Rwanda - German Colony
Although the Council of Berlin designated Rwanda-Burundi as a German sphere of interest in 1885, it was not until the 1890's that the German Government extended its authority in East Africa to cover the region of Rwanda-Burundi. In 1896 a military station was founded in Usumbura in Burundi and, by 1907, a post was established at Kigali in Rwanda with Richard Kandt, a prominent explorer and scientist, as the first Resident. The Germans, in general, used the existing structure of the Mwami's government. This indirect rule, in fact, characterized the German Administration, and such a system was considered mutually advantageous to both the Germans and the Mwami.
Because of the limited size of the German presence in Rwanda, they ruled through the Mwami, and the Mwami, in turn, utilized German force to strengthen his own position. It was during the German period that the Mwami came closer to absolute rule over his entire territory than at any other time.
The most significant aspects of German Administration were the punitive expeditions carried out against rebellious Hutu chiefs in the northern region, who had long proved difficult for the Mwami to control, a phenomenon which continued throughout both the German and Belgian periods. In 1912 Germany sent an expedition into this northern region to supress a revolutionary movement and to punish the murderers of a Catholic missionary. The village of the rebellious chief was attacked and burned and the captured leaders executed. The separatist-minded Hutu leaders of the north were forced to submit to German-backed Tutsi authority.
The German Administration made serious attempts at economic planning, but was able to initiate few of its plans before the outbreak of yrh Great War in 1914. Rwanda-Burundi's economic potential was extremely limited compared with the diamonds, gold, and copper which had been discovered in some of the Belgian and British territories. Cattle were numerous but of limited economic potential, and the agricultural productivity barely supported the population.
In 1913 Richard Kandt, as the German Resident, declared that Rwanda and Burundi must be turned into coffee lands, and shortly thereafter the German Administration initiated the development of coffee as a cash crop. The project, which the Belgians later developed more extensively, introduced the money economy and had far-reaching influence. In time the Hutu came to look upon money as a substitute for cattle as a symbol of wealth and, to the extent that this occurred, Tutsi domination was correspondingly weakened.
Early in 1914 the colonial administration instituted a general head tax. Mwami Musinga opposed this move, concerned that the Hutu, if taxed, might look upon the Germans as their protectors and no longer feel indentured to their Tutsi lords. This fear turned out to be justified, and Tutsi domination was further weakened. Attempts were made by the German Administration to complete a census, but the difficulty of communications and the limited number of colonial officials made a precise head count impossible. Instead, each chief was required to report the number of huts in his area. The resulting estimate, considered reasonably accurate, was, that in 1911, the African population was approximately 2 million.
German colonial policy toward the missions provided for mission education of the Tutsi to equip them for a variety of tasks in the administration. Tutsi rule was looked upon as preferential, and the intention was to develop a sizable number of Tutsi civil servants to work under German direction. The missions, however, were permitted to educate a few Hutu, and this became another significant factor in the eventual Hutu emancipation. Through education, the Hutu secured access to new positions and to a status which had previously been denied them. The religious teaching that all men are equal before God was a revolutionary concept in a society with such a rigid class structure. The German Administration was carried out by a handful of Europeans; the total European population of both Rwanda and Burundi in 1914 was approximately 190, of whom some 130 were missionaries. The remaining 60 included a few traders and about 40 soldiers. In 1914 there were reportedly only five civilian officials in Rwanda.
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