Part of a series on the
History of Kenya
Overview Timeline of Kenya List of years in Kenya
Pleistocene Koobi Fora Hominins Olorgesailie Aechulean hand axe culture Kariandusi prehistoric site Enkapune Ya Muto Nataruk
Neolithic Lothagam North Monumental Cemetery Kalokol Pillar Site Elmenteitan Culture Cushitic expansion Eburran industry Hyrax Hill
African Iron Age Sirikwa culture Bantu expansion Nilotic expansion Urewe culture Thimlich Ohinga stone-built ruins Shungwaya Mijikenda Kayas (Fortified settlements) Indian Ocean trade route
Swahili city-states Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Swahili people Swahili culture Kilwa Sultanate History of Mombasa History of Malindi History of Lamu Ruins of Gedi Jumba la Mtwana
Portuguese and Omani period Vasco da Gama Portuguese Empire Fort Jesus East African slave trade Omani Empire Said bin Sultan
British colonial period Johann Ludwig Krapf Imperial British East Africa Company Wanga Kingdom Nabongo Mumia Kenya-Uganda Railway Nandi Resistance German East Africa British East Africa Kenya-Uganda Railway Mekatilili Wa Menza East African campaign (World War I) Kenya Colony Mumboism Luo Union (Welfare Organisation) Harry Thuku Kenya in World War II Kenya African Union Jomo Kenyatta Mau Mau Rebellion Dedan Kimathi Tom Mboya Oginga Odinga Nairobi People's Convention Party The Kennedy Airlift Kenya African National Union Lancaster House Conferences (Kenya)
Early post-independence Shifta War Pio Gama Pinto Bildad Kaggia Kenya People's Union 'Little general election' Kisumu Massacre Gikuyu, Embu, and Meru Association Josiah Mwangi Kariuki Presidency of Jomo Kenyatta
Moi era Daniel Arap Moi 1982 coup d'état attempt Wagalla massacre 1992 Kenyan general election HIV/AIDS in Kenya 1997 Kenyan general election 1998 United States embassy bombings Terrorism in Kenya Presidency of Daniel Moi
Recent history 2002 Kenyan general election Mwai Kibaki 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum 2007-2008 Kenyan crisis Raila Odinga 2010 Kenyan constitutional referendum Operation Linda Nchi Westgate shopping mall attack 2014 Mpeketoni attacks Presidency of Mwai Kibaki Uhuru Kenyatta William Ruto Garissa University College attack October 2017 Kenyan presidential election 2018 Kenya handshake COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya Presidency of Uhuru Kenyatta
Kenya portal
v t e

Part of a series on the
History of Uganda
Chronology
Early history pre-1894 British rule 1894–1962 Early independence 1962–1963 First Republic 1963–1971 Second Republic 1971–1979 Third Republic 1979–1986 Since 1986 1986–present
Special themes
Expulsion of Asians 1972 Uganda–Tanzania War 1978–1979 Bush War 1981–1986 1986–1994 civil war 1986–1994 LRA insurgency 1987–present
By topic
Buganda Economic Military
Uganda portal
v t e

Part of a series on the
History of Tanzania
Timeline
Pre-colonial period
Oldowan stone tool culture Olduvai Gorge Laetoli footprints Mumba Cave hunter-gatherers Cushitic expansion Luxmanda Bantu expansion Nilotic expansion Indian Ocean trade History of Zanzibar Menouthias Rhapta Urewe culture Swahili culture Kilwa Sultanate Engaruka
Colonial period
Vasco da Gama and Portuguese expansion Omani Empire East African slave trade Sultanate of Zanzibar Zanzibar slave trade Scramble for Africa German East Africa Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty Maji Maji Rebellion East African Campaign British East Africa Tanganyika Territory
Modern history
Tanganyika Zanzibar Revolution Julius Nyerere Ujamaa Uganda–Tanzania War 1998 United States embassy bombings East African Community COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania
Tanzania portal
v t e

History of Burundi
Urewe civilisation Hutu, Tutsi and Twa origins
Kingdom of Burundi German East Africa 1891–1919 Ruanda-Urundi 1922–1962 Ruzagayura famine 1943–1944
Road to independence Parliamentary election 1961 Prince Rwagasore assassination 1961 Independence 1962
Burundi 1962–present Army coup attempt 1965 Ndizeye coup Jul 1966 Micombero coup Nov 1966 Genocidal killings of Hutus 1972 Bagaza coup 1976 Buyoya coup, 1st 1987
Burundian Civil War Army coup attempt 1993 Genocidal killings of Tutsis 1993 Buyoya coup, 2nd 1996 Titanic Express massacre 2000 Army coup attempt 2001 Itaba massacre 2002
Current Second Congo War 1998–2003 Burundian unrest 2015–2018 Army coup attempt 2015 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–present
Category Commons Portal Timeline
v t e

Part of a series on the
History of Rwanda
Kingdom  ?–1962 German East Africa 1885–1919 Rumanura famine 1916–1918 Belgian mandate (Ruanda-Urundi) 1922–1962 Revolution 1959–1962 Republic of Rwanda 1962–present Bugesera invasion 1963 Coup d'état of 5 July 1973 Civil War 1990–1994 Genocide 1993–1994 First Congo War 1996–1997 Second Congo War 1998–2003 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–present
v t e

Part of a series on the
History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Early history pre–1876 Kingdom of Kongo 1390–1914 Kingdom of Luba 1585–1889 Kingdom of Lunda 1600–1887 Kuba Kingdom 1625–1884 Kingdom of Chokwe 1800–1891 Yeke Kingdom 1856–1891
Colonization 1876–1960 Intl. African Association 1876–1879 Intl. Congo Society 1879–1885 Congo Free State (Atrocities) 1885–1908 Belgian Congo 1908–1960 World War II 1940–1945
Independence post–1960 Congo Crisis 1960–1965 Congo–Léopoldville 1960–1971 Zaire (Shaba I / II) 1971–1997 First Congo War 1996–1997 Second Congo War 1998–2003 Joseph Kabila presidency 2001–2019 Félix Tshisekedi presidency 2019–present
See also: Years
DRC Portal
v t e

The Urewe culture developed and spread in and around the Lake Victoria region of Africa during the African Iron Age. The culture's earliest dated artefacts are located in the Kagera Region of Tanzania, and it extended as far west as the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as far east as the Nyanza and Western provinces of Kenya, and north into Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Sites from the Urewe culture date from the Early Iron Age, from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD. The Urewe people certainly did not disappear, and the continuity of institutional life was never completely broken.^{[citation needed]} One of the most striking things about the Early Iron Age pots and smelting furnaces is that some of them were discovered at sites that the local people still associate with royalty, and still more significant is the continuity of language.^[1]

Chronology

This civilisation emerges in the region during the transition from the second to the first millennium B.C. and seems to have thrived in various sites well into the second millennium A.D. It underwent its greatest period of expansion, allied to an important metalworking activity, from the first to the sixth century A.D. and covered the Kivu region (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to the west up to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in north-west Tanzania and south-west Kenya.

Urewe seems to be a fully developed civilisation recognizable through its distinctive, stylish earthenware and highly technical and sophisticated iron working techniques. Their pottery incorporated such distinctive features as dimples and concentric lines. However, minor local variations in the ceramic ware can be observed.

The origins of the Urewe culture are thought to ultimately be in the Bantu expansion originating in Cameroon.^{[citation needed]} into early Iron Age civilisations in sub-Saharan Africa has been undertaken concurrently with studies on Niger–Congo linguistics on Bantu expansion. The Urewe culture may correspond to the Eastern subfamily of Bantu languages, spoken by the descendants of the first wave of Bantu peoples to settle East Africa. The inhabitants were likely cattle herders and millet and sorghum farmers.

The Urewe civilisation in Burundi and Rwanda

Urewe ceramics are modest in size, measuring from 30 cm up to a maximum of 36 cm in height. Three distinct shapes have been observed: vases, small vases, both closed s-shaped pieces, open-bowls on which stereotyped patterns have been crafted: and bevelling on the rim, hatching on the neck surface for ease of handling, the body decorated with a ribboned pattern of crafted geometrical designs, and a dimple base finish. The decorative markings are adapted to and emphasise the shape of the vase with its 4 components, often seen on the little vase in simplified form. Conversely, these '4 component' patterns are all stuck on the bowl; regardless of its '3 components' shape. One proposed hypothesis suggests the bowl was developed later than the vase. Support for this comes from the identification, in terms of Bantu linguistics, of a new term first appearing around 1000 B.C. meaning "frying pan" probably serving as a clue to a change in cooking techniques reflecting adaptation to a more sedentary lifestyle when Bantu-speaking people began to settle in the Rwanda and Burundi hills.

The ironsmelting furnace associated to these Urewe ceramics comprised a basin filled with fresh green leafy branches and herbs which served as a filter for the slag deposit at the base. Above the basin was a cone-shaped shaft, not unlike a chimney, made by superimposing rolls of damp clay. The decorated furnace, with its fluted patterns on the upper roll and deeply incised criss-cross or s-shaped patterns on the outer surface, may be reminiscent of the rim or neck of the ceramic pottery. Analyses carried out on the ironworking residue have not yet provided data on the efficiency of these furnaces, or whether they were a measure of their technical nature. Iron ore and fuel were readily available. The word "ubutare" meaning "iron" still crops up in many place names. The wooded crown cover was used to produce charcoal. As new wood was always used for this purpose, radiocarbon dating of this material is relatively reliable.

Favorable environments and changes due to climatic variations and human activity

Environmental studies combine the tree species identification of charcoal collected from iron smelting furnaces and open hearths, palynological analyses of high altitude and valley peat bogs as well as in archaeological structures as well as phyto-sociological and geomorphologic data. The settlement period of the Urewe civilisation should be seen in the context of a cooling and drying out period in about 1000 BC. Those members of the Urewe civilisation who settled in Rwanda and Burundi did so exclusively in the hills region (central plain) in a 1700 and 1300 meters high zone on clay soils on primary substrate which are some of Africa's richest. The undulating countryside, covered with woodland savanna (tree cover vegetation, sparser on the slopes and denser in valleys and on crests) together provided good living conditions (moderate temperatures and average rainfall, protected from carriers of human and animal disease) encouraged a variety of activities. The Urewe would have lived a relatively sedentary life as farmers, devoting themselves to agriculture (including cereal growing) and small-scale cattle rearing. They do not appear to have supplemented their diet by hunting and fishing as will be the case in these areas in the late Iron Age, and which occurred in the early Iron Age in those more east-lying Urewe civilisations around Lake Victoria, influenced perhaps by contacts with nomadic communities along the east African Rift Valley.

Combined human activities, land clearance, ironworking, cereal growing, etc., led to the deforestation of fringes of the great forest which once covered the north–south backbone as well as the forest corridors along the water sources which caused soil erosion on the slopes. This phenomenon led to the extensive erosion of Kabuye hill near Butare as a result of their occupation of the site for about 500 years.

The hilly region of Rwanda and Burundi was probably a well frequented route from the northern to the southern hemisphere in Africa and would therefore have regularly experienced the relative overcrowding of people fleeing the drought-ridden Sahel regions which impeded soil regeneration. On the contrary, the impact of human activity, combined with consecutive periods of hot, dry climatic conditions have only served to aggravate soil degradation up to modern times.

Since the 7th century, the appearance of simpler, roulette-decorated, ceramic pottery as well as new types of iron furnace, heralded a major change towards the late Iron Age. However, the Urewe civilisation did manage to survive in isolated pockets at least up to the 14th century.

Archaeologists in the field area

The authors and major institutions linked to research into the Urewe civilisation in the Great Lakes region are: Mary Leakey (Owen collection published in 1948), Jean Hiernaux (excavations and publications 1960–70), Merrick Posnansky (excavations and publications 1960–70), David Phillipson (Synthesis of the Early Iron Age in Eastern Africa in 1976), the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), in Nairobi, under the aegis of J.E.G. Sutton (within the Bantu Studies Project, excavations and publications 1960–70), Peter Schmidt (excavations and publications 1970–80, synthesis 1997), Marie-Claude Van Grunderbeek, Emile Roche and Hugues Doutrelepont (excavations 1978–87, publications up to the present day). New on-site research is ongoing in the Great Lakes region on the initiative of London University in collaboration with the BIEA.