Baganda

The Baganda (endonym: ''Baganda''; singular ''Muganda''), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans (although since a 1993 survey, only 46 are officially recognised), the Baganda are the largest people of the Bantu ethnic group in Uganda, comprising 16.5 percent of the population at the time of the 2014 census.

Sometimes described as "The King's Men" because of the importance of the king, or Kabaka, in their society, the Baganda number an estimated 16.3 million people in Uganda. In addition, there is a significant diaspora abroad, with organised communities in Canada, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Traditionally, they speak Luganda. According to the 2002 Census of Uganda, 42.7% of Baganda are Roman Catholic, 27.4% are Anglican (Church of Uganda), 23% are Muslim, and 4.3% are Pentecostal.

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, " -ganda" (family).

Physique

The Anthropologist Lucy Mair describes the appearance of the Baganda:

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 Nambi, the daughter of the god, Ggulu. The Baganda are the descendants of Kintu and Nambi. According to this myth, Walumbe, Nambi's jealous brother is responsible for all human disease and death on earth. Another brother, Kayikuuzi 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.

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.

Buganda was, indeed, an aggressive empire building monarchy at the moment when the British entered the region; other African peoples "paled into insignificance when compared with the Baganda."

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.

References

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Ethnic groups in Uganda