Ethnos

Buganda

Buganda is the kingdom of the Baganda people, the largest of the four traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda. Organised and ruled by a king called the Kabaka, the Baganda formed the political kernel of the future country, Uganda. It is now a constitutional monarchy, with a parliament.

Buganda covers the land immediately to the north of Lake Victoria, extending slightly to the south west. It was formerly the name of a province in Uganda. The Luganda language is widely spoken there (also by others than the Baganda), for example in Kampala.

Originally a vassal state of Bunyoro it grew rapidly in power in the eighteenth and nineteenth century becoming the dominant state in the region. It became the closest ally of Great Britain in the region and rose as British power increased in the region. Buganda was given a great deal of control over the other kingdoms in the protectorate: Toro, Nkore, and Bunyoro. When the colony became an independent state, it was named Uganda, the Swahili name of Buganda. However, the monarchy and much of Buganda's autonomy was revoked, along with that of the other Ugandan kingdoms, in 1967. The monarchy was restored in 1993. ***