Ganwa is the name for the princely group that traditionally ruled Burundi. They formed a distinct social class that was neither Hutu nor Tutsi, although they were affiliated with the latter. They have launched several appeals to be recognized as a distinct socio-cultural grouping.
The Kingdom of Burundi (French: Royaume du Burundi), also known as Kingdom of Urundi (Kirundi: Ubwami bw'Urundi), was a Bantu kingdom in the modern-day Republic of Burundi. The Ganwa monarchs (with the title of mwami) 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.
This article contains two versions of the list of kings of Burundi, the traditional version before 1680 and the modern genealogy. The Kingdom of Burundi was ruled by sovereigns, titled mwami (plural abami), whose regnal names followed a cycle: Ntare (meaning 'lion'), Mwezi (meaning 'moon'), Mutaga, and Mwambutsa. Traditionally, it was thought that there had been four complete cycles but the modern genealogy indicates that there were only two complete cycles, starting with Ntare III Rushatsi.
In the 16th century, Burundi was a kingdom characterized by a hierarchical political authority and tributary economic exchange. A mwami headed a princely aristocracy (ganwa) which owned most of the land governing its subjects with superiority and required a tribute, or tax, from local farmers and herders who lived in forests. The Tutsi monarchy ruled the nation for centuries, but became largely ceremonial with the colonization of the nation by the German Empire in 1899. The kings continued to nominally rule through German and Belgian colonial periods, and the monarchy continued after the nation gained independence from Belgium in 1962. Burundi ceased to be a monarchy when King Ntare V Ndizeye was deposed by Prime Minister and Chief of Staff, Colonel Michel Micombero, who abolished the monarchy and declared a republic following the November 1966 coup d'état.