Study Guide for Colonial Africa and Rwanda
Handouts needed to study: “History of the Tutsis and the Hutus” and the corresponding
comprehension questions
Key Vocabulary:
Colonialism, boundaries, conflict, cheap labor, raw materials (natural
resources),The Berlin Conference, Hutu extremists, moderate Hutus, Tutsis,
discrimination, identification card, independence, racial classification, racial
oppression, genocide, militias, civilians, machetes, and propaganda, The
United Nations Security Council
Key Concepts:
1. Why did the Europeans colonize Africa?
a. Money
b. Slave Labor (cheap labor)
c. natural resources/raw materials
2. How and when did the Europeans change the map of Africa?
The tribal map of Africa had thousands of different “tribal areas.” At the Berlin
Conference in 1884, the Europeans divided Africa into only 50
countries/colonies. They didn’t care about the tribes’ cultures, languages, and
religious beliefs.
3. What problems have been caused by the changes to the map of Africa?
a. Poverty
b. Fighting
c. Disease
4. How did colonial rulers create favorites?
The Europeans usually chose one ethnic group and gave them …
(education, land, good jobs, and some control of the government)
5. How were the Hutu and Tutsi split into different groups?
The Belgians split one group into two main groups (Hutu and Tutsi) to gain
control of Rwanda. They created the Tutsi as the “better” group because …
they were more “white” looking
6. What % of the population were the Hutu and how did the Tutsi and Belgians discriminate
against them?
85%; They discriminated in these ways:
a) The Hutu could not go to college and had bad elementary schools
or often no elementary schools
b) They had no part in the government.
c) They could not own land- This means that they remained very
poor
7. How and when was the Tutsi-controlled government overthrown?
a. In 1959, the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi government when the Belgians
pulled out of the colony. The Hutus declared an independent republic and
they elected the first Hutu president.
b. This is the first time we see mass killings of Tutsis
8. What did the Hutu government do to the Tutsi when they took over in 1959?
a. They used the same system of racial oppression that the Tutsi used on
them.
b. It was revenge!
9. Explain what the Hutus did in 1994?
a. Many people believe that Hutu officials killed their own president and
blamed it on the Tutsi.
b. They gave the people machetes and encouraged them to kill all of the
Tutsi people (chop down the tall trees).
c. A little less than one million Tutsi and moderate Hutus were killed.
d. Many of the Hutus who were leaders of the genocide are still living and
causing violence in the D.R.C.