ABSTRACT
Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Catholic missionaries had no immediate prospect of wielding significant political influence in Burundi or Rwanda. The White Fathers approach developed by Lavigerie was implemented with different results in Burundi and Rwanda. A relatively high starting point in Rwanda in terms of fixed agriculture led to considerable optimism among the White Fathers. Population density was an important part of political geography. In Rwanda as in Burundi, attribution to the German sphere of influence at the Berlin Conference of 1884 provided no real cover for the missionaries. Rwanda’s apparent monotheism seemed promising to early missionaries. Dowries in Rwanda and Burundi tended to block the expansion of the mission. There was a tendency for non-Christian parents to increase dowry demands in the case of Christian suitors, who were expected to be richer.
