Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda and also popularly known as “The Pearl of Africa” is a landlocked country located in East Africa and bordered by Kenya in the East, Tanzania in the South, Rwanda in the Southwest, Democratic Republic of Congo in the West and Sudan in the North. The country occupies an area of 241,551 km². In comparison, Uganda is slightly smaller than the UK or slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Oregon. Furthermore, it belongs to the African Great Lakes region as the southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania as well. It also lies within the Nile basin and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate. Its largest city and capital is Kampala.
Modern History
In 1894, due to civil unrest and financial burdens in the then-know as kingdom of Buganda, British commercial interests were eager to protect the trade route of the Nile. Αs a result the British government enlarged the kingdom by adjoining territories to create the Uganda Protectorate. Consequently, the area was ruled by the UK, which established administrative law across the territory, while the colonial boundaries it created to delimit Uganda, grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures. Uganda finally achieved independence from the UK on the 9 October 1962. The period since then has been marked by violent conflicts, including an eight-year-long military dictatorship led by Idi Amin.
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More specifically, the dictatorial regime of Idi Amin (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 people. After that, Guerrilla war and human rights abuses under the rule of Milton Obote (1980-85) claimed another 100,000 lives. Since 1986, the rule of Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s current president, has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. During the 1990s the government declared non-party presidential and legislative elections. Furthermore, a constitutional referendum in 2005 cancelled a 19-year ban on multi-party politics and lifted presidential term limits. As a result, Museveni was able to stand and was elected president of Uganda in the 2011, 2016 and in the 2021 general elections
Population and Ethnic Groups
Uganda's population grew exponentially from 9.5 million people in 1969 to 47 million in 2021, making it the world's second most populous landlocked country after Ethiopia. Additionally, the median age in Uganda -15 years - is the lowest in the world. It has the seventh highest fertility rate in the world, at 5.45 children born per woman ( Statista 2021).
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In addition, although Uganda is inhabited by a large variety of ethnic groups, a division is usually made between the “Nilotic North” and the “Bantu South.” The latter form the largest portion of Uganda’s population. Of these, the Ganda remain the largest single ethnic group, constituting roughly one-sixth of the total national population. Other Bantu speakers are the Soga, Gwere, Gisu, Nyole, Samia, Toro, Nyoro, Kiga, Nyankole, Amba, and Konjo. A sizable population of Rwanda (Banyarwanda) speakers, who had fled Rwanda in the late 1960s and early ’70s, also lived in Uganda until the mid-1990s. On the other hand, Nilotic languages—represented by Acholi (Acoli), Lango (Langi), Alur, Padhola, Kumam, Teso, Karimojong, Kakwa, and Sebei—are spoken by more than one-tenth of the population. Lastlz, central Sudanic peoples—including the Lendu, Lugbara, and Madi—are also found in the north.
During the British colonial rule, economic power and education were concentrated in the south. As a result, the Bantu came to dominate modern Uganda, occupying most of the high academic, judicial, bureaucratic, and religious positions and a whole range of other prestigious roles. However, the British chose to north for most of the recruitments they did for the armed forces, police, and paramilitary forces. This meant that while economic power lay in the south, military power was concentrated in the north, and this imbalance to a large extent shaped the political events of postcolonial Uganda.
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Interestingly, south Asians (Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis) came to Uganda largely in the 19th and 20th centuries and by 1969 numbered more than 50,000. Even though after Uganda’s independence Ugandan citizenship was offered to them, most chose not to accept it. During Idi Amin rule, the expulsion of all noncitizen Asians and later even those Asians who held Ugandan citizenship was ordered and as a result their number declined rapidly as the majority left the country. By the end of the year, only a small number of Asians remained in Uganda. Amin commandeered both the businesses and personal goods of the expelled Asian community and redistributed them to the remaining African population, leading to him becoming immensely popular amongst Ugandans for a relatively short time, but in the early 1990s, the Ugandan government formally invited the expelled Asian community to return. Thousands did so, and some even had their property returned to them.
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In addition, according to the UNHCR, Uganda hosts over 1.1 million refugees as of November 2018. Most come from neighboring countries in the African Great Lakes region, particularly South Sudan (68.0 percent) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (24.6%).
Languages
There are at least 32 languages spoken in Uganda, but English and Swahili—both official languages—together with Ganda, are the most commonly used. English is the language of education and of government, and, although only a fraction of the population speaks English well, access to high office, prestige, and economic and political power is almost impossible without an adequate command of that language.
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Swahili - a widely used language throughout the African Great Lakes region - was chosen as another official national language in 2005 because of its potential for facilitating regional integration, although Ugandans’ command of Swahili falls substantially below that of Tanzania, Kenya, and even eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, Swahili is unpopular with a large proportion of Ugandans, especially by the Bantu-speaking populations of the south and south-west of the country, who consider it the language of past dictators and armies. However, because it is also widely used in the police and military forces, which may be a historical result of the disproportionate recruitment of northerners into the security forces during the colonial period, the language’s status has alternated with the political group in power. For example, Idi Amin, who came from the north-west, declared Swahili to be the national language.
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Lastly, Uganda’s indigenous languages are coextensive with its different ethnic groups. In addition to English, French, and Swahili, Radio Uganda broadcasts in more than 20 indigenous languages including Alur, Ganda, Lugbara, Masaba and Teso (Iteso), while most Ugandans can understand several languages.
Religion
Uganda’s religious heritage is tripartite: indigenous religions, Islam, and Christianity. About four-fifths of the population is Christian, primarily divided between Roman Catholics and Protestants (mostly Anglicans but also including Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, Baptists, and Presbyterians). About one-eighth of the population is Muslim, while most of the remainder practice traditional religions or have no religious affiliation. As in other parts of Africa, Islam and Christianity have been combined with indigenous religions to form various syncretic religious trends.
Islam was the first of the exogenous religions to arrive, and it became politically significant in the 1970s. Christianity came during the colonial period through spirited missionary activity—especially in the south, where Catholics were called bafaransa (“the French”) and Protestants bangerezza (“the British”). Rivalry and even hostility between adherents of these two branches of Christianity, which have always been sharper and deeper than those between Christians and Muslims, are still alive today. Additionally, In the early 1930s a breakaway group of Anglican missionaries together with several Ugandans initiated the balokole (“born again”) revival, which spread throughout eastern Africa and beyond and has remained a powerful force of “Pentecostalism” in Uganda.
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​Finally, a small number of Abayudaya Jews live in communities in eastern Uganda, the descendants of converts to Judaism in the 1920s, while until 1972, when Asians were expelled from Uganda, large numbers of Sikhs and Hindus lived throughout the country. In recent years, with returning South Asian practitioners, Sikhism and Hinduism have been reestablished in the country and freedom of religion is guaranteed by the 1995 constitution.
Settlement patterns
Uganda’s population remains mostly rural, although the number of urban dwellers, constituting about one-sixth of the total population, is growing. A few northern societies, such as the Karimojong, are mainly cattle farmers, but most northern societies combine cattle keeping with some cultivation. Between the mid-1970s and late ’80s the cattle population declined significantly because of disease, rustling, and malnutrition. As a result, restocking projects were subsequently initiated. In the south, sedentary agriculture is widely practiced. Most cultivators keep some livestock in the form of goats, chickens, and occasionally ducks and even rabbits and geese. The prosperous farmers keep one or two local-breed cattle, while the more wealthy own imported breeds. In central, eastern, and southern Uganda, well-spaced homesteads have farms surrounding them.
Kampala, the capital, is the largest city, while others include Jinja, Mbale, Masaka, Entebbe, and Gulu. All except for Gulu are located in the south. Urban centres have grown because of a rural-urban movement within the south itself, as well as a migration from the north to southern towns. During colonial times, British and Asian immigrants generally lived in towns, while only gradually did a minority of black urbanites begin to emerge.
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Since 1986, urban centres in Uganda have been rehabilitated and expanded, especially in the eastern, central, and western portions of the country. In addition, numerous small trading centres have emerged along major routes, serving as important points for trade and access to information.
Urban areas often contain large numbers of mainly younger people—usually many more men than women—who have come to town seeking any kind of work they can find. Many engage in manual labour or service-related jobs such as food preparation, while a good many are jobless or are only occasionally employed. There are also, however, a growing middle class of Ugandans and visible signs of urban progress, such as good housing around the outskirts of towns. Yet, these improvements notwithstanding, since about the mid-1990s there has been a noticeable increase in the number of street children and other impoverished individuals in Kampala. Several agencies have established programs to resettle and educate the children who have no homes or whose families refuse to care for them.
Demographic trends
The Ugandan population has grown rapidly since independence, when it was approximately seven million, to now total more than 6 times that number. Like many other African countries, the population is predominantly young, with roughly half under 15 years of age and more than one-fourth between the ages of 15 and 29. Uganda’s birth rate is about twice that of the world average, and the death rate is also higher than the world average. Life expectancy in Uganda, while higher than or similar to that of most neighbouring countries, is below the world average.
Climate
The tropical climate of Uganda is modified by elevation and, locally, by the presence of the lakes. The major air currents are northeasterly and southwesterly. Because of Uganda’s equatorial location, there is little variation in the sun’s declination at midday, and the length of daylight is nearly always 12 hours. All of these factors, combined with a fairly constant cloud cover, ensure an equable climate throughout the year.
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Most parts of Uganda receive adequate precipitation; annual amounts range from less than 20 inches (500 mm) in the northeast to a high of 80 inches (2,000 mm) in the Sese Islands of Lake Victoria. In the south, two wet seasons (April to May and October to November) are separated by dry periods, although the occasional tropical thunderstorm still occurs. In the north, a wet season occurs between April and October, followed by a dry season that lasts from November to March.
Plant and animal life
Flora
Vegetation is heaviest in the south and typically becomes wooded savanna (grassy parkland) in central and northern Uganda. Where conditions are less favourable, dry acacia woodland, dotted with the occasional candelabra (tropical African shrubs or trees with huge spreading heads of foliage) and euphorbia (plants often resembling cacti and containing a milky juice) and interspersed with grassland, occurs in the south. Similar components are found in the vegetation of the Rift Valley floors. The steppes (treeless plains) and thickets of the northeast represent the driest regions of Uganda. In the Lake Victoria region and the western highlands, forest covering has been replaced by elephant grass and forest remnants because of human incursions. The medium-elevation forests contain a rich variety of species. The high-elevation forests of Mount Elgon and the Ruwenzori Range occur above 6,000 feet (1,800 metres); on their upper margins they give way, through transitional zones of mixed bamboo and tree heath, to high mountain moorland. Finally, Uganda’s 5,600 square miles (14,500 square km) of swamplands include both papyrus and seasonal grassy swamp.
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Fauna of Uganda
Lions and leopards are now present mainly in animal preserves and national parks, but they are occasionally seen outside these places. Hippopotamuses and crocodiles inhabit most lakes and rivers, although the latter are not found in Lakes Edward and George. Mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and small forest elephants appear only in the extreme west. Elephants, buffalo, and the Uganda kob (an antelope) are limited to the west and north, while the black rhinoceros and giraffes are confined to the north. Zebras, topis, elands, and roan antelopes live in both the northeastern and southern grasslands, while other kinds of antelopes are found only in the northeastern area. Uganda is also home to a diverse variety of bird life, including threatened species. Most of the country’s national parks provide excellent bird-watching opportunities. The country’s varied fish life includes ngege (a freshwater nest-building species of Tilapia), tiger fish, barbels, and Nile perch. Additionally, insects are a significant element in the biological environment. Elevations below 1,500 metres are the domain of the female Anopheles mosquito, which carries malaria, while the presence of tsetse flies has closed extensive areas of good grazing land to cattle. Butterflies are also very prevalent in Uganda. Many different species, including those which are endemic, can be found in the country.
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Conservation
Much of southern Uganda has been deforested, but a significant portion of the country’s area has been placed in its 10 national parks. Murchison Falls National Park— the largest such park in Uganda, with an area of 3,840 square km— is bisected by the Victoria Nile. Queen Elizabeth National Park is about half the size of Murchison Falls and is in the Lake Edward–Lake George basin. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994, contains about half of the world’s population of endangered mountain gorillas, while Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is also home to this rare mammal. Ruwenzori Mountains National Park (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994) contains the country’s highest mountain, Margherita Peak. The region was occupied by rebel forces in the late 1990s.