Inhabited largely by Hutu and Tutsi peoples, the area was claimed by Germany from 1890 and after the First World War became part of a Belgian trust territory. Rwanda became independent as a republic in 1962, shortly after the violent overthrow of the Tutsi monarchy by the majority Hutu people. In 1994 over 500,000 people, largely Tutsis, were slaughtered by predominantly Hutu supporters of the government, and over a million fled as refugees into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and neighbouring countries. The Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front took power as the new government.