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Buganda is a Bantu peoples kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Uganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 million Baganda (singular Muganda; often referred to simply by the root word and adjective, Ganda) make up the largest Ugandan region, representing approximately 16% of Uganda's population.
Buganda's history includes unification during the 13th century by the first king, Kato Kintu, the founder of Buganda's Kintu dynasty, and Buganda grew to become one of the largest and most powerful states in East Africa during the 18th and the 19th centuries. During the Scramble for Africa, and following unsuccessful attempts to retain its independence against British Empire, Buganda became the centre of the Uganda Protectorate in 1884; the name "Uganda", the Swahili language term for Buganda, was adopted by British officials. Under British rule, many Baganda acquired status as colonial administrators, and Buganda became a major producer of cotton and coffee, and it continues to be Uganda greatest coffee producer. In the financial year 2023/2024, the region produced over 3,170,000 bags of Coffea canephora. Baganda through the Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga's campaign of Emwaanyi Terimba actively participated in coffee production which in the end has brought about a significant extension in the country's coffee exports.
In 1967, Uganda's first Prime Minister Milton Obote declared Uganda a republic, abolished all monarchs, parliament became the constituent assembly and later all political parties were outlawed except the Uganda People's Congress.
Following years of political turmoil, the kingdom, which largely occupies a ceremonial role, was officially restored in 1993 by Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement under Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda since 1986.
Since the restoration of the kingdom in 1993, the King of Buganda, known as the Kabaka, has been Muwenda Mutebi II. He is recognized as the 36th Kabaka of Buganda. The current queen, known as the Nnabagereka or Kaddulubale is Queen Sylvia Nagginda.
Buganda's boundaries are marked by the Tanzania in Lake Victoria (Lake Nalubaale) to the south, the Victoria Nile (River Kiira) to the east, Lake Kyoga to the north, Ankole to the west and River Kafu to the northwest.
Beyond Buganda's borders, there was a wide domain of influence and depredation. Kabakas launched regular raids and interfered in succession disputes to secure pliant puppet rulers. There were sizeable kingdoms to Bugandas east, but they were still not comparable to Buganda. To the west were drier grasslands where large herds of long-horned Ankole cattle were poorly defended by the Kingdom of Ankole. The Ankole kingdom would send large herds of cattle, in order to keep the peace with the kings of Buganda. The western and southern kingdoms were minuscule and raided unmercifully by Buganda's army. Rumanika, the king of Karagwe, told John Hanning Speke that the Baganda "have been making constant raids, seizing cattle and slaves from the surrounding countries". The Haya people on the coasts of the Kagera Region could not offer any resistance to Buganda's attacks by land and sea. Within the interior of the Kagera Region, The larger Kingdom of Karagwe acknowledged Buganda's superior power and accepted its suzerainty.
The once great kingdom of Bunyoro lay to Bugandas northwest frontier and was always on the defensive, being constantly raided by Buganda's armies. The Banyoro angrily referred to Buganda as "Mhwahwa" (land of wild dogs) due to this. Buganda assisted a rebel prince in breaking away from Bunyoro and forming the Tooro Kingdom. This was of great benefit for Buganda and gave it more secure access to strategic trade routes while weakening its rival.
Busoga supplied Buganda with slaves as a form of tribute, to palliate and strike bon accord with the Baganda.
Even areas as distant as the Kenyan border were not safe from Ganda invasions and plunder.
Elizabeth Isichei says that it is likely that the Buganda state is much more ancient than has previously been thought, and that Buganda began as a small kingdom in the north of Lake Victoria in what is now Busiro County. Christopher Wrigley wrote "A political structure of some sort, small in scale and mainly ritual in function, may be taken to have existed in northern Busiro, where the ancient shrines are clustered, at a time far beyond the reach of historical tradition...the rituals of Ganda kingship are both too elaborate and too archaic in character to have been evolved within the past few centuries."
Baganda oral history says that Buganda was distinct and of at least equal antiquity to Kitara. It has no mention of the Chwezi, and according to the historian Christopher Wrigley, "It is unlikely that Buganda was fully integrated into the system that was probably not called Kitara. Its language is distinct from 'Rutara languages', and the directors of the Ntusi and Biggo systems would not have had much interest in a land that was not really suited to cattle-rearing".
By the 19th century, Buganda was an "embryonic empire". It built fleets of war canoes from the 1840s to take control of Lake Victoria and the surrounding regions and subjugated several weaker peoples. These subject peoples were then exploited for cheap labor. The first Europeans to enter the Kingdom of Buganda were British explorers John Hanning Speke and Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton while searching for the headwaters of the Nile in 1862. They found a highly organized political system.
After Buganda conquered Buddu, it was able to launch raids deep into western Uganda. Kabaka Suna II invaded and plundered the Nkore three times. Buganda would eventually conquer territory away from Nkore such as Kabula and significant parts of the Bwera kingdom, whose grazing lands had been used by Hima people. Mutumbuka, the Mugabe (king) of Nkore, died in 1870, it caused a succession crisis, which Buganda took advantage of. King Mutesa sent an envoy to intercede. The purpose of the peace envoy was to make a blood brotherhood with Makumbi, who was the leader of the Nkore delegation and one of the legitimate claimants to be the next king of Nkore. Buganda secretly ordered its envoy to massacre as many of Makumbi's followers as possible (to support Makumbi's rival, Mukwenda, who was the pretender to the throne supported by Buganda). The meeting was set in Kabula, where Makumbi's supporters were led into a trap, resulting in over 70 leaders, including 20 princes, being slaughtered. It was "the height of treachery that was difficult to forget" in the Banyankole's eyes. Even in modern times, Banyankole elders were still lamenting the massacre, saying, "Only the Baganda could have thought of such a thing."
To Europeans, the Baganda belonged to a distinct political and social order and were thus privileged over other ethnic and cultural groups in the region. Henry Morton Stanley described the Baganda as "an extraordinary people, as different from the barbarous pirates of Uvuma, and the wild, mop-headed men of Eastern Usukuma, as the British in India are from their Afridi fellow-subjects, or the white Americans of Arkansas from the semi-civilized Choctaws."
Colonel Lambkin and the explorer Harry Johnston both described the Baganda as the black Japanese or "the Japanese of the dark continent" and "the most naturally civilized, charming, kind, tactful, and courteous of black people." Frederick Lugard claimed that Buganda was "probably the most civilised of any native state in Africa."
Former US President Theodore Roosevelt was amazed by the kingdom when he visited Africa in 1909, claiming that Buganda stood "far above most … in their capacity for progress towards civilization." Visiting Buganda had a profound impact on him and compelled him to rethink his negative views of African people, and even African Americans in the United States. The reality of Buganda's political sophistication commanded his respect.
While in exile, Mwanga II was received into the Anglican Church and was baptized with the name of Danieri (Daniel). He spent the rest of his life in exile. He died in 1903, at 35 years of age. On 2 August 1910, his remains were repatriated and buried at Kasubi.
On 24 July 1993, the monarchy of Buganda was restored when Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II was crowned king. Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II was the son of King 'Freddy', who had been deposed by the Ugandan government in 1966. Sunday Times, 1 August 1993, p. 18.
Prior to the Buganda Agreement of 1900, Buganda was an almost absolute monarchy. Under the Kabaka, there were three types of chief: bakungu (administrative) chiefs, who were appointed directly by the Kabaka; traditional bataka chieftains; and batongole chiefs, who served as representatives of the Kabaka, charged with "maintaining internal security, supervising royal estates and military duties". The 1900 agreement, however, greatly enhanced the power of the Lukiiko (which had previously been simply an advisory council) at the expense of the Kabaka. While Buganda retained self-government, as one part of the larger Uganda Protectorate, it would henceforth be subject to formal British overrule. The Buganda Agreement of 1955 continued the transition from absolute to constitutional monarchy.
During Uganda independence, the constitutional position of Buganda (and the degree to which it would be able to exercise self-government) was a major issue. Discussions as part of the Uganda Relationships Commission resulted in the Buganda Agreement of 1961 and the first Constitution of Uganda (1962), as part of which Buganda would be able to exercise a high degree of autonomy. This position was reversed during 1966–67, however, before the Kabakaship and Lukiiko were disestablished altogether in 1967 before being restored in 1993.
The explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley visited Buganda after Speke in 1875 and was equally impressed: "Broad avenues of reddish clay, strongly mixed with the detritus of hematite led by a gradual ascent to the circular road which made the circuit of the hill outside the palace enclosure. His house is an African palace, spacious and lofty". At Buganda's capital, Lubaga, Stanley found a well-ordered city surrounding the king's palace, which was situated atop a commanding hill. A tall cane fence surrounded the palace compound, which was filled with grass-roofed houses, meeting halls, and storage buildings. Thronging the grounds were foreign ambassadors seeking audiences, chiefs going to the royal advisory council, messengers running errands, and a corps of young pages. He estimated the population of the kingdom at 2,000,000Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes,
The Baganda had discovered that rats were carriers of fleas that caused outbreaks of the bubonic plague, and ensured that any overabundance of rats was to be hunted, which greatly improved sanitation and reduced epidemics in their settlements.
Kabaka's Lake is an artificial lake created by King Mwanga for defence.
When John Hanning Speke visited Buganda in 1862, he described the kingdom's roads as being "as long as our coach-roads, cut through the long grasses, straight over the hills and down through the woods in the dells—a strange contrast to the wretched tracks in all the adjacent countries."
Water transport was essential for Buganda and greatly helped in the kingdom's expansion via its fleet of war canoes. Water transport also provided a means of political communication between the capital, which was usually sited fairly close to the lake, and outlying areas of the Kingdom along the lake shore, as well as the islands. The island chiefs had to maintain a great fleet of canoes ready for state service. The Mamba clan specialized in water transport and the head of the clan was the admiral of Buganda's navy.
Messages were sent by "runners of athletic renown". These messengers were called bakayungirizi and were trained from an early age in prolonged, rapid marches, moving night and day with only short breaks; King Mutesa had many in his service.
The use of talking drums to spread messages was widespread in Buganda. This drum language had hundreds of distinctive beats or rhythms representing as many specific meanings, making it possible for almost instantaneous communication throughout the kingdom.
The kings (Kabaka) would often fight in battle themselves, with some losing their lives. Those who showed great courage in battle would be rewarded by the king and fed by his father at a ceremonial meal. Those shown cowardice could be burned to death on the battlefield. If spared, a piece of banana stem would be tied behind him, in imitation of a woman giving birth, before he was put to women's work.
Kabaka Mawanda's armies struck terror across the region. The name of Mawanda unleashed terror and horror among the kingdoms, with the Soga people saying, "Omuganda Mawanda olumbe lwekirago lwaita mama na taata" (Mawanda, the nefarious Muganda, slaughtered all our mother and father).
Kabaka Kamanya's reign in the early nineteenth century was known as one of "restless warfare" during which "men were not permitted to rest, and even children of fourteen were required to carry each his two spears and shield to war." His successor, Suna, carried on sixteen major military expeditions in a twenty-six-year reign. Under the Reign of Kabaka Suna II, Buganda's borders were strengthened through the perfection of an army organization that was able to field 50,000 warriors. The Katikiro (prime minister) Apollo Kaggwa speaks of wars being waged regularly every six months.
Kabaka Mwanga was able to "throw 50,000 armed men into the field any day."
By attacking Bunyoro, Buganda's armies also "forced people to abandon their homesteads, and disrupted agriculture, trade and redistribution". Over time, Buganda's armies became expert at destroying crops in the field and locating and emptying underground granaries, which led to famine in Bunyoro.
The reign of Mutesa I was the zenith of Ganda military power. Under Mutesa, there were sixty-six wars in twenty-eight years. Mutesa led an army of 125,000 warriors supported by 230 war canoes during his campaign against the Sesse Islanders
In the 1890s, raiding parties of up to 20,000 Baganda were mobilized to plunder the rival kingdom of Bunyoro.
Baganda war canoes could carry 60 to 100 warriors (not including the crew of 50 to 100) and could be as long as over 72 feet. These vessels were organized into a squadron under a leader. When engaged in battle, the paddlers squatted on the sides of the canoes while the warriors stood upright holding spears and shields.
In the year 1800, a military campaign involving canoes was undertaken by the Kabaka Kamanya against the Luo languages speaking Lango people north of Buganda. This war was noted for its ferocity. The geography of the Lango sub-region was daunting to the Ganda, the land being intersected by broad rivers and the eastern arms of Lake Kyoga. King Kamanya became extremely frustrated with his inability to overcome the Lango people, and so a grand council was held to discuss tactics. They decided to send 100 canoes to Jinja, where they would be disassembled and carried overland through Busoga to the Nagombwa river, where they would be reassembled and proceed to attack the Lango in their rear. At the same time, Kabaka Kamanya himself led another army along the western side of the Nile towards Urondogani and attacked the Lango from that side. The ensuing battle was eventually, if not easily, won.
In 1878, Mutesa sent a fleet to Ukerewe Island, where it helped the local ruler, Lukonge, put down a rebellion. The next year, the Baganda mounted successful slave raids against Busoga and the . Buganda's navy also conducted slave raids against the Luhya people and Luo people on the coasts of western Kenya
The descendants of the Basimba people (also known as Bashimba) which is a Bissa language and Ovambo language nickname of the Clan of the leopards, the bena Ngo in Zambia, who settled at Mpogo, Sironko District, are among the Ngo Clan group that come along with Kabaka Kato Kintu in his immigration.
These eleven clans are:
The Hima people (a foreign pastoralist group from western Uganda) entered Buganda to be employed to herd cattle for the Baganda (other Hima were captured as slaves). Since cattle have no great ritual significance in Buganda, the hima's pastoralism did not give them the prestige they had in some of the western kingdoms, and thus they were subordinate to the Baganda. The agricultural Baganda referred to the pastoral Bahima as menial slaves and "insanitary rustics" (due to the Bahima habit of smearing their bodies with butter) and looked down on them as being culturally inferior. A famine (which was rare) struck Buganda after Suna became king, the Bahima people worked very hard to supply their masters with milk. The Hima were overall regarded as alien and not to be trusted. There was a plot against Kayira, the Katikiro (Prime Minister) of Buganda during the reign of Mutesa. The plot against him was meant to have him removed from his position. His political enemies accused him of being "a Munyoro and a Muhima"; he replied that his mother was hima and it was deemed insufficient reasoning for his removal.
Buganda's western expansion and its conquest of territory formerly owned by Bunyoro and Ankole gave it control of vast new lands ideal for pastoralism. John Roscoe explains the successful expansions of the agricultural Kingdom of Buganda against its more pastoralist rival, Bunyoro:
Leather working and tanning was an important industry and employed significant numbers of subjects. An account from 1874 describes the tanning of leather by the bakopi (commoners) who made large sheets of leather that were "beautifully tanned and sewed together". A resident missionary in 1879 reported purchasing dyed leather skins cut in the shape of a hat. Cowhides were fashioned into sandals worn by the elite and priests since before the 18th century, with buffalo hides specifically worn by chiefs and the elite.
As early as the 1860s, professional smiths attached to the court were making ammunition for imported firearms, and by 1892, Federick Lugard observed that the Ganda smiths: "will construct you a new stock to a rifle which you will hardly detect from that made by a London gun-maker. The Fundi Kisule is an accomplished blacksmith and gunsmith, and will make a new spring or repair any damaged rifle with admirable workmanship. Their folding stools of rod iron, and their beautifully-tumed-out spears, attest their ability as blacksmiths."
Ganda slave raiders invaded Bunyoro-Kitara throughout the 1800s and local missionaries would report vast numbers of slaves captured from Buganda's enemy kingdom. The explorer John Hanning Speke witnessed the Ganda army returning from Bunyoro with "immense numbers of cows, women and children, but not men, for they were killed". Hundreds of slaves from Bunyoro were paraded at Kabaka Mutesa's court as a show of victory over their defeated enemies.
The Hima people (a pastoralist group) were especially sought out as slaves in raids into the foreign western kingdoms such as Ankole and Busongora. Hima women were considered highly attractive by the Ganda and were popular as concubines. Many Hima women were put in the harems of chiefs and the Kabaka. Many cattle in Buganda were herded by enslaved Bahima herdsmen taken prisoners in war.
In the 1860s, kingdoms in Tanzania such as Unyanyembe and Mirambo regarded slaves they purchased from Buganda as being the best available, especially the Hima women, (who were also brought from Karagwe). The export of slaves increased steadily through the 1860s and 1870s, reaching a peak in the 1880s, when as many as several thousand may have been exported annually.
Foreign slaves could be harshly treated, as in the case of a Hima slave who tended the Katikiro's (prime minister's) cattle. The Hima people decided to leave his master and serve the king. The prime minister seized the Hima people (on false pretenses) and had his ears cut off, and his eyes gouged out as a warning to his other slaves not to leave him (not even for the king).
There was also a high demand for slaves from east of the Nile. Historian David William Cohen says that "Ganda men relished the supposed attributes of women from Busoga, finding their elegant bodies beautiful and their separation from the tense, competitive arenas of Ganda politics a great virtue". In order to appease the Baganda, the Soga people would send tribute to Buganda which included slave women. Baganda and Basoga alike participated in the kidnapping and transport of slaves. After the year 1850, no place in Busoga was hallowed sanctuary due to the scourge of kidnappings. While in Buganda, Emin Pasha witnessed hundreds of women brought in from Busoga. Slaves taken in war were usually distributed among the chiefs (a chief named Mende had 700 female slaves). Due to the military campaigns led by Kabaka Suna, there were so many women captives that Suna gifted 2,000 to his mother, 80 to Sebowa (the Katabalwa), and the remainder were taken to the Court and distributed among his wives who ruled over them as they wished. It is estimated that Buganda had a sex ratio of 3.5:1 due to the vast numbers of foreign female slaves taken into the kingdom.
The Lubuga effectively shared the throne with her brother and had the same powers he had, for example, she controlled land throughout the country with estates in each district, and she had her own courts and her own chiefs with the same titles as those of the king's chiefs. For their own subjects, the Namasole and Lubuga were the final decision makers and arbiters. The Lubuga's palace was about twice the size of that of an important wife of the king. The others had more elaborate palaces. After the death of a king, the lùbugà took the title nnaalinnya (I will soon ascend) and became responsible for protecting the shrines in which the deceased king's jawbone and umbilical cord were kept. This shrine was where the òmuzimù (spirit) of the king resided and so "the lùbugà/nnaalinnya held significant creative power even after leaving office."
The senior wives of the king would also warrant special respect and had status and privilege within Ganda society. She was considered superior to all other chiefs and technically the most powerful commoner, being a royal by marriage. The Katikkiro (prime minister) and most chiefs in Buganda were under the control of the elite titled wives of the king The titled wives were privy to state secrets and were heavily involved in court politics and in vying for power through their sons and clans. Since succession was decided by the king's mothers clan, in order to consolidate clan support, the sons of the king adopted the totems of their mothers and not of their fathers.
Women would also participate in military campaigns. Princess Nakuyita was second in command of Kabaka Sunna II's army in the early 1800s.
The Àbàmbejja (Princesses) had many privileges, including the right to own land. They were shown great respect by chiefs and were exempted from many restrictions faced by the commoner women. Under Mutesa I, princesses were given to chiefs to consolidate their patron-client relations. Many princesses became spirit wives by ‘marrying’ the Balùbaalè (national deities) and were thus able to mobilise creative power to influence the king and the queen mother. One princess was instrumental in deposing the Katikkiro (prime minister), Kayira, because they felt he had claimed too much power. Princess Ndege Nassolo organized a successful rebellion of chiefs and princes against her brother, the cruel king Kagulu (1674–1704). Kagulu managed to escape capture after his capital fell but was later caught. Ndege Nassolo had Kagulu drowned in Lake Victoria.
In the 13th-15th centuries, women are said to have ruled as Kabaka; Sir John Gray claims that there is abundant evidence of this. One such ruler was Naku, the daughter of Mukibi, the founder of the Lugave (Pangolin) clan and the wife of Kabaka Kimera. Naku was so powerful that every king that followed Kimera took a wife from her clan and called her Naku. Ganda history remembers another female Kabaka, Queen Nanono, wife of Kabaka Nakibinge (1494–1524), gained her fame from a battle with the Banyoro at Mpigi (which the Baganda lost) while pregnant. After finding out the king had died in battle, she rallied the Baganda warriors and prevented further losses. Thereafter she ruled the country for eighteen months and would have been chosen kabaka had she birthed a male child. Queen Nanano belonged to the Ngo (Leopard) clan, which brought prestige to her clan-mates, who initiated a new name for their daughters: Nnabulya (we also ruled).
Historically, barkcloth was the textile of choice mainly worn by the royals from the days of Ssekabaka Kimera and later everyone else starting with the reign of Ssekabaka Semakookiro. Barkcloth is no longer as popular as it once was and has been replaced with cotton and silk. However, some fashion designers like Jose Hendo, still use it today. Barkcloth is also worn as a symbol of protest, mourning, or both. The traditional dress is the Kanzu for men and the Gomesi for women. However, Western-style fashion is very popular these days.
Some of the more common hairstyles are Bantu knots (especially Bitutwa), cornrows, Pencil braids (Biswahili), Box Braids, Crochet braids, Weaves and .
Some accessories may include , , , and waist beads ( or obutiti and they are always worn under ones clothes i.e. undergarments).
In literature and common discourse, Buganda is often referred to as Central Uganda.
Buganda has several famous writers like Michael Nsimbi, Solomon E. K. Mpalanyi, Edward Namutete Kawere, Ulysses Chuka Kibuuka, and Apollo Kaggwa.
Several genres of music are popular in Buganda. Musicians produce Baganda music, Kadongo Kamu, Zouk, Dancehall and Reggae. Some of the most famous Kiganda musicians and performers are Annet Nandujja, Elly Wamala, Fred Masagazi, Herman Basudde, Paulo Kafeero, Gerald Kiweewa and Willy Mukabya,Fred Ssebata,Fred Ssebale,Mathias Walukagga.
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