Ririkumutima

Last updated
Ririjumutima
Queen Regent of Burundi
Ririkumutima.jpg
Tenure1908 – 28 July 1917
Born Kingdom of Burundi
Died(1917-07-28)July 28, 1917
Gitega, Burundi
Spouse Mwezi Gisabo
Names
Mwamikazi Nidi Ririkumutima Bizima Bitazimiza Mwezi
FatherSekawonyi
MotherInankinso

Mwamikazi Nidi Ririkumutima Bizima Bitazimiza Mwezi, commonly known as Ririkumutima, (died 28 July 1917) was Queen Regent of Burundi from 1908 to her death. She was married to Burundian king, Mwezi Gisabo in the mid 1890s and she was his favourite wife. However, when king Gisabo died in 1908, Ririkumutima fell out of royalty as one of his sons became king. [1] This led to a lot of strife in the kingdom.

Contents

Early life and family

Ririkumutima was born in the mid-nineteenth century in the Kingdom of Burundi, [2] the third daughter of Chief Sekawonyi of the Watussi Munyakarama clan by his wife Inankinso. [3] One of thirteen wives of Mwezi Gisabo (ca. 1850 – 1908), king of Burundi, Ririkumutima gave birth to three daughters and six sons.

Political career

The elderly king Mwezi died in 1908. [4] Ririkumutima was anxious to secure that the royal succession would pass to one of her sons. Aware that another wife, Ntibahinya, was gaining favour and that the throne seemed likely to pass to Ntibahinya's son, Mbikije, Ririkumutima arranged for Ntibahinya's assassination. She then proclaimed throughout the kingdom that she was Mbukije's mother and therefore the rightful queen mother. [5] While it was widely known that Ririkumutima was not Mbukije's biological mother, the fiction was accepted and she served as regent both during Mbukije's reign as Mutaga IV Mbikije and the following reign of Mwambutsa IV.

The role of queen mother ( mugabekazi ) was a highly revered one in Burundian society; this, coupled with Ririkumutima's political acumen made her a formidable presence. [6] Her other sons became important chiefs in the local aristocracy.

Relation to European colonial government

Though Burundi had become a German colony as part of German East Africa in 1890, the colonial power did not effectively occupy or control the region. [7] In 1916 during World War I, the Belgian troops invaded and occupied the region. [7]

The first Europeans to encounter Ririkumutima described her as being:

carried by bearers on her litter from one royal residence to another and [someone who] personally dealt with the kingdom's affairs. In her visits to the European authorities, this slow-speaking woman, incapable of a movement, showed herself to be as intelligent, as energetic and more stubborn than all the princes in her entourage.

R. Bourgeois, Banyarwanda et Barundi, (1954), p. 54

Death

Ririkumutima died at Gitega on 28 July 1917.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Burundi</span>

Burundi originated in the 16th century as a small kingdom in the African Great Lakes region. After European contact, it was united with the Kingdom of Rwanda, becoming the colony of Ruanda-Urundi - first colonised by Germany and then by Belgium. The colony gained independence in 1962, and split once again into Rwanda and Burundi. It is one of the few countries in Africa to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld</span> Duchess of Kent and Strathearn

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later Princess of Leiningen and subsequently Duchess of Kent and Strathearn, was a German princess and the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. As the widow of Charles, Prince of Leiningen, from 1814, she served as regent of the Principality during the minority of her son from her first marriage, Karl, until her second wedding in 1818 to Prince Edward, fourth son of George III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mwambutsa IV of Burundi</span> 20th-century King of Burundi

Mwambutsa IV Bangiricenge was the penultimate king of Burundi who ruled between 1915 and 1966. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his father Mutaga IV Mbikije. Born while Burundi was under German colonial rule, Mwambutsa's reign mostly coincided with Belgian colonial rule (1916–62). The Belgians retained the monarchs of both Rwanda and Burundi under the policy of indirect rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutaga IV of Burundi</span> King of Burundi

Mutaga IV Mbikije was the king of Burundi from 21 August 1908 until 30 November 1915. He was the son of Mwami Mwezi IV. He inherited the throne at the age of 15, after his father died in 1908, under the regnal name of Mutaga. Being too young to ensure continuity, he ruled with the help of a regency council consisting of another wife of his father, Ririkumutima, and a half-brother of this father, Ntanigera. Mutaga IV died prematurely in November 1915 after a fight that supposedly pitted him against his younger brother, Prince Bangura.

King Mwami Mwezi IV Gisabo Bikata-Bijoga was the last independent ruler of Burundi before its colonization by the German Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Burundi</span> Bantu state in southeast Africa (1680–1966)

The Kingdom of Burundi, also known as Kingdom of Urundi, was a Bantu kingdom in the modern-day Republic of Burundi. The Ganwa monarchs ruled over both Hutus and Tutsis. Created in the 16th century, the kingdom was preserved under German and Belgian colonial rule in the late 19th and early 20th century and was an independent state between 1962 and 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia</span> German princess (1892–1980)

Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia was the only daughter and the last child of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. Through her father, Victoria Louise was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">God's Wife of Amun</span> Highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult

God's Wife of Amun was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth dynasties. The office had political importance as well as religious, since the two were closely related in ancient Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">María Isabella of Spain</span> Queen of the Two Sicilies from 1825 to 1830

Maria Isabella of Spain was Queen of the Two Sicilies from 4 January 1825 until 8 November 1830 as the wife of Francis I of the Two Sicilies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Burundi</span> Religion in Burundi

Islam is a minority religion in Burundi where approximately 90 percent of the national population are followers of Christianity. Between 2–5 percent of the population identifies as Muslim, according to a 2010 estimate by the United States Department of State. The same year, the Pew Research Centre estimated that there were 230,000 Muslims in Burundi, equivalent to 2.8 percent of Burundi's 8.4 million inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Burundi</span> Country in Central Africa

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Burundi:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Descendants of Queen Victoria</span> Descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Queen Victoria, the British monarch from 1837 to 1901, and Prince Albert had 9 children, 42 grandchildren, and 87 great-grandchildren. Victoria was called the "grandmother of Europe".

A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of similar yet distinct monarchical concepts in non-European cultures around the world. The rank does not go to all mothers of monarchs though. A mother of a ruling monarch may only be referred to as Queen Mother if she was a Queen Consort as opposed to a Princess Consort.

These are some of the articles related to Burundi on the English Wikipedia:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burundian nationality law</span>

Burundian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Burundi, as amended; the Nationality Code of Burundi, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Burundi. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Burundian nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth in Burundi or abroad to parents with Burundian nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.

Inamujandi was a Burundian spiritual leader and anticolonial activist.

Camasarye II Philoctenus or Comosarye was a daughter of Spartocus V and a Spartocid queen of the Bosporan Kingdom from 180-160/150 BC. She was the wife of her cousin Paerisades III and a granddaughter of Leucon II. She co-ruled with Paerisades III.

References

  1. "Ririkumutima". Infinite Women. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  2. Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates, Henry Louis, eds. (2012). "Ririkumutima". Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. ISBN   9780195382075.
  3. History, The African (27 March 2021). "Ririkumutima: Intelligent queen that made Germany colonization so hard in Burundi". The African History. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  4. Shillington, Kevin (2013). Encyclopedia of African History. Routledge. ISBN   9781135456696.
  5. Women, peace and conflicts in traditional African society. p. 89.
  6. Émile Mworoha (1991). Histoire sociale de l'Afrique de l'Est (XIXe-XXe siècle). p. 43.
  7. 1 2 "Kingdom of Burundi". Encyclopædia Britannica (Online ed.). Retrieved 15 October 2016.