The history of Rwanda shows that all the kings of Rwanda came from the same family of Nyiginya tribe. When the king die, he had to be replaced by his son, who was not yet born he replaced by another member of that family.
In Rwanda, when the king was on the throne, he was given the name of the kingdom depending on where the time was. The king who died had a royal name in addition to the name given by his parents. The royal names were Mutara, Kigeli, Mibambwe, Yuhi, Cyilima, Ruganzu, Ndahiro and Nsoro.
The last three royal names, namely Ruganzu, Ndahiro and Nsoro, were removed during the reign of King Mutara I Semugeshi around 1543-1576. The king, who was considered by many as an innovator, decided to remove these names from the list of kings because of what he said were the problems he had and the mistakes made by those who were named.
King Semugeshi removed the name Nsoro that was once called Nsoro I Samukondo who ruled Rwanda from 1276-1312 because the neighbors of the kingdom of Bugesera were still called, he hated that the kings of Rwanda used to have names like those of Bugesera.
Mutara I Semugeshi also removed the name Ruganzu because two kings named in the history of Rwanda did not behave well, namely Ruganzu I Bwimba who ruled Rwanda from 1312-1345 and Ruganzu II Ndoli who ruled 1510-1543 were opposed and defeated by enemies who killed them. Ruganzu II Ndoli had what we can call magic but he didn’t taught to any of his children.
Semugeshi also carefully took the name Ndahiro because the king was named Nahiro II Cyamatare who ruled from 1488-1510. He was robbed of the royal house (Ingoma Rwoga) when he fought with the people of Nyiratsibura Nyebungo in Bubi bwi Nyundo and they killed him. It also led to the end of the Rwoga dynasty with this king Ndahiro Cyamatare.
After removing these names from the list of the kings of Rwanda, Semugeshi should be called Nsoro II according to the name that was current when he assumed the throne but he rejected it, he replaced all these names he took from the list with the name “Mutara” and he is said to have refused to be called Nsoro confused by the people of Bugesera.
The names “Mutara” and “Cyilima” were given to the kings who would oversee the breeding of cattle where they were governed by the way of investment that we will return to in the next stories, because they are the kings of breeding.
Rwanda in its history has had three kings who were given the name of Mutara, namely Mutara I Semugeshi who appointed it, Mutara II Rwogera and Mutara III Rudahigwa who is currently the national hero.
Mutara I Semugeshi appears in the list of kings who led Rwanda among the kings of ideas where he was replaced by Kigeli II Nyamuheshera 1576-1609 and he has a history that we will return to.
In our next story, we will tell you the reasons for being given the name of the kingdom, and that these names were replaced by the king.
