A single individual is called a Muganda whereas several people are called Baganda. The word Abaganda refers to "The Baganda People" and Omuganda refers to "The Muganda person".
Sometimes described as "The King's Men" because of the importance of the king, or Kabaka, in their society,
Etymology
The term Ganda means brotherhood and unity and comes from the noun "obuganda", which means bundles of stalks piled, wrapped, or tied together. it ultimately comes from the Proto Bantu word, ""
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The Clan
Clans (Ebika)
The Baganda are organized in Clan or ebika in Luganda. The clan is a unit of social organization and in the past, was also a unit of political organization. Every Muganda must belong to a clan ( Ekika). This is usually his or her father's clan and so a "naturalized" Muganda person must pick a clan to belong to and therefore a surname or last name belonging to that clan. Each clan will have a list of at least 20 boys' surnames and 20 girls' surnames for one to pick from. Therefore, one's surname (last name) will give a clue to which clan they belong as well as their biological gender. The exceptions to this are a woman's married name (which she inherits from her husband) as well as unique names given to twins and their immediate siblings or Royals (the first-born son is called Kiweewa and the first-born daughter is called Nassolo), and gods' ( lubaale) names.
All members of a clan are believed to have a common ancestor. This means that they are siblings and so it's taboo for them to marry each other (Clan Exogamy). This has even been held up in a court of law (i.e there's a precedent in law) in the famous case of Bruno L. Kiwawu vs Ivan Serunkuma and Juliet Namazzi in May 2007.
Another taboo is that the members of a clan cannot eat or harm their totem animal, plant or thing. So a member of the Mmamba (Lungfish) clan is forbidden from consuming a Lungfish. However, members of other clans do eat Lungfish.
The Baganda are organized around roughly 50 clans with the Kabaka (Ssaabataka) being the head of the clan heads (Abataka). Each clan has a hierarchical structure. The top (or roof) of this clan hierarchy is called Akasolya.
So the Baganda are organized around the roughly 50 roofs (obusolya). Akasolya is the singular form of Obusolya. The person who heads the clan is called Ow'akasolya. Below each roof (or Kasolya) are several units called amasiga, headed by Ow'essiga. Essiga is singular form of Amasiga. Under each ssiga are several units called ennyiriri, headed by Ow'olunyiriri. Olunyiriri is the singular form of ennyiriri. Below the lunyiriri are several units called emituba, headed by Ow'omutuba. Omutuba is singular form of Emituba. Below each mutuba are several units called enzigya, headed by Ow'oluggya. Oluggya is singular form of Enzigya. The Luggya is the level of the paternal grandfather (of the family). Below the luggya are several units called ennyumba (Houses), headed by Ow'ennyumba (Ennyumba is singular form of Ennyumba). The House is essentially the nuclear family and is headed by a father or if he is dead, then it's headed by his heir (always a male). The heir is a cultural head not economic head and so for instance, in a household headed by a single mother or a widow, the family property is not owned by the cultural heir. Among the Baganda, an heiress is a biological female who inherits the cultural position of a deceased woman (i.e sister or mother). In ancient times, this heiress, if she were single, could become the widower's wife as it was assumed that she would love her deceased sister's children as if they were her own.
Culture and Society
The word Kiganda is usually used in reference to the Baganda culture.
Names of Twins
The names and titles of people related to twins are unique.
The father of the twins is called Ssaalongo and Nnaalongo is the title of the mother of the twins.
The surname of the older twin is Wasswa is the twin is a boy and Babirye if the older twin is a girl.
The surname of the younger twin is Nnakato if she's a girl and Kato if the younger twin is a boy.
Kigongo is the surname given to the boy who was born before the twins and Kizza the surname of the child born right after the twins. Ssaabalongo is another title given to the Kabaka.
Surnames Inspired by Kiganda Mythology or gods (Lubaale)
Some surnames given to boys and girls were inspired by mythology or by traditional gods ( Lubaale) or events.
Some of the boys' names are:
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Ddungu
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Kibuuka
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Mukasa
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Musisi
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Musoke
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Wamala
Some of the girls' names are:
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Nnagaddya (or Nagaddya)
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Nnagajja (or Nagajja)
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Nnakayaga (or Nakayaga)
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Nnakimu (or Nakimu)
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Nnamirembe (or Namirembe)
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Nnamukasa (or Namukasa)
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Nnamusoke (or Namusoke)
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Nnamusisi (or Namusisi)
Ekitiibwa
Ekitiibwa (which translates as honour, glory, prestige, dignity, respect, reverence, or pomp) was the greatest ideal and the most sought-after attribute of the Baganda. It has an importance comparable to that of “face” found in many Eurasian societies such as China and Japan. In contrast to comparable notions in highly stratified societies like the Kingdom of Rwanda, moreover, ekitiibwa (Honour) was not conferred by birth. It was a right to respect for which all people openly competed. Baganda could commit suicide from shame if discovered in theft or cowardice. A brave man was expected to go to execution with silent composure as it was believed that "everyone should endure pain with stoicism".
Grudges were rarely forgotten, a Ganda proverb says "He who makes you shed tears, you make him shed blood."
The Kabaka (King) was Fount of honour (the ultimate source of honour and authority). The Kabaka was able to bestow administrative and military positions to individuals based on his discretion. He conferred them in return for loyalty and service so that Buganda's politics centred on competition for office and its associated ekitiibwa, a competition open in principle to any man of talent and courage.
Women
In Ganda society, women married at a later age than most other African societies, (rarely marrying before the age of twenty). Both bridewealth and virginity were necessary to a fully honourable marriage. A married woman's status depended on her ancestry and the rank of her husband. Women gained respect by their control of the household economy and by their fertility; loss of a baby was a woman's most common reason for suicide.
Appearance
John Roscoe noted that the Baganda varied in their heights, with some being just a little over 5 feet tall and others being over six feet tall (the warrior Tebukoza Kyambalango was 6'6" tall). The Anthropology Lucy Mair further describes the appearance of the Baganda:
Men rarely kept facial hair–they plucked it out or shaved it off. Women were careful to keep their armpit hair shaved, unless their husbands were at war or on a journey, (custom forbade married women from shaving until the husband returned).
John Roscoe noted that "The Baganda are the only Bantu tribe in Eastern Equatorial Africa who do not mutilate their persons ; they neither extract their teeth nor pierce their ear lobes, nor practise the rite of circumcision ; in fact, they are most careful to avoid scarifications of any kind."
When Speke prepared for his first audience with King Mutesa of Baganda, he put on his finest clothes, but admitted that he "cut a poor figure in comparison with the dressy Baganda who wore neat bark cloaks resembling the best yellow corduroy cloth, crimp and well set, as if stiffened with starch".
History
Creation myth
The Baganda have a creation myth that says that the first man on earth (and Buganda in particular) was Kintu. Kintu married Nnambi, the daughter of the god, Ggulu. The Baganda are the descendants of Kintu and Nnambi. According to this myth, Warumbe, Nnambi's jealous brother is responsible for all human disease, sickness ( Olumbe) and death on earth. Another brother, Kaikuzi tried to protect humans from Walumbe but failed. To this day, Kayikuuzi is still trying to capture Walumbe from the underground where he hides and take him back home.
Based on this creation myth, the Baganda are called abaana ba Nnambi (Nnambi's Children).
Early history
As for the founding of the Kingdom of the Ganda (Buganda), the most widely acknowledged account is that it was founded by Kato Kintu. This Kato Kintu is different from the mythical Kintu, as he is generally accepted as a historical who founded Buganda and became its first 'Kabaka', adopting the name Kintu in reference to the legend of Kintu to establish his legitimacy as a ruler. He was successful in unifying what had previously been a number of scattered clans to form a strong kingdom.
As such by the 18th century, the formerly dominant Bunyoro kingdom was being eclipsed by Buganda. Consolidating their efforts behind a centralized kingship, the Baganda (people of Buganda) shifted away from defensive strategies and toward expansion. By the mid 19th century, Buganda had doubled and redoubled its territory conquering much on Bunyoro and becoming the dominant state in the region. Newly conquered lands were placed under chiefs nominated by the king. Buganda's armies and the royal tax collectors traveled swiftly to all parts of the kingdom along specially constructed roads which crossed streams and swamps by bridges and viaducts. On Lake Victoria (which the Ganda call Nalubaale), a royal navy of outrigger canoes, commanded by an admiral who was chief of the Mamba(Lungfish) clan, could transport Baganda commandos to raid any shore of the lake.
Arrival and interference of European colonialists
The explorer John Speke, searching for the source of the Nile, had visited Buganda in the 1860s and back home in Britain givewithlowing account of the advanced Bantu kingdom he had found in East Africa, and fellow explorers as well as colonialists were to soon follow him into the kingdom.
The journalist Henry Morton Stanley visited Buganda in 1875 and painted a good picture of the kingdom's strength, as well as providing an estimate of Buganda troop strength.
In 1876 Christian missionaries started entering the kingdom of Buganda to introduce the Baganda people to Christianity. Between 1881 and 1890, the Baganda people started to convert to both Islam and Christianity.
At Buganda's capital, Stanley found a well-ordered town of about 80,000 surrounding the king's palace, which was situated atop a commanding hill. A wall more than four kilometers in circumference surrounded the palace compound, which was filled with grass-roofed houses, meeting halls, and storage buildings. At the entrance to the court burned the royal gombolola (fire), which would only be extinguished when the Kabaka died. Thronging the grounds were foreign ambassadors seeking audiences, chiefs going to the royal advisory council, messengers running errands, and a corps of young pages, who served the Kabaka while training to become future chiefs. For communication across the kingdom, the messengers were supplemented by drum signals.
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. Early travel, missionary, and colonial accounts often called the Baganda the “most advanced and intelligent of all central African societies.” The British in their colonial ventures were much impressed with the government as well as the society and economic organization of Buganda, which they ranked as the most advanced nation they had encountered in East Africa and ranked it with other highly advanced nations like the ones they had encountered in Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
In the turn of the century, "flush of enthusiasm for capitalism, expansion, and development", the Baganda were singled out for their initiative in seeking out markets, getting an education, and, above all, for their money-consciousness. Other Ugandan peoples were then viewed as being in a "pre-monetary stage."
Under Kabaka Mwanga II, Buganda became a protectorate in 1894. This did not last, and the Kabaka declared war on Britain on July 6, 1897. He was defeated at the Battle of Buddu on July 20 of the same year. He fled to German East Africa, where he was arrested and interned at Bukoba. The Kabaka later escaped and led a rebel army to retake the kingdom before being defeated once again in 1898 and being exiled to the Seychelles.
Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda was allowed near complete autonomy and a position as overlord of the other kingdoms. While in exile, Mwanga II was received into the Anglican Church, and baptized with the name Danieri (Daniel). He spent the rest of his life in exile. He died in 1903, aged 35 years. In 1910, his remains were repatriated and buried at Kasubi.
The war against Kabaka Mwanga II had been expensive, and the new commissioner of Uganda in 1900, Sir Harry H. Johnston, had orders to establish an efficient administration and to levy taxes as quickly as possible. Sir Johnston approached the chiefs in Buganda with offers of jobs in the colonial administration in return for their collaboration. The chiefs did so but expected their interests (preserving Buganda as a self-governing entity, continuing the royal line of kabakas, and securing private land tenure for themselves and their supporters) to be met. After much hard bargaining, the chiefs ended up with ev.
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