Palace of the king of the Tooro Kingdom - Flickr - Dave Proffer

The Tooro Kingdom is a Bantu kingdom located within the borders of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. The current Omukama of Tooro is King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV. King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV took to the throne of Tooro kingdom in 1995 at the age of just three years, after the death of his father Omukama Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Rwamuhokya Olimi III on August 26, 1995, at the age of 50. The people native to the kingdom are the Batooro, and their language is likewise called Rutooro. The Batooro and Banyoro speak closely related languages, Rutooro and Runyoro, and share many other similar cultural traits. The Batooro live on Uganda's western border, south of Lake Albert.

History

The Tooro Kingdom evolved out of a breakaway segment of Bunyoro sometime before the nineteenth century. It was founded in 1830 when Omukama Kaboyo Olimi I, the eldest son of Omukama of Bunyoro Nyamutukura Kyebambe III of Bunyoro, seceded and established his own independent kingdom. Absorbed into Bunyoro-Kitara in 1876, it reasserted its independence in 1891. As with

Buganda Buganda is a Bantu peoples, Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda, Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the List of current non-sovereign African monarchs, traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Ug ...

, Bunyoro, and

Busoga Busoga (Soga language, Lusoga: Obwakyabazinga bwa Busoga) is a kingdom and one of four constitutional monarchies in present-day Uganda. The kingdom is a cultural institution which promotes popular participation and unity among the people of the ...

, Tooro's monarchy was abolished in 1967 by the Government of Uganda, but was reinstated in 1993. Tooro Palace

Cultural influence

The Austrian painter

Friedensreich Hundertwasser Friedrich Stowasser (15 December 1928 – 19 February 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (), was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection ...

(1928–2000) spent some time there in the 1960s where he painted a number of works and named them after the kingdom. The Batooro people have a strong culture but similar in stratification to Banyoro. They have got a strong cultural naming system (PET NAME) known as Empaako. With the Empaako naming system, children are given one of twelve names shared across the communities in addition to their given and family names. Addressing someone by his or her Empaako is a positive affirmation of cultural ties. It can be used as a form of greeting or a declaration of affection, respect, honour or love. Use of Empaako can defuse tension or anger and sends a strong message about social identity and unity, peace and reconciliation. The Empaako names are: Amooti, Abbooki, Akiiki, Ateenyi, Adyeri, Atwoki, Abwoli, Araali, Acaali, Bbala, and Okaali.

''Abakama ba'' ''Tooro'' (Kings of Tooro)

The following is a list of the ''Abakama'' of Tooro since 1800: # Olimi I: 1822–1865 # Ruhaga of Tooro: 1865–1866 # Nyaika Kyebambe I: 1866–1871 and 1871–1872 # Rukidi I: 1871 # Olimi II: 1872–1875 # Rukidi II: 1875–1875 # Rububi Kyebambe II: 1875 and 1877–1879 # Kakende Nyamuyonjo: 1875–1876 and 1879–1880 # Katera: 1876–1877 ## ''

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

, reverted to Bunyoro'': 1880–1891 # Kyebambe III: 1891–1928 # Rukidi III: 1929–1965 # Olimi III: 1965–1967 and 1993–1995 ## '' in pretence'': 1967–1993 (monarchy abolished) # Rukidi IV: 1995–present (monarchy reinstated)

Bibliography

* Ingham, Kenneth. ''The Kingdom of Tooro in Uganda''. London: Methuen, 1975.

Notes

References

External links

Tooro Kingdom
{{Coord missing, Uganda Ugandan monarchies States and territories established in 1830 1830 establishments in Africa