Bunyoro
Bunyoro ( Unyoro ), also: Bunyoro- Kitara is a kingdom in East Africa, north west of the Kingdom of Buganda in the west of present-day Uganda.
The location and
The historic Bunyoro to the end of the 19th century includes almost all the areas immediately to the east of Lake Albert, as well as a small strip of territory, in 1910 the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been slammed shut. In the north and east of Bunyoro was limited by the Victoria Nile. Prior to the determination of the boundaries of Bunyoro by the British colonial rulers since 1896, the affiliation of areas and groups of people depended on the Kingdom of the influence of the respective local king. Apparently, vast tracts of land between the Great Lakes and the Nile between the kingdoms of Bunyoro and Buganda were controversial during the 19th century.
1891 ended the last possible affiliation of the south-west to the Kingdom of Toro (old center of Fort Portal in Kabarole district ) to Bunyoro, as on August 14, 1891 Captain Lugard for the British Rukirabasaija Daudi Kasagama Kyebambe VI. proclaimed King of Toro. The kings of Toro are from the same dynasty ( Babiito ) as the ruler of Bunyoro.
Culture and history
Bunyoro was dominated by the livestock holding Bahima. The population of Bunyoro, the Banyoro, was characterized by a differentiated culture, with remarkable abilities in the iron and timber processing and the pottery. Particular wealth meant the salt extraction of Kibiro whose products were important trade goods.
The native language is Runyoro - Rutoro, also called Bunyoro and Banyoro, a Bantu language.
Time of independence
Bunyoro was built in the 15th century in the area of Lake Albert. Precursors are the legendary realm of Batembuzi dynasty and the kingdom of Kitara Bachwezi. This was followed, probably in connection with an invasion of the Luo, the Babiito Dynasty, under the Bunyoro from the 16th to the 19th century, the most powerful kingdom in present-day Uganda was until Buganda became increasingly influence. Bunyoro Bunyoro- Kitara was also called. The ruler ( "king" ) of Bunyoro was the Omukama, who had no fixed seat of government in the empire. The graves of the last Omukama ( " Mparo Tombs " ) are in Mparo four kilometers outside of Hoima, now the capital of the eponymous district of Uganda. The sovereign rights of the individual regions of the empire were transferred from Omukama of Chiefs, which was also attended by case law and tax collection. At the time of the first European visitors in 1860 ruled in Bunyoro King Kyebambe, the predecessor of the later King Kabarega. To Kamurasis time comes Bunyoro under the influence of ivory and slave traders, nominally Egyptian origin.
British encroachment and Uganda Protectorate
From the first Europeans in Bunyoro are to call JH Speke, JA Grant (both 1862) as well as the discoverer of Lake Albert, Sir and Lady Baker (both 1864).
On May 14, 1872 Bunyoro officially the Anglo- Egyptian rule range (" Sudan " ) is Baker, the Governor-General of British Equatorial provinces assigned. The Anglo- Egyptian influence in Bunyoro temporarily fell at the latest with the retreat of Emin Pasha in 1888, in the Wadelai had an important base. While Bunyoro came in the aftermath of the North under the influence of the Mahdi, King sought Kabarega to defend against the British advance from the south, under Captain Lugard. However, the greater seclusion Bunyoro against European influence ultimately led to the fact that Buganda was able to take all leadership positions in the later British protectorate of Uganda and against Bunyoro learned various preferential treatments. 1896 established the United Kingdom of Bunyoro a protectorate over to the beginning of the 20th century formed the Bunyoro southwest part of the northern province of British Uganda Protectorate. King Kabarega was captured in 1899 by the British and deported to the Seychelles. A son Kaba Rega, who still underage Yosia was recognized by the British as the new head of Bunyoro, but with very limited rights. After the subjugation of Bunyoro by Gerald Portal, a part of Bunyoro also was separated and then attached in the Buganda Agreement by Henry Hamilton Johnston to Buganda.
After the independence of Uganda
A progress driven by Bunyoro referendum on the retransmission of the lost provinces resulted in the heated atmosphere shortly after independence in 1967 to a national crisis in Uganda, in which the President Milton Obote finally the Constitution abrogated and abolished the traditional kingdoms in Uganda. Only in 1993 under Yoweri Museveni, the kingdoms were recognized culturally and again for the first time since 1967 there was again a Omukama in Bunyoro: His Royal Highness Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I, the 27th of Bunyoro- Kitara Omukama.
Approximately three percent of current Ugandan population of 27.27 million (2005) belong to the Banyoro.
Bunyoro today consists of three districts ( from north to south ), taken together with 1,232,422 inhabitants ( according to the census of 2002):
- Masindi (District Capital: Masindi ), 2002: 469 865 inhabitants
- Hoima (District Capital: Hoima ), 2002: 349 204 inhabitants
- Kiba ( a) le (District Capital: Kiba ( a) le ), this district was re-founded in the early 1990s, 2002: 413 353 inhabitants