Hutu << HOO too >> is the name of a group of African people. They are sometimes called Bahutu. Most of the approximately 15 million to 20 million Hutu live in the central African nations of Burundi and Rwanda. They speak a Bantu language. Most Hutu are Christians, but many also follow traditional African beliefs.
Ancestors of the Hutu came to their present lands from other parts of Africa sometime during the first several hundred years after the time of Christ. They brought with them iron tools, a distinctive style of pottery, and a number of domesticated crops.
Most Hutu are farmers and live in the more fertile areas of their region. But they can barely raise enough food to feed their families, partly because Burundi and Rwanda are among the most densely populated countries in Africa.
In the A.D. 1300’s or 1400’s, Tutsi people (also called Batutsi or Watusi) came to the area from northeastern Africa. Though the Tutsi were a minority, they gradually became the dominant group in the region economically and politically. This situation has led to many years of violent ethnic clashes. In the 1990’s, fighting between the Hutu and Tutsi killed hundreds of thousands of people in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda.
See also Burundi; Ruanda-Urundi; Rwanda; Rwandan Genocide; Tutsi.
