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Hutu

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Peoples

   Hutu
   Total population 5-9.5 million
   Regions with significant populations Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern
   Democratic Republic of the Congo
   Language Kirundi, Kinyarwanda
   Religion Catholicism, Protestantism, Sunni Islam, indigenous beliefs.
   Related ethnic groups Tutsi, Twa

   The Hutu are the largest of the three ethnic groups in Burundi and
   Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84%
   of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians are Hutu, although other sources have
   found different statistics . The division between the Hutu and the
   Tutsi, the larger of the other two groups, is based more upon social
   class than ethnicity, as there are no significant lingual, physical, or
   cultural differences between them. (The Twa pygmies, the smallest of
   the three groups, also share language and culture with the Hutu and
   Tutsi, but are much shorter and have unquestionable genetic
   differences.)

   The Hutu arrived in Africa's Great Lakes region during the 1000s,
   displacing the Twa pygmies, and ruled the area with a series of small
   kingdoms until the arrival of the Tutsi. Two theories exist to explain
   the Tutsi. One is that the Tutsi were a Hamitic people who migrated
   south from what is now Ethiopia, conquering the Hutu kingdoms and
   establishing dominance over the Hutu and Twa between the 1400's and the
   1700's. However, an alternate theory, that the Hutu and Tutsi were
   originally one people, but were artificially divided by German and then
   Belgian colonists so the Tutsi minority could serve as local overseers
   for Berlin and Brussels, has received support, especially among those
   supporting Rwandan unity.

   The Belgian-sponsored Tutsi monarchy survived until 1959, when Kigeli V
   was exiled from the colony (then called Ruanda-Urundi.) Radical Hutus,
   many belonging to the Rwandan political party Parmehutu (Party of the
   Hutu Emancipation Movement), gained power, and in 1962, when the area
   was divided into Rwanda and Burundi and both countries received their
   independence from Belgium, Hutus seized full control of Rwanda. Once in
   control, these Hutus then began to kill thousands of Tutsis. However,
   Tutsis remained in control of Burundi.

   During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, United Nations peacekeepers
   stepped back as Hutu extremists killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsis
   , as well as moderate Hutu politicians. Many Twa also died in the
   fighting.

   As of 2006, violence between the Hutu and Tutsi has subsided, but the
   situation in both Rwanda and Burundi is still tense, and tens of
   thousands of Rwandans are still living outside the country.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutu"
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