1=Farelius |first1=Birgitta |date=2008 |publisher=Uppsala universitet }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHf8DwAAQBAJ|title=Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994|date=13 September 2020 |page=63-65|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-18448-8 }}</ref>

[[Central Sudanic|Central Sudanic peoples]] likely form another part of the ancestry of the Tutsi. Central Sudanic farmers and herders entered Rwanda and Burundi in 3,000 BC, and some of their cultural practices have stayed on after their assimilation by the Bantu. For example, in [[Central Sudanic]]-speaking societies, women are kept away from cattle. Among the Tutsi (and the neighboring [[Hima people]] to the north), women are strictly forbidden to milk cows (especially menstruating women).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmdTAAAAYAAJ|title=Origins of Kingship Traditions and Symbolism in the Great Lakes Region of Africa|page=67-68, 116, 351|isbn=978-91-554-7295-5 |last1=Farelius |first1=Birgitta |date=2008 |publisher=Uppsala universitet }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/179560|title=Sheep and Central Sudanic Peoples in Southern Africa|page=220|jstor=179560 |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |journal=The Journal of African History |date=1968 |volume=9 |issue=2 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700008835 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLPx8f5zZd4C|title=Tribal Crafts of Uganda|date=1953 |page=15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1i-IBmCeNhUC|title=An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400|page=8, 96|isbn=978-0-8139-2057-3 |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |date=1998 |publisher=University Press of Virginia }}</ref>

The definition of "Tutsi" has changed through time and location. Social structures were not stable throughout Rwanda, even during [[Colony|colonial]] times under the [[Ruanda-Urundi|Belgian rule]]. Generally, the Tutsi elite or aristocracy was distinguished from Tutsi commoners.

When the Belgian colonial administration conducted censuses, it identified the people throughout Rwanda-Burundi according to a simple classification scheme. The “Tutsi" were defined as anyone owning more than ten cows (a sign of wealth) or with the physical features of a longer thin nose, [[high cheekbones]], and being over six feet tall, all of which are common descriptions associated with the Tutsi.

In the colonial era, the Tutsi were hypothesized to have arrived in the [[African Great Lakes|Great Lakes]] region from the [[Horn of Africa]], in accordance with the [[Hamitic hypothesis]].<ref>International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, Africa, Volume 76, (Oxford University Press., 2006), pg 135.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Shooting Star of the Continent|date=10 June 2010| author1= Josh Kron |work=Haaretz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/2010-06-10/ty-article/shooting-star-of-the-continent/0000017f-e0e7-d568-ad7f-f3ef944b0000|access-date=2023-02-07}}</ref>

Tutsi were considered by some to be of [[Cushitic-speaking peoples|Cushitic]] origin, although they do not speak a [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic language]], and have lived in the areas where they presently inhabit for at least 400 years, leading to considerable intermarriage with the Hutu in the area. Due to the history of intermingling and intermarrying of Hutu and Tutsi, some ethnographers and historians are of the view that Hutu and Tutsi cannot be called distinct ethnic groups.<ref>[[Philip Gourevitch]], {{cite book |title=We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families |title-link=We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families |year=1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.preventgenocide.org/edu/pastgenocides/rwanda/indangamuntu.htm|title='Indangamuntu 1994: Ten years ago in Rwanda this ID Card cost a woman her life' by Jim Fussell|website=www.preventgenocide.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gourevitch |first=Philip |date=1995-12-10 |title=From 1995: Rwanda, After the Genocide |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/12/18/after-the-genocide |access-date=2025-05-14 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>[[File:HE Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda (14985842184).jpg|thumb|[[Paul Kagame]], the President of Rwanda]]
[[File:Ange Kagame 2014.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Ange Kagame]], daughter of [[Paul Kagame]]]]

==Genetics==
{{See also|Origins of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa}}
===Y-DNA (paternal lineages)===
Modern-day genetic studies of the [[Y chromosome|Y-chromosome]] generally indicate that the Tutsi, like the Hutu, are largely of [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] extraction (60% [[Haplogroup E1b1a (Y-DNA)|E1b1a]], 20% [[Haplogroup B (Y-DNA)|B]], 4% [[Haplogroup E1b1 (Y-DNA)|E-P2]](xE1b1a)).

Paternal genetic influences associated with the [[Horn of Africa]] and [[North Africa]] are few (under 3% [[Haplogroup E1b1b (Y-DNA)|E1b1b-M35]]), and are ascribed to much earlier inhabitants who were assimilated. However, the Tutsi have considerably more haplogroup B Y-DNA paternal lineages (14.9% B) than do the Hutu (4.3% B).<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Luis | first1 = J. R. | display-authors = etal  | year = 2004 | title = The Levant versus the Horn of Africa: Evidence for Bidirectional Corridors of Human Migrations | journal = American Journal of Human Genetics | volume = 74 | issue = 3| pages = 532–544 | doi = 10.1086/382286 | pmid = 14973781 | pmc=1182266}}</ref>

===Autosomal DNA (overall ancestry)===
In general, the Tutsi appear to share a close genetic kinship with neighboring [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] populations, particularly the [[Hutu]]. However, it is unclear whether this similarity is primarily due to extensive genetic exchanges between these communities through intermarriage or whether it ultimately stems from common origins:

<blockquote>[...] generations of [[gene flow]] obliterated whatever clear-cut physical distinctions may have once existed between these two Bantu peoples – renowned to be height, body build, and facial features. With a spectrum of physical variation in the peoples, Belgian authorities legally mandated ethnic affiliation in the 1920s, based on economic criteria. Formal and discrete social divisions were consequently imposed upon ambiguous biological distinctions. To some extent, the permeability of these categories in the intervening decades helped to reify the biological distinctions, generating a taller elite and a shorter underclass, but with little relation to the gene pools that had existed a few centuries ago. The social categories are thus real, but there is little if any detectable genetic differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi.<ref>[[Joseph C. Miller]] (ed.), ''New Encyclopedia of Africa'', Volume 2, Dakar-Hydrology, Charles Scribner's Sons (publisher).</ref></blockquote>

===Height===
Their average height is {{convert|5|ft|9|in|cm}}, although individuals have been recorded as being taller than {{convert|7|ft|cm}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/23/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-watusi.html|title=The Rise and Fall Of the Watusi|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 February 1964}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=Did you know of the Tutsi people in Rwanda?They are among the Tallest people in Africa |url=https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/did-you-know-of-the-tutsi-people-in-rwanda-they-are-among-the-tallest-people-in-africa.1745470/ |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=JamiiForums |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=samson |date=2022-12-05 |title=The Tutsi of Rwanda |url=https://africaadventurevacations.com/the-tutsi-of-rwanda/ |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=Africa Adventure Vacations |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History==
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 
| footer            = 
| image1            = 
| caption1 we       = 
| image2            = King's palace in Nyanza.jpg
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| image3            = Chifu Kaware safarini (Kandt 1904 II, 97).png
| caption3          = The traditional Tutsi king's palace in [[Nyanza, Rwanda|Nyanza]] (top) and Rwanda {{circa|1900}}, Tutsi Chief Kaware travelling (bottom)
}}
Prior to the arrival of colonists, Rwanda had been ruled by a Tutsi-dominated monarchy since the 15th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.rlp-ruanda.de/en/the-two-countries/rwanda/history/ |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=www.rlp-ruanda.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rise of Rwanda {{!}} EBSCO Research Starters |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/rise-rwanda |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=www.ebsco.com |language=en}}</ref> In 1897, Germany established a presence in Rwanda with the formation of an alliance with the king, beginning the colonial era.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKFpAgAAQBAJ |last=Carney |first=J.J. |title=Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era |page=24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780199982288}}</ref> Later, Belgium took control in 1916 during World War I. Both European nations ruled through the Rwandan king and perpetuated a pro-Tutsi policy.

In Burundi, meanwhile, a ruling faction known as the ''[[ganwa]]'' emerged and quickly assumed effective control of the country's administration. The ''ganwa'' who relied on support from both Hutu and Tutsi populations to rule, were perceived within Burundi as neither Hutu nor Tutsi.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=DeRouen |first1=Karl R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nrN077AEgzMC&dq=Ganwa+ethnic&pg=PA205 |title=Civil Wars of the World: Major Conflicts Since World War II |last2=Heo |first2=Uk |date=2007 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-919-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mawer |first=Kit |date=2022-10-16 |title=Burundi Country Report |url=https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/country-report-burundi |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=genocidewatch |language=en}}</ref>

Rwanda was ruled as a colony by [[Germany]] (from 1897 to 1916) and by [[Belgium]] (from 1922 to 1961). Both the Tutsi and Hutu had been the traditional governing elite, but both colonial powers allowed only the Tutsi to be educated and to participate in the colonial government. Such discriminatory policies engendered resentment.{{cn|date=November 2021}}

When the Belgians took over, they believed the areas,which were formerly under German colonial control, could be better governed if they continued to identify the different populations as they had been previously identified. In the 1920s, the Belgian authorities required the population to identify with a particular ethnic group and the authorities classified them accordingly in censuses.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Divided by Ethnicity - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/rwanda/divided-by-ethnicity |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=www.ushmm.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rwanda Chronology {{!}} FRONTLINE |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/etc/cron.html |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=www.pbs.org}}</ref>

In 1959, Belgium reversed its stance and allowed the majority Hutu to assume control of the government through universal elections after independence. This partly reflected internal Belgian domestic politics, in which the discrimination against the Hutu majority came to be regarded as similar to oppression within Belgium stemming from the Flemish-Walloon conflict, and the democratization and empowerment of the Hutu was seen as a just response to the Tutsi domination. Belgian policies wavered and flip-flopped considerably during this period leading up to [[Burundi#Independence|independence of Burundi]] and [[History of Rwanda#Strife and lead up to independence|Rwanda]].{{cn|date=November 2021}}

===Independence of Rwanda and Burundi (1962)===
The Hutu majority in Rwanda had [[Rwanda Revolution|revolted against the Tutsi]] and was able to take power. Tutsi fled and created exile communities outside Rwanda in Uganda and Tanzania.<ref>Michael Bowen, ''Passing by;: The United States and genocide in Burundi'', 1972, (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1973), p. 49</ref><ref>René Lemarchand, ''Selective genocide in Burundi'' (Report – Minority Rights Group; no. 20, 1974)</ref><ref>Rene Lemarchand, ''Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide'' (New York: Woodrow Wilson Center and [[Cambridge University Press]], 1996)
*Edward L. Nyankanzi, ''Genocide: Rwanda and Burundi'' (Schenkman Books, 1998)</ref><ref>Christian P. Scherrer, ''Genocide and crisis in Central Africa: conflict roots, mass violence, and regional war''; foreword by [[Robert Melson (political scientist)|Robert Melson]]. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2002</ref><ref>Weissman, Stephen R."[http://www.usip.org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks22.html Preventing Genocide in Burundi Lessons from International Diplomacy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311024548/http://www.usip.org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks22.html |date=11 March 2009 }}", [[United States Institute of Peace]]</ref> Overt discrimination from the colonial period was continued by different Rwandan and Burundian governments, including identity cards that distinguished Tutsi and Hutu.

===Burundian genocide (1993)===
{{Main|1993 ethnic violence in Burundi}}
In 1993, Burundi's first democratically elected president, [[Melchior Ndadaye]], a Hutu, was assassinated by Tutsi officers, as was the person entitled to succeed him under the constitution.<ref>''International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi: Final Report'', Part III: Investigation of the Assassination. Conclusions at [http://www.usip.org/library/tc/doc/reports/burundi_coi/burundi_coi1996pt3.html#VII USIP.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201132151/http://www.usip.org/library/tc/doc/reports/burundi_coi/burundi_coi1996pt3.html#VII |date=1 December 2008 }}</ref> This sparked [[1993 ethnic violence in Burundi|a genocide in Burundi]] between Hutu political structures and the Tutsi, in which "possibly as many as 25,000 Tutsi" – including military, civil servants and civilians<ref>{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} Human Rights Watch World Report 1995 – Burundi |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/467fca9a8.html |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref> – were murdered by the former and "at least as many" Hutu were killed by the latter.<ref name=totten2>{{Cite book
| author1= René Lemarchand 
| chapter= The Burundian Genocide 
| page = 331
|editor1-last=Totten|editor1-first=Samuel|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ef8Hrx8Cd0C&pg=PA331|title=Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts|editor2-last=Parsons|editor2-first=William S.|editor3-last=Charny|editor3-first=Israel W.|date=2004
| edition= Second 
|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-94430-4|language=en}}</ref><ref>Lemarchand, René, Eggers, Ellen Kahan. "Burundi". Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 May. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/place/Burundi. Accessed 14 May 2025</ref> Since the 2000 [[Arusha Accords (Burundi)|Arusha Peace Process]], today in Burundi the Tutsi minority shares power in a more or less equitable manner with the Hutu majority. Traditionally, the Tutsi had held more economic power and controlled the military.<ref name=ICIBFR-496>International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi (2002)</ref>

===1994 genocide against the Tutsi===
{{Main|Rwandan genocide}}
[[File:Rwandan Patriotic Front Flag.svg|thumb|right|Flag of the Tutsi-led [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]]]]
A similar pattern of events took place in Rwanda, but there the Hutu came to power in 1962. They in turn often oppressed the Tutsi, who fled the country. After the [[Rwandan Revolution|anti-Tutsi violence]] around 1959–1961, Tutsi fled in large numbers.

These exile Tutsi communities gave rise to Tutsi rebel movements. The [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]], mostly made up of exiled Tutsi living primarily in Uganda, attacked Rwanda in 1990 with the intention of taking back the power. The RPF had experience in organized irregular warfare from the [[Ugandan Bush War]], and got much support from the government of Uganda. The initial RPF advance was halted by the lift of French arms to the Rwandan government. Attempts at peace culminated in the [[Arusha Accords (Rwanda)|Arusha Accords]].

The agreement broke down after the [[Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira|assassination of the Rwandan and Burundian presidents]], triggering a resumption of hostilities and the start of the [[Rwandan genocide|Rwandan Genocide]] of 1994, in which the Hutu then in power killed an estimated 500,000–600,000 people, largely of Tutsi origin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guichaoua |first1=André |title=Counting the Rwandan Victims of War and Genocide: Concluding Reflections |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=2020 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=125–141 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2019.1703329|s2cid=213471539 }} 500,000–800,000 is the range of scholarly estimates listed on the third page of the paper.</ref><ref name=Meierhenrich>{{cite journal |last1=Meierhenrich |first1=Jens |author-link=Jens Meierhenrich |title=How Many Victims Were There in the Rwandan Genocide? A Statistical Debate |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=2020 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=72–82 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2019.1709611|s2cid=213046710 |quote=Despite the various methodological disagreements among them, none of the scholars who participated in this forum gives credence to the official figure of 1,074,107 victims... Given the rigour of the various quantitative methodologies involved, this forum's overarching finding that the death toll of 1994 is nowhere near the one-million-mark is – scientifically speaking – incontrovertible.}}</ref><ref name=Reydams>{{cite journal |last1=Reydams |first1=Luc|author-link=Luc Reydams |title='More than a million': the politics of accounting for the dead of the Rwandan genocide |journal=Review of African Political Economy |date=2020 |volume=48|issue=168|pages=235–256 |doi=10.1080/03056244.2020.1796320|s2cid=225356374|quote=The government eventually settled on 'more than a million', a claim which few outside Rwanda have taken seriously.<p>The death of 'more than a million' Tutsi became the foundation of the new Rwanda, where former exiles hold a monopoly on power. It also created the socio-political environment for the mass criminalisation of Hutu. Gacaca courts eventually tried more than a million (Nyseth Brehm, Uggen, and Gasanabo 2016), which led President Kagame to suggest that all Hutu bear responsibility and should apologise (Benda 2017, 13). Thus the new Rwanda is built not only on the death of 'more than a million" Tutsi but also on the collective guilt of Hutu. This state of affairs is in no one's interests except the regime's.</p>|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Doherty |first=Ben |date=2024-02-25 |title=More than half a million people killed in 100 days: how the 1994 Rwanda genocide unfolded |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/26/more-than-half-a-million-people-killed-in-100-days-how-the-1994-rwanda-genocide-unfolded-ntwnfb |access-date=2025-05-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rwanda |url=https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/rwanda |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=College of Liberal Arts |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rieff |first=David |date=2007-06-04 |title=God and Man in Rwanda |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1994/12/rwanda199412 |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}</ref> Victorious in the aftermath of the genocide, the Tutsi-ruled [[Rwandan Patriotic Front|RPF]] came to power in July 1994.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

==Culture==
[[File:Brooklyn Museum 22.1403 Wrist Guard Igitembe.jpg|thumb|right|A traditional Tutsi wrist guard (''igitembe'')]]
In the Rwanda territory, from the 15th century until 1961, the Tutsi were ruled by a king (the ''mwami''). Belgium abolished the monarchy, following the national [[referendum]] that led to independence. By contrast, in the northwestern part of the country (predominantly Hutu), large regional landholders shared power, similar to [[Buganda]] society (in what is now [[Uganda]]).

Under their holy king, Tutsi culture traditionally revolved around administering justice and government. They were the only proprietors of [[cattle]], and sustained themselves on their own products. Additionally, their lifestyle afforded them a lot of leisure time, which they spent cultivating the high arts of poetry, weaving and music. Due to the Tutsi's status as a [[dominant minority]] vis-a-vis the Hutu farmers and the other local inhabitants, this relationship has been likened to that between lords and serfs in feudal Europe.<ref name="Fage120">{{cite book|last1=Fage|first1=John|title=A History of Africa|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1317797272|page=120|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXa4AQAAQBAJ|access-date=8 January 2015|date=23 October 2013}}</ref>[[File:Brooklyn Museum 1912a-b Basket and Lid.jpg|thumb|left|A traditional Tutsi [[basket]]]]
According to Fage (2013), the Tutsi are serologically related to Bantu and [[Nilotic peoples|Nilotic]] populations. This in turn rules out a possible [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] origin for the founding Tutsi-Hima ruling class in the lacustrine kingdoms. However, the royal burial customs of the latter kingdoms are quite similar to those practiced by the former Cushitic Sidama states in the southern [[Gibe region]] of Ethiopia. By contrast, Bantu populations to the north of the Tutsi-Hima in the mount Kenya area such as the Agikuyu were until modern times essentially without a king (instead having a stateless age set system which they adopted from Cushitic peoples) while there were a number of Bantu kingdoms to the south of the Tutsi-Hima in Tanzania, all of which shared the Tutsi-Hima's chieftaincy pattern. Since the Cushitic Sidama kingdoms interacted with Nilotic groups, Fage thus proposes that the Tutsi may have descended from one such migrating Nilotic population. The Nilotic ancestors of the Tutsi would thereby in earlier times have served as cultural intermediaries, adopting some monarchical traditions from adjacent Cushitic kingdoms and subsequently taking those borrowed customs south with them when they first settled amongst Bantu autochthones in the Great Lakes area.<ref name="Fage120"/> However, little difference can be ascertained between the cultures today of the Tutsi and Hutu; both groups speak the same [[Bantu languages|Bantu language]].<ref>The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Tutsi". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 May. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tutsi. Accessed 14 May 2025</ref> The rate of intermarriage between the two groups was traditionally very high, and relations were amicable until the 20th century. Many scholars have concluded that the determination of Tutsi was and is mainly an expression of class or caste, rather than ethnicity. Rwandans have their own language, [[Kinyarwanda]]. English, French and Swahili serve as additional official languages for different historic reasons, and are widely spoken by Rwandans as a second language.<ref name=BC>{{Cite web|url=https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/Euromonitor%20Report%20A4.pdf|title=The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies: Quantitative Indicators from Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan}}</ref>

== Tutsi in the Congo ==
{{Refimprove|section|date=January 2025}}

Scholars have long recognized{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} that the Tutsi presence in the modern [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (DRC) is best understood by distinguishing between two principal groups, whose histories have been significantly shaped—and often distorted—by colonial policies and later political struggles.

=== The Banyamulenge ===
{{npov|date=March 2025}}<!--The section essentially presents casuistic arguments to advance the position that the presence of the Banyamulenge in the DRC is somehow illegitimate and that they hence deserve no rights in the DRC, which would obviously be considered an extremist position from an international human rights perspective.-->
The [[Banyamulenge]] are a Tutsi group that primarily resides in parts of [[South Kivu]], specifically in the Uvira region of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They trace their origins mainly to Rwandan laborers and refugees who began migrating into the region during the colonial period, starting as early as 1916. This migration was a direct result of World War I, when Rwandans were brought into the area to work in the mines, agricultural fields, and other labor-intensive sectors. The Banyamulenge do not have indigenous Congolese roots, but instead, their presence in the region is the result of external migration and colonial labor practices.

The Mulenge region, which the Banyamulenge inhabit, was originally home to the Bafulero (Bafuliru) people, who were the first inhabitants of the area.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} Mulenge, a mountain and region located in Uvira, South Kivu, was named by the Bafulero people, long before the arrival of the Tutsi groups. 
The term "Mulenge" referred to their mountain, their region, and their cultural heritage. 
However, when Rwandan Tutsi groups, including the Banyamulenge, began to settle in the area, they began to adopt and later popularize the name for their own identification with the land. This adoption of the name was partly to help them define a territory that, originally, was not theirs. It was a way of self-identification in a place that was still home to the Bafulero, and later to many other ethnic groups.

Historical research and scholarly work{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} show that the Banyamulenge are the descendants of Rwandan Tutsi refugees and migrants who arrived in the DRC after the Berlin Conference (1884–1885), which reshaped borders in Central Africa. While the Tutsi people have a long history in Rwanda, their arrival in the Congo occurred after the colonial period, not before. This significant point highlights that the Banyamulenge, while culturally related to Rwandan Tutsi, are not indigenous to Congo, as they began to migrate during the colonial era, in a time when the borders of modern African states were already being drawn and redefined. Their presence in the DRC was the result of migration rather than indigenous settlement, and their claim to the land must be understood in this context.

The Rwandan Tutsi immigrants initially began settling in the eastern DRC in the early 20th century,{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} bringing with them cultural and social practices from Rwanda. However, they were not necessarily accepted by the indigenous Congolese communities. Their presence, however, was consolidated as the Rwandan refugee crisis evolved in the region, especially after the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, when large numbers of refugees fled to Congo. The Banyamulenge, as part of the Tutsi population, increasingly became a key player in the evolving ethnic and political dynamics of the region.

Although the Banyamulenge have sought to define themselves as a distinct group with ties to both the Tutsi ethnic identity and the land of South Kivu, their efforts have been met with significant tension from other Congolese groups who view their claims to land and political power with skepticism.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} Many view the Banyamulenge as foreigners rather than part of the indigenous population of the DRC. This conflict over identity and land ownership has led to persistent tension and violence in the region, contributing to the instability in the Kivu provinces and further complicated by regional politics, particularly the involvement of Rwanda in the ongoing conflict.

In summary, the Banyamulenge's origins are deeply tied to Rwandan migration into Congo during the colonial period. They are the descendants of Rwandan laborers and refugees who were brought into the region after World War I, and their presence in the region has caused significant conflict over territoriality and identity.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} 
The Bafulero people, the original inhabitants of Mulenge, have consistently disputed the claim that the Banyamulenge are entitled to the land. The historical context of the Banyamulenge’s presence in the DRC highlights the complexity of the conflict and the ongoing struggles over land, power, and identity that continue to shape the region today.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

=== Banyarwanda in North Kivu and South Kivu ===
A second Tutsi presence is found among the broader [[Banyarwanda]] community in parts of [[North Kivu]] and the Kalehe region of South Kivu. This community, which includes both Tutsi and Hutu, is largely the result of multiple migratory waves from neighboring [[Rwanda]], occurring over the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-genocide periods. In particular, the mass exodus during and after the [[Rwandan Genocide]] of 1994 is well documented and has significantly reshaped the ethnic landscape in eastern Congo.<ref>Uvin, Peter. "The Congo and the Rwandan Tragedy: Politics, Ideology and the Struggle for Power." ''Journal of Eastern African Studies'', vol. 1, no. 2, 2007, pp. 281–300.</ref><ref>Reyntjens, Filip. ''Political Awakening in the Belgian Congo: The Early Phase, 1908–1945''. Cambridge University Press, 2019.</ref> The academic consensus holds that these migratory processes, far from being a single exogenous event, have complex historical antecedents that continue to influence regional politics.

=== Conflict and Contemporary Issues ===
The eastern DRC has been a hotspot of conflict for decades, involving numerous armed groups. Some of these, notably those evolving from the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) into what became known as the [[March 23 Movement|M23]], have been led by individuals of Tutsi background. However, the portrayal of these groups solely through an ethnic lens oversimplifies the situation. Academic studies agree that the roots of the conflict lie in a mixture of colonial legacies, competition over valuable resources such as [[cobalt]], and deep-seated political and social grievances.<ref>Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. ''The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila: A People's History''. Zed Books, 2002.</ref> Reports from international organizations have documented serious human rights abuses—including the recruitment of child soldiers and illegal exploitation of mineral wealth—but these are best understood within the broader framework of state fragility and international economic pressures rather than as a straightforward ethnic conflict.<ref>Human Rights Watch. "Breakdown of the State in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." Human Rights Watch Reports, 2010.</ref>

==Notable people==
{{main|List of Tutsis}}
* [[Paul Kagame]]
* [[Stromae]]
* [[Michel Micombero]]
* [[Jean Baptiste Bagaza]]
* [[Pierre Buyoya]]
* [[James Kabarebe]]
* [[Louise Mushikiwabo]]
* [[Arielle Kayabaga]]
* [[Benjamin Sehene]]
* [[Saido Berahino]]
* [[Gaël Bigirimana]]
* [[Cécile Kayirebwa]]
* [[Ncuti Gatwa]]
* [[Gaël Faye]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Scholia|topic}}

* [http://www.ictr.org The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (the status and judgments of all cases before the ICTR are available here)]

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Ethnic groups in Burundi}}
{{Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
{{Ethnic groups in Rwanda}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tutsi| ]]