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Country Histories
Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in the east of Africa. Before British influence in the late nineteenth century, Uganda was divided between a number of kingdoms and territories. The powerful southern kingdom of Buganda, remained influential under British rule and was developed at the expense of other territories.
Placed under the charter of the British East Africa Company in 1888, parts of Uganda were ruled as a protectorate from 1894. Known as the 'Pearl of Africa', Uganda became a highly profitable colony through the sale of cotton, coffee, tea, sugar and tobacco. However, deeply entrenched divisions in society, particularly between north and south, meant that the country was never truly united. Hatred, violence and human rights abuses persist to this day.
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circa 1870: British explorer John Hanning Speke (1827 - 1864). (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)
The British presence in Uganda began in 1862 with the arrival of explorers searching for the source of the Nile. John Hanning Speke (1827-1864) was the first Briton to visit Buganda, on his search for the source of the Nile. He was admitted by the 'kabaka' (king), Mutesa I (c1837-1884), who ruled from around 1859.
Further intrusion came in 1869, when the Egyptian khedive Isma'il Pasha (1830-1895) began an attempt to expand into Upper Nile territories. He reached the frontiers of Bunyoro by 1870 but was fought off by the Banyoro. The Acholi in the north traded with the Egyptians, however, and quickly acquired substantial numbers of guns.
The 'khedive' (ruler) persisted with his expansion and sent the British explorer and newly-appointed Governor of the Equatorial Nile, Samuel Baker (1821-1893), to lead his troops. Although they experienced many setbacks, by 1872 Baker and his men were pushing into Bunyoro territory. Here they met with considerable resistance and were eventually driven back. By the early 1880s the Egyptian efforts to move in to the East African Lakes region were at an end.
The journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) visited Buganda in 1875, witnessed its well-ordered capital and military strength and praised the Baganda for their organisation. This was to have far-reaching consequences for both Buganda and Bunyoro when the territories of Uganda came under British rule.
