Butiaba, is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is a fishing town and landing site on the shores of Lake Albert, in Uganda.

Location

Butiaba is located on the eastern shores of Lake Albert, in

Buliisa District Buliisa District is a district in Western Uganda. As with most Ugandan districts, Buliisa District is named after its "main town" Buliisa, where the district headquarters are located. Bugungu has 6 sub counties KigweraNgwedo Buliisa, Butiaba ...

, in the Bunyoro sub-region of Western Uganda. Butiaba is approximately , by road, southwest of the district headquarters at Buliisa. Butiaba is located about north of

Hoima Hoima is a city in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Hoima District. It is also the location of the palace of the Omukama of Bunyoro. Location Hoima is approximately , by road, n ...

, the largest city in the Bunyoro sub-region. This location is approximately , by road, northwest of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and ...

, Uganda's capital and largest city. The coordinates of Butiaba are:1°49'08.0"N, 31°19'33.0"E (Latitude:1.818889; Longitude:31.325833). Butiaba is situated at an average altitude of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

Overview

During the first half of the 20th century, Butiaba was an important transportation hub, where merchandise from eastern

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(DRC) and from

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

was transported by boat across Lake Albert to Butiaba Harbour. At Butiaba, merchandise was transported overland, through

Masindi Masindi is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is on the road between Kampala and the Murchison Falls National Park. It is the site of the headquarters of the Masindi District. Location Masindi is approximately northwest of Kampala, U ...

to Masindi Port. At Masindi Port, the produce would be loaded on

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

s, ferried across

Lake Kyoga Lake Kyoga (literally 'the place of bathing' in Runyoro language) is a large shallow lake in Uganda, about in area and at an elevation of 1,033 metres. The Victoria Nile flows through the lake on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert. The m ...

Soroti Soroti is a city in Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main City, commercial, and administrative center in curved out of Soroti District, one of the nine administrative districts in the Teso sub-region. Soroti City was immediately approved f ...

. At Soroti, it would be loaded onto railway wagons for transportation by rail to

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

, for export. Imported goods and merchandise were transported along the same route, in reverse. When the East African Railways Corporation was dissolved in the 1970s, Butiaba's prominence declined and the harbour became dormant. A significant amount of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

deposits has since been discovered in the ground and under the lake near Butiaba. Reviving Butiaba Harbour to play a role in the transportation of equipment, manpower, and petroleum is being considered.

Population

As of July 2014, the exact population of Butiaba was not known. The national population census in Uganda took place in August 2014 but results are yet to come out.

Point of interest

Lake Albert - One of the lakes in the

Western Rift Valley The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the East African Rift, covering parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Ta ...

. The international border between the DRC and Uganda runs through it.

References

{{Masindi District Populated places in Western Region, Uganda Cities in the Great Rift Valley Masindi District Ports and harbours of Uganda Bunyoro sub-region

Location

Overview

Population

Point of interest

See also

References