Pre-colonial Background of Rwanda
When Europeans first explored the region around the Great Lakes of Chad that has since become Rwanda, they found three tribes living in the region, coexisting in a complex social order: the Tutsis, Hutus, and Twa. The Tutsis, an elite minority of about 14% of the population, were tall, slim pastoralists. The Hutu majority, about 85% of the population, were stocky, strong farmers. And the Twa were a marginalized minority of 1% of the population: a tribe of pygmies, dwelling in the forests as hunters and gatherers.
Although these groups were distinct and stratified in relation to one another, the boundary between Tutsi and Hutu was somewhat open to social mobility. The Tutsi elite were defined by their exclusive ownership of land and cattle. Hutus, however, though disenfranchised socially and politically, could shed Hutuness, or kwihutura, by accumulating wealth, and thereby rising through the social hierarchy to the status of Tutsi.
Read more about this topic: Ethnic Groups In Rwanda
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