Kigali of what is now Rwanda were the Twa, a group of aboriginal pygmy hunter-gatherers who settled the area between 8000 and 3000 BC and remain in the country today. They were followed between 700 BC and 1500 AD by a number of Bantu groups, including the Hutu and Tutsi, who began clearing forests for agriculture. According to oral history the Kingdom of Rwanda was founded in the 14th century on the shores of Lake Muhazi, around east of modern Kigali. At that time Rwanda was a small state in a loose confederation with larger and more powerful neighbours, Bugesera and
Kigali sidelining Rwandans in the judiciary. In this period, Kigali was one of two provincial capitals, alongside Gisenyi. The difficulty of governing the complex Rwandan society, and a crippling famine, led the Belgians to re-establish the German-style indirect rule at the end of 1917. Musinga was restored to his throne at Nyanza, with Kigali remaining home to the colonial administration. This arrangement persisted until the mid-1920s, but from 1924 the Belgians began once more to sideline the monarchy, this time permanently. Belgium took over control of dispute resolution, appointment of officials and expansion of control. Kigali remained relatively small through the