Table of Contents
What is the difference between the Tutsis and Hutu?
The split between Hutus and Tutsis arose not as a result of religious or cultural differences, but economic ones. “Hutus” were people who farmed crops, while “Tutsis” were people who tended livestock. Most Rwandans were Hutus. Gradually, these class divisions became seen as ethnic designations.
Why did the Hutus and Tutsi fight?
They characterized the Tutsi as a dangerous enemy that wanted to seize the political power at the expense of Hutu. By linking the Rwandan Patriotic Army with the Tutsi political party and ordinary Tutsi citizens, they classified the entire ethnic group as one homogenous threat to Rwandans.
What is the religion of Tutsi?
The Hutu and Tutsi adhere essentially to the same religious beliefs, which include forms of animism and Christianity. The two ethnic groups remain deeply divided over the apportionment of political power in both Rwanda and Burundi, however.
How many Tutsi are alive today?
Tutsi
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Rwanda | 1-2 million (9%-15% of the total population) |
| Burundi | 1.7 million (14% of the total population) |
| DR Congo | 411,000 (0.4% of the total population) |
| Languages |
Are Tutsi tall?
Their average height is 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm), although individuals have been recorded as being taller than 7 feet (213 cm).
Are Tutsis taller than Hutus?
The two ethnic groups are actually very similar – they speak the same language, inhabit the same areas and follow the same traditions. However, Tutsis are often taller and thinner than Hutus, with some saying their origins lie in Ethiopia.
Do Tutsi still exist?
There are essentially two groups of Tutsi in the Congo (DRC). There is the Banyamulenge, who live in the southern tip of South Kivu. They are descendants of migrating Rwandan, Burundian and Tanzanian pastoralists.
What are Tutsi people called?
Tutsi, also called Batusi, Tussi, Watusi, or Watutsi, ethnic group of probable Nilotic origin, whose members live within Rwanda and Burundi. The Tutsi formed the traditional aristocratic minority in both countries, constituting about 9 percent and 14 percent of the population, respectively.
What was the difference between Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda?
According to some historians, like Congolese Professor George Izangola, the only difference between the two groups were economic, rather than ethnic. In a 1996 interview with Charlayne Hunter Gault, Professor Izangola explained: “In Rwanda, the Tutsi and the Hutu are the same people.
Can a Tutsi woman marry a Hutu man?
For example, if a Tutsi woman married a Hutu man, the woman would become a Tutsi. (Notice how this didn’t hold true in the genocide in 1994, where a Tutsi woman would be killed even if her husband was a Hutu.)
Who are the Tutsis and what do they do?
Tutsis, also known as Batusi, Tussi, Watusi and Watutsi, live in countries like Rwanda and Burundi in Africa. Tutsis are the people who came later into the territory of the Hutus and got the power.
When did the Tutsi win the Burundi war?
Tutsi rebels won this war that sent fearful Hutus, nearly a million, into nearby Zaire and Congo. In Burundi though, Hutus won elections in 1993, but the elected Hutu President got killed in a coup a few months later.