The area to the north west of Rwanda is inhabited by Bahutu since the tenth century BC. Their region includes since around 1000 also present-day Rwanda. In the fifteenth century the Batutsi arrive in the area and gradually subjugate the Bahutu. The Batutsi establish the fuedal Sultanate of Rwanda, in which the Bahutu are reduced to virtual serfsom. After a German occupation in 1884/1896 the sultan or mwami submits to a German protecorate without resistance in 1899. Rwanda is incorporated into German East Africa.

During World War I (in 1915) Belgium occupies Rwanda and in 1922 it becomes part of the League of Nations Mandate territory of Ruanda-Urundi under Belgian administration. The territory Ruanda-Urundi is converted into a United Nations Trust Territory in 1946. Reforms instituted by Belgium in the 1950s encourage the growth of democratic political institutions but are resisted by the Batutsi traditionalists who see in them a threat to Battsi rule. An increasingly restive Hutu population, encouraged by the Belgian military, sparks a revolt in 1959, resulting in the overthrow of the Batutsi monarchy. In 1960 Belgium organizes elections in Rwanda, which are won by the Bahutu party Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement of Grégoire Kayibanda. Joseph Gitera (1960-1961) of the Association Pour la Promotion Sociale de la Masse (Accociation for the Social Betterment of the Masses, APROSOMA) and Grégoire Kayibanda (1961-1962) of Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation Hutu (Party for the Hutu Emacipation Movement, PARMEHUTU) become the first prime ministers.

In 1961 Ruanda-Urundi recieves autonomy and later that year Kayibanda proclaims the republic. A year later, in 1962, Rwanda becomes independent as the Rwandese Republic, a democratic republic and Kayibanda becomes its first president. He is confirmed in the elections of 1965 and 1969. In 1973 the army stages a coup, that brings Juvénal Habyarimana into power. He establishes the Mouvement Révolutionnaire National pour le Development (Revolutionary Movment for National Development, MRND) in 1975, which makes Rwanda a one-party state until 1991. Democracy is promised to be restored in 1991. In 1990 Rwandan exiles band together as the Front Patriotique Rwandais (Rwanda Patriotic Front, FPR), composed mainly of ethnic Batutsi, and invade Rwanda from their base in Uganda. A cease-fire between the FPR and the government takes effect in 1992 and negociations start.

In 1994 the airplane carrying president Habyarimana and the president of Burundi is shot down as it prepared to land at Kigali. Both presidents are killed. As though the shooting down is a signal, military and militia groups begin rounding up and killing all Tutsis and political moderates, regardless of their ethnic background. The prime minister is among the first victims. The killing swiftly spreads from Kigali to all corners of the country: a genocide of unprecedented swiftness leaves up to 800,000 Batutsi and moderate Bahutu dead at the hands of organized bands of militia, the Interahamwe. The FPR then resumes its invasion and civil war rages concurrently with the genocide for 2 months. The army is defeated and the FPR seizes power. Since then Rwanda is dominated by the FPR and allies. The opposition doesn't seem to have a fair chance. Pasteur Bizimungu becomes president. The real strongman is Paul Kagame, who becomes also president in 2000. The premiership is generally held by the Mouvement Démocratique Républicain (Democratic Republican Movement, MDR, successor of the PARMEHUTU). Under a new constitution in 2003 the republic is renamed Republic of Rwanda. Elections take place that are won decisive by the RPF.