History and Culture
History and Culture
Former German and Belgian colony, Burundi is known as a country of oral tradition, legends and tales have inspired historians. Since the 15th century, a well-organized monarchical state around a king, the “Mwami”. The king repelled all the incursions of the slave traders of Zanzibar before yielding to the Germans in 1897. Burundi became independent in 1962 and its national hero, Prince Louis RWAGASORE was assassinated on October 13, 1961. In 1966, with the fall of the monarchy, MICOMBERO became the first president of the Republic of Burundi.
The Burundian population includes three main components (Hutu, Tutsi, Twa). However, unlike what may be the case elsewhere in Africa, these so-called ethnic groups have not forged separate cultures. Here, a language (Kirundi) and common social practices have over time constituted a culture shared more or less by the entire population, united in a unified territory since the 18th century. Although the physical traces of the past, ancient and monarchical, are exceptional in this civilization of plants and words, the cultural and historical heritage of the country is of considerable wealth.
To those who listen to the stories circulating locally about Burundi in the past, sometimes embellished, and to those who are interested in ancient places of memory (wooded enclosures that are increasingly difficult to locate), memories of times gone by and testimonies of life today, a unique cultural universe is revealed.
Treaty of Kiganda
The Germans’ establishment inside Burundi was not easy. The surrender of King Mwezi Gisabo was finally possible on June 6, 1903, while the invaders had been established on the East coast of Lake Tanganyika since 1896. During this entire period, the Germans tried to penetrate the country but in vain. It took the German Captain Von Berling who found support for the king’s dissidents, Maconco and Kirima who were claiming territories. They forced the king to leave his capital Muramvya and retreat to Kiganda after escaping the fire of the Germans’ machines and arson attacks in the royal court.
Popular belief says that the king was never defeated. The fathers of the Catholic mission of Mugera and some of his influential sons like Ntarugera had a lot of difficulty in bringing the king back to negotiate with the Germans. On June 6, 1903, the Germans were forced to recognize that Mwezi Gisabo remains King of Burundi and that a post managed by a German be set up for his protection. In return, seated on the Kiganda flat rock, the King of Burundi had to:
Recognize the sovereignty of Germany; Recognize the autonomy of Maconco and Kirima respectively in Bukeye and Muramvya; Agree to pay a fine of 424 cattle as reparation; Commit to no longer hinder the work of the Catholic mission of Mugera, etc.
The Burundian population comprises three main components (Hutu, Tutsi, Twa). However, unlike what may be the case elsewhere in Africa, these so-called ethnic groups have not forged separate cultures. Here, a language (Kirundi) and common social practices have over time constituted a culture shared more or less by the entire population, united in a unified territory since the 18th century. Although the physical traces of the past, ancient and monarchical, are exceptional in this civilization of plants and words, the cultural and historical heritage of the country is of considerable wealth.
To those who listen to the stories circulating locally about Burundi in the past, sometimes embellished, and to those who are interested in ancient places of memory (wooded enclosures that are increasingly difficult to locate), memories of times gone by and testimonies of life today, a unique cultural universe is revealed.
