The Kingdom of Burundi (), also known as Kingdom of Urundi (), was a Bantu kingdom in the modern-day Republic of Burundi. The Ganwa monarchs (with the title of mwami) ruled over both Hutus and Tutsis. Created in the 16th century, the kingdom was preserved under German and Belgian colonial rule in the late 19th and early 20th century and was an independent state between 1962 and 1966.
History
Early history and expansion
The date of the foundation of the Kingdom of Burundi is unknown, and the exact context of the state's foundation are disputed. The region was originally inhabited by Twa hunter-gatherers before the influx of Bantu farmers from about the 11th century. The valleys and hills became home to a patchwork of farmers, fishermen, and foragers. Pastoralists (associated with cattle) arrived in waves. Based on societal and oral traditions, it is generally believed that the region's pastoralists were the ancestors of the later Tutsi ethnic group, while the agriculturalists became the Hutus, however the exact origins of Burundi's ethnic groups remain unclear and disputed. Many local and regional dynasties developed, eventually coalescing around two political centres; one in the north and one in the south. According to the "Kanyaru cycle", Ntare's royal clan and its associates were related to Rwanda's royal family, and had migrated from Rwanda to Burundi; in turn, this royal clan might have originally been Hima pastoralists from southern Ethiopia. Another telling of the events, provided by the "Nkoma cycle" suggests that the state's founders were ethnic Hutu and had migrated from Buha (modern Kigoma Region) to Nkoma before arriving in Burundi.