The Collapse of Rwanda
By: Sarah Aguilera
About Rwanda.
Rwanda is a small nation that, for many years consisted of various tribes. It is located in the middle of Africa, and is currently smaller than our US state of Maryland. In the 1400s, Rwanda was made a monarchy, being ruled by one Tutsi king. So what made this promising nation fail? Research and primary sources, because of this countries recent past allow us to look deeper to what caused it to fall. Overpopulation, civil rivalries and hand based farming; lead to its eventual demise.
Overpopulation
The population size definitely came into play and still does currently stand as a problem in Rwanda. Due to its small size in area, it seems like a lot more. With its 11.46 million people residing in the 26,338 square km country, Rwanda is very crowded to say the least. The fact that it was and still is poor, doesnt help its many inhabitants however.
Farming Techniques
The farming techniques for those of this poor country, were very primitive compared to other nations during this time. Because of this, food was not made fast enough to sustain the growing population.
Civil Rivalries
There were two distinct classes in Rwanda. Those of the Tutsi class, were royalty, unlike those of the Hutu, who were the lower class. Hutu's usually worked on the land by farming on Tutsi property. During the time of German imperialism (1890s) Rwanda was made a protectorate state. In years forward Belgium then took over the country.
The colonization sparked new rivalries within the country itself, thus leading to a Hutu revolt against the Tutsi. The following years were full of casualties, so much infact that upon researching Rwanda; its genocide is usually that first to discuss. The Hutu government tried to kill all of the Tutsi class. Over 800,000 Tutsi people were killed and millions fled the country. (1990s)
works cited
This was a reliable source because it was based off the Jared Diamond book of 'Collapse' which we assigned to look at in the first place. Though, seeing Louis Proyects take on the matter, sure did open new doors and insight into the collapse of Rwanda. http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mypage.htm http://www.ducksters.com/geography/country.php?country=Rwanda http://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide Reassured me to the belief that this was a reliable source of information.