Fort Portal

Location of Fort Portal in Uganda

Fort Portal is a town in western Uganda with 42 671 inhabitants. It is the capital of the district of Kabarole.

History

The area around the present-day city was the heartland of the Kingdom of Toro. Due to continuous attacks from the neighboring kingdom of Bunyoro to Omukama (king) Kasagama turned in 1891 to the British colonial officials Frederick Lugard in Kampala in order to obtain British support against the threat of his country. Lugard granted this by collecting the left by Emin Pasha in the task of the province of Equatoria in the region of the Egyptian- Sudanese troops, and built a chain of forts with those in the border area and occupied. In return, had to cede Kasagama extensive rights to the British. Kasagama also promoted the establishment of a British farmer, as he promised them lasting protection against the threat of the neighboring peoples. This was contrary to the official British colonial policy, which did not provide for settlement for Uganda.

Built in 1893 Major Roddy Owen in Lugard order a fortification made ​​of wood palisades on a hill above the Mpanga. He called this Fort Gerry (based on the first name of the time located in Kampala senior British diplomat Sir Gerald Portal). Having had quickly formed a larger settlement in the protection of the fort, the place was temporarily Kabarole, was then - after the baptism of Kasagama - renamed this in Bethlehem, and then in 1900 in the Treaty of Toro (settlement of rights of sovereignty between Kasagama and the British to be formally renamed Empire ) by the responsible special envoy Sir Harry Johnston in Fort Portal.

1914 was built on the ruins of the old fort, the club house of the newly created golf course. It created great coffee and later tea plantations around the city, which has long been dominated by the British settlers until they had to leave the country during the reign of Idi Amin.

Presence

Fort Portal is the center of the former kingdom of Toro, which was revived in 1993 culturally. South of the town are the Karambi Tombs, the tombs of the royal family of Toro.

Due to the proximity to the Rwenzori Mountains, to Kibale National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park, the place has some tourist importance. It is connected to the Trans - African Highway 8, the Lagos - Mombasa highway with Kampala and Mbarara and is an important center for commerce activities in western Uganda. There is a large, public hospital and two religious houses. In 2005 was founded with the Mountains of the Moon University is a university.

Demographics

Climate

Others

• Gerald Portal has the place that bears his name, never visited. Roddy Owen has indeed founded Fort Portal, but nothing to do with the Owen Falls dam that bears his name.
• The city council of Fort Portal in 2004, where a statue of its namesake in order and leave in the town center set up - probably a one-time process in post-colonial Africa.
• Since the Bantu languages ​​from various terms composite place names always describe in one word, the spelling of Fort Portal in Uganda has unofficially naturalized.