When I was a student at Lukanga Adventist Secondary School, I was among the few privileged to deliver the grand sermon on Sabbath Day. Yet, as I grew older, I drifted away from religion.
My deep engagement with Rwanda's oral literature overshadowed my interest in faith. Though I no longer practice any religion, I still find myself drawn to religious music and occasionally captivated by the predictions of great preachers.
Recently, I watched a sermon by one of the century's most renowned preachers, Billy Graham, who passed away on February 21, 2018, leaving behind a legacy of powerful messages.
In one such sermon, titled "Africa: The Holy Land of God - The Truth Revealed: Christianity Was in Africa Before Europe," Graham declared, "Africa stands as the cradle of civilization, the birthplace of humanity, and the foundation upon which the great societies of the world were built. The earliest evidence of human life, discovered in East Africa, proves that the first humans lived and developed in this sacred land."
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This Christian preacher aligned his views with scientific and archaeological findings, noting that the oldest human remains--unearthed in regions like Ethiopia and Tanzania--confirm Africa as humanity's starting point, long before complex societies emerged in Europe or elsewhere.
How he reconciled this with the biblical account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, traditionally linked to Mesopotamia via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, remains a question I can't answer.
Colonial historians once claimed that the people of Africa's Great Lakes Region originated from Egypt. However, recent discoveries suggest the opposite: Africans populated the continent from the Nile Valley, not vice versa.
Most scholars now propose that humanity's ancient ancestors migrated across Africa from the Great Lakes Region, near the source of the Nile River. Which country claims this origin? Kenyans might say Kenya; Rwandans argue for Rwanda; yet many scholars point to Tanzania.
The specifics of this "original Eden"--distinct from the biblical one--remain elusive. Researchers from fields like archaeology, linguistics, skeletal anatomy, and molecular biology continue to piece together this puzzle.
Their challenge is to uncover evidence of the first migrations: who initiated them and how these ancient ancestors spread from this East African cradle to the rest of the continent.
What Rwanda's oral history reveals
Rwandan oral tradition offers its own narrative. It tells of the first African emerging from Ubuha bwa Ruguru, now part of modern-day Tanzania. Sabizeze, the first to arrive in Rwanda, came from Ubuha and settled in Mazinga, today's Akagera National Park.
From there, Rwandan oral history traces a migration path: from Mazinga (Rwanda) to Bungeri (Uganda), then to Butumbi (Sudan), followed by Bwega (encompassing Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea), and finally to Kami (Egypt).
In ancient times, Rwanda was known as Buhanga, Buganda as Bungeri, and regions like Toro, Ankole, and Nyoro fell under Gala. Gala was subdivided into Gala of Ndorwa (covering northern Rwanda, Nkole, and Mpororo) and Ndorwa of Butumbi (northern Uganda). Butumbi corresponds to modern Sudan, while I Bwega--home to the Beja civilization--spanned Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. Egypt, in Rwandan lore, was called I Kami, its people the Abanyakami.
Contemporary scholars often credit Egypt as the origin of all sciences, though older narratives frequently point to the Greeks. Textbooks typically begin with these two cultures when discussing scientific history, implying they predated all others in this domain.
Yet, I believe that if scholars like Cheikh Anta Diop and Théophile Obenga had been born in Rwanda, immersed in our Ibitekerezo, Imigani, and folklore, they might have traced the birth of civilization to Rwanda and Uganda instead.
In Rwandan oral tradition, Buhanga (Rwanda) and Bungeri (Uganda) predate the civilizations of Sudan and Egypt. In Kinyarwanda, Buhanga means "residence of science," Butumbi "residence of the black," and Bungeri "residence of pastoralists."
This region of Africa once fell under the reign of divine kings. The first was Rumezamilyango, and one of the last was Rugambanabato. I propose that the true cradle of civilization lies not in Egypt, but in what we now know as Rwanda and Uganda.
Egyptian Origins in the Nile Valley
Historian Yosef ben-Jochannan, in his article "Nile Valley Civilization and the Spread of African Culture," references the Papyrus of Hunefer, stating, "We came from the beginning of the Nile, where God Hapi dwells, at the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon." Here, "we" refers to the Egyptians, originating at the Nile's source. But where is that source?
It was once thought to be in Uganda. Today, evidence points to Rwanda. In April 2005, a team led by South African Peter Meredith and Hendri Coetzee became the first to navigate the Nile's most remote source, identifying it as the Rukarara River in Rwanda's Nyungwe Forest, feeding into the Akagera River.
On March 31, 2006, British and New Zealand explorers, led by Neil McGrigor, confirmed this, sailing from the Nile's mouth in Egypt to its true origin in Rwanda.
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Notably, Rwanda is unique in claiming Imana y'u Rwanda--the Supreme God, or God of gods--akin to the Egyptian Hapi. Could this suggest a deeper connection?
Could East Africa Be the 1589 Nyamwezi Empire?
This region, once governed by divine kings, may align with the Batembuzi Empire, known today in Ugandan history. By 1589, it might have been called the Nyamwezi Empire, as noted by Giovanni Botero. In Court de Droit Coutumier, George Sandrart writes, "According to Botero, the Portuguese first heard in 1589 of a vast empire, triangular in form, with Abyssinia as its northern border, Monomotapa as its southern border, and the Congo as its northeastern border."
While Botero's borders remain uncertain, this empire--whether the Nyamwezi or Batembuzi--likely dominated much of East Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, parts of DR Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia.
Ugandan historian John Nyakatura favours the Batembuzi label, suggesting a unified empire under a single ruler.
Billy Graham's sermon, alongside science and oral tradition, converges on a compelling truth: humanity's origins lie in East Africa's Nile Valley. Perhaps the "original Eden" is not a myth, but a reality rooted in this sacred land.
