Burundi’s people speak Kirundi, a Bantu language shared across the country’s traditional social categories of Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. The Kingdom of Burundi is traditionally dated to around 1680 under its founding mwami, Ntare Rushatsi, and was governed with the help of the Ganwa, a princely lineage that supplied royal heirs without being simply Hutu or Tutsi itself.
The Ritual Dance of the Royal Drum (Ingoma) — coordinated drumming and dance once reserved for royal ceremonies like coronations and funerals — was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014.