Banyarwanda

Banyarwanda (Kinyarwanda – plural: Abanyarwanda, singular: Umunyarwanda; literally "those who come from Rwanda") actually means the people of Hutu, Tutsi and Batwa. Some lived on the present territory of the DRC before colonization, while others have migrated from neighboring Rwanda in waves. They live in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. There are 1 million Banyarwanda in Uganda. They live in Western Uganda; Umutara and Kitara are the centers of their pastoral and agricultural areas.

Classification

The Banyarwanda, through their language of Kinyarwanda, form a subgroup of the Bantu peoples, who inhabit a geographical area stretching east and southward from Central Africa across the African Great Lakes region down to Southern Africa. Scholars from the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, building on earlier work by Malcolm Guthrie, placed Kinyarwanda within the Great Lakes Bantu languages. This classification groups the Banyarwanda with nineteen other ethnic groups including the Barundi, Banyankore, Baganda and Bahunde.