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Originally Posted by Alphagamuga
Centaur, are you sure you mean the tribes weren't there or that colonial powers pushed tribes together into the geographic spaces they wanted them in?
Rwanda is a good example. There were tribes before colonization, I'm pretty sure. The problems may have resulted from external powers trying to make one country out of distinct tribes.
ETA: I stand corrected on Rwanda, at least according to what wikipedia has to say. The two two major "tribes" don't seem distinct at all as far as genetics and language. Interesting.
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There were no 'tribes', just groups of people who lived together. There was relative peace among these groups. It was when the colonialists pushed these little societies together and called them a tribe that the problems started. For a modern day example, let's say we take one half of a state such as Florida, and say, "you all live near each other even though you have entirely separate cultures. Now you're a tribe; act like it." No sane person will react kindly to that.
Another key issue is classism. The colonialists would pick a city and build that city up, making an industrial epi-center. Now, think of this like a bulls-eye, with the city in the middle. If you live in or around that city, you're going to get a decent job. The further away you are, the less likely it is that you'll get a job and you're probably neglected by the governing body. When we couple that with the geographically based tribes created by the colonialists, you can see another fine example of a catalyzing conflict. Those who live far away from the city are made into a tribe; they don't get along because they're not the same, so there's already tension. Then the colonialists create another tribe from the people living close to the city. Now this new tribe has more money, and a better position in society. They're higher up in the class system. This was how it was for the Hutus and Tutsis. The Tutsis lived close to the big city, while the Hutus lived a lot further away. The system put in place by the colonialists made it very hard for someone to move up the financial ladder, so the resentment starts and tension builds. The Tutsis were basically told that they were better than the Hutus. Why? Arbitrary grouping.
Wow, that was long-winded.