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The Hutu arrived in the Great Lakes region around the 1st century, displacing the Twa. The Hutu dominated the area with a series of small kingdoms until the 15th century. At that time, it is believed that the Tutsi came into the area from Ethiopia and conquered the Hutu. The Tutsi monarchy survived until the end of the colonial era in the 1950s, the Belgian rulers using and codifying the ethnic division to support their rule. The Tutsi monarchy soon fell and the area was divided into Rwanda and Burundi in 1962Events January January 1 Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand January 3 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro January 4 New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board January 8 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is e. The Tutsi nonetheless remained dominant in Burundi, while the Hutu gained a degree of dominance in Rwanda.