The Hutu and Tutsi are two central African tribes who have been involved in civil war since the mid 20th century. In 1994, an estimated 500,000 Tutsis and thousands of Hutus were killed in the Rwandan Genocide. Both groups have occupied the same region for centuries and share a common language and culture.

The Hutu are descended from Bantus who worked as fishermen, cattle herders and farmers in Africa's great lakes regions. The taller, cattle-herding Tutsi migrated from northern Ethiopa in the 1300s with the intent to conquer the Hutu, but ended up settling into the local culture and adopting the Bantu language, although they added their own traditions and words into the mix. Intermarriage among the two groups was not uncommon.

It has been theorized that the distinctions between Hutu and Tutsi were not emphasized until the area was colonized by European settlers. When conducting census counts, the Belgians separated Africans into Tutsi and Hutu groups based solely on appearance or wealth. The colonists beleived that the Tutsi were superior because they were taller and had longer noses and therefore more similar to Europeans. On this basis, only Tutsi were allowed to participate in government or seek education. Naturally, this caused dissatisfaction among the Hutu majority. In 1959, the Belgian government reversed this practice and implemented a Hutu government. Civil wars and genocides instigated by both sides have occurred periodically ever since.

• 1300: Hutu is an agricultural tribe living in the Rwanda - Burundi region

• 1400: Tutsi's migrate into the region with their cattle

• 1500: Tutsi's establish a monarchy and take control of the region

• 1600-1895: Kingdom of Rwanda expands and establishes a military

• 1894-1897: European explorers visit and take interest in Rwanda

• 1890: Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania are colonized and become German East Africa

• 1916: Belgium seizes German East Africa

• 1922: League of Nations Mandate gives Belgium rule of Rwanda and Burundi, known as Ruanda-Urundi

• 1946: Ruanda-Urundi Mandate becomes a territory of the United Nations Trust

• 1957-1961: Hutu's begin to revolt and overthrow the Tutsi monarchy

• 1961 Hutu majority votes to abolish monarchy, Rwanda becomes a republic

• 1961: Last Tutsti king Kigeli V Ndahindurwa goes into exile

• 1962: Rwanda declared independent from Belgium, Gregoire Kayibanda chosen president

• 1973: Juvenal Habyarimana Over Throws Gregoire Kayibanda

• 1975: The National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development is formed

• 1990-1993: Rwandan Civil War

• 1994: President Habyarimana is assassinated

• 1994: Rwandan Genocide kills 800,000, mostly Tutsi's

• 2006: Violence has subsided but many Rwandans are refugees

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