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Before it fell under colonial rule, the central African nation of Rwanda was governed by kings, called mwamis, generally from the Tutsi tribe. However, during nineteenth century European colonization of Africa, Rwanda came under the mantle first of Germany and then of Belgium. In 1935, Belgium’s colonial government in Rwanda issued identity cards to all native Rwandans identifying them as being of Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa ethnic origins (the Twa constituted an extremely small minority). The Belgians initially showed favor to the Tutsis, allowing the mwami to continue his rule. However, when civil unrest based in the ruling class led to disgruntlement with the Belgians, the Belgians founded the Parmehutu political party, and, to help abolish the monarchy, supported the Hutu slaughter of Tutsis in 1959. In 1962, Belgian colonial rule ended, and the Parmehutu leader, Grégoire Kayibanda, became the country’s president.

According to oral tradition, a centralized kingdom spread over most of present-day Rwanda by the mid-eighteenth century. The Tutsi mwami (“king” in Kinyarwanda) was the pinnacle of ubuhake, a manorial system that subjugated the agrarian Hutu. Treated as semidivine beings, mwamis collected tribute from their subjects and controlled chiefs and subchiefs who did their bidding.