Interlacustrine States (Land between Lakes): Bunyoro and Buganda
Kingdom of Bunyoro`
Origins: The people of Bunyoro originated from the areas of the Sudan and they were the Southern Nilots and the Luo and they were driven to the south by the stronger groups for example the Nilo- Hemites. It is here in the lakes region that they were driven so that they conquered the indigenous inhabitants and then set up the Kingdom of Bunyoro-in the interlacustrine region. This Kingdom extended from Lake Mabuto as far south as the Katanga river in parts of Modern Zaire and deeper to the boundary of Modern Rwanda.
The Kingdom of Bunyoro was ruled by the Luo chiefs of the Bito clan. The chiefs did not hide the fact that they were foreigners and they married local women as well as encouraged others to intermarry. Intermarriage was done in order to bring peace in the region. It was also done in order to increase the chief’s own numbers. By 1600 the Kingdom was probably the strongest in the region having conquered many neighbours and territories and incorporated them into the Kingdom of Bunyoro.
However like all other African Kingdoms in West, East, South and Central Africa, the Kingdom had declined by the 18th and 19th centuries because of the following reasons:
- Division within the Kingdom, created internal revolts by the conquered chiefs. The conquered chiefs attempted to regain their lost independence in the late 18th This caused confusion.
- It began to experience attacks by its neighbour Buganda who felt it as a threat. Buganda encouraged internal revolts within Bunyoro in order to weaken her, so that Bunyoro would not be able to attack Buganda Kingdom. Bunyoro gradually declined. However, the economic changes towards the second half of the 19thcentury allowed for the revival of Bunyoro power. East African trade in the form of ivory and iron necessitated the revival of Bunyoro. Bunyoro King was known as Omukama. So from 1859-69 Bunyoro was ruled by Omukama Kamurasi and from 1869 -97 Omukama Kabalega.
Political organisation:
The king had very definite and even autocratic powers in addition to the ritual and symbolic functions similar to those accorded to Kings in other parts of Africa. All authority in the state was centred on the king even though he entrusted a part of his authority to provincial governors and they in turn entrusted some of their own authority to the chiefs in their areas. These officials at times exercised great authority but this was simply because the king allowed them to share his power.
The governors were appointed by the king and he could dismiss them at will if they were disloyal and inefficient. Authority was hierarchical i.e. from the King down to the headman in the village.
NB: There was no clear provision of succession to the throne and therefore, there was no threat of opponents supporting an heir to the throne and deposing the king. The governors were generally very loyal because they hoped to be nominated as kings. The rulers were not indigenous to the area and therefore not of the same blood as the people they ruled over.
Only matters concerning families were in the hands of the family head chosen by the local community. Most other affairs remained in the hands of the chiefs or sub- chiefs appointed directly or indirectly by the king.
The royal officials and members of the royal family made up a superior social class so as to maintain their identity. They were respected throughout the state and stood above the ordinary people.
Reign of Omukama Kamurasi (1852 – 69)
He gained the throne through alliance with the Lang’I Nilotic neighbours of Bunyoro. He contributed to the revival of Bunyoro power by admitting foreigners in his Kingdom namely, the long distance Arab traders from Khartoum in the north and Swahili from the east (Tanzania). Kamurasi used the money these traders paid in the form of taxes and toll tax to build his Kingdom Kamurasi also struck good relations with the Nyamwezi and he also used their trade routes.
Bunyoro Kingdom had the advantage of being centrally located in the main trade routes to the coast and therefore it flourished as a base for long distance trade in the interlacustrine region.
The exports included iron goods for example hoes spearheads, iron rods produced from local iron ore deposits. Salt was also a great export from Kibero Mines and areas around Lake Mabuto. Kibero Mines were under state control and were the chief source of wealth. It was the duty of chiefs to look after the Omukama’s wealthy.
NB: The profits from the exports of wealth helped in acquiring firearms and ammunition from Muslim traders and therefore facilitated the establishment of an efficient army for both defence and expansion. Ivory, because of the availability of guns, became one of the main exports because as many elephants as possible could be killed. Ivory became a royal monopoly. Tribute in the form of Ivory was expected by the Kamurasi. It was directly exchanged with the traders by the king.
Firearms brought sudden wealth and long distance trade flourished as a result. In the long run elephants became scarce and were threatened with extinction. While Bunyoro Kingdom prospered because of firearms, others were destroyed or simply declined. Slave trade also flourished during that time but more people died during transportation.
Omukama Kamurasi had opened the way for Bunyoro’s former military power. But much of his work was left to his successor Omukama Kabalega
Kamurasi’s Achievement:
He managed to reunify and revive Bunyoro power. He brought peace and stability within Bunyoro. He managed to bring wealth and build state revenue especially in the salt and ivory trade. He was very successful in his military reforms. In the 1860s he was able to subdue most of his neighbouurs. He had even started wars of expansion which were to be carried out successfully by Omukama Kabalega.
Omukama Kabalega (CWA iii)-1870-97.
He was born in 1850 and assumed power in 1870. He won in a succession dispute with his brother Kabigumire. He won because he had been a soldier; Kabalega was popular with the army which supported him. As a Prince he had mixed freely with the people and had the common touch, so the mass of people, the Bairu or peasant-farmers supported him. He also hired both Arab ivory traders from Khartoum who had guns and Lang’i mercenaries to fight for him. Once in power Kabalega embarked on the policy of consolidating his position by executing disloyal princes together with their supporters and in this way he removed opposition and incited fear among his subjects. He then went on to some political, military and social reforms. His grand aim was however, the consolidation of Bunyoro power. As a result each policy that he carried out was intended to strengthen Bunyoro.
Military reforms.
Kabalega created a standing army of 10 regiments each with a 1 000 to about 2 000 men. His regular army was called Abarusura. The army was under the direct control of Kabalega. This was to prevent soldiers being loyal to anyone else but the king and this therefore eliminated any chances of a coup d’e tat. The army was well equipped with guns.
The old military system in Bunyoro where an army was armed at short notice in times of emergency by local leaders, who rounded up available peasant farmers was abolished.
Local leadership was replaced as military leaders by communes and foreigners, who were appointed and promoted on merit by Kabalega himself.
The army was recruited from adventurers from all parts of Uganda, but most of the new professional soldiers were Bairu especially the army commander Rwabudongo. The majority of the army came from Bunyoro while some were conscripted from the Acholi langi and the madi. These were trained by Arabs from Khartoum and they were trained in the use of guns.
NB: Kabalega’s motives in creating a standing army war to build up a force independent of the hereditary Gaza (country) chiefs and members of the royal family who had supported Kabigumire (his elder brother and rival to succession) and whose loyalty to him was suspicious.
A loyal army would make it easier to defend the country against invasion from Buganda, and at the same time make it possible to expand Bunyoro. Indeed the army succeeded in reducing the power of the aristocracy.
The soldiers were not paid a regular income and as a result plundered from the aristocracy because the king believed that this would reduce their power and remove any threats to his position. However the king lost some of his wealth through plundering because the soldiers did not bring all the booty. Wherever the soldiers conquered the king or Omukama allowed them to plunder as much as they wanted.
Merits of Military Reforms
- The Kingdom became strong and well defended.
- The aristocracy were no longer a threat to the power of Kabalega.
- Army became very loyal to the king and nobody else had influence over any part of it.
- In 1876 Toro was reconquered. Successful raids were carried out against Nkore, Rwanda and Karagwe. All these were forced to pay tribute.
In the North, Chepe, between Bunyoro and Lake Kyoga was reconquered. Tribute was exacted from Nilotic-speaking communities beyond the Nile, such as the Acholi and Alua. In the east, Kabalega’s new army defeated the Bugandan army at the Battle of Rwengabi. Some districts of Buganda were occupied and 20,000 Buganda were enslaved. In 1890 the army passed through Northern Buganda to raid Busoga and exact tribute from there.
Administration
Kabalega’s administrative reforms were closely linked up with his military reforms. Army generals were made territorial chiefs, so there was overlap between political and military authority. Kabalega centralized the government and created provinces run by loyal chiefs who could meet the King on major issues. All chiefs and other government officials were appointed not inherit and therefore hereditary chiefdoms were phased out. This promoted efficiency as commoners would not want to let the king down since they had nothing to do with power.
New chiefdoms were created as rewards for commoners who served the Kingdom well. The traditional chiefs were allowed to keep their traditional titles but all the power and privileges were removed or largely ignored.
Social reforms
Kabalega encouraged intermarriages between all the various cultural and ethnic groups that existed between his Kingdom. He himself married from various ethnic groups and encouraged the chief to do the same in order to unite the whole Kingdom and prevent the rise of rigid class structures.
Initially three social classes used to exist although at a superficial level. At the top were the Babito of Luo origin, followed by the Bahima pastoralists, finally there were the Bairu, who were Bantu peasant agriculturalists. Kabalega disliked these structures of division, no wonder why he encouraged intermarriages. He also encouraged free mixing on equal level. He was trying to avoid disunity.
Decline of Bunyoro
Tippu Tip:
He was one of the best-known of the Swahili. Arab traders. He was born Hamid-bin Muhammed el Murjebi. He was born in 1830 in Zanzibar. He was nicknamed Tippu Tip possibly because he blinked a lot or became of the sound of his guns. His mother was a Muscat Arab of ruling class. Tippu Tip’s father and his paternal grandfather were coastal Swahili who had taken part in the earliest trading expeditions to the interior. His paternal grandmother had been the daughter of a Nyamwezi chief and Tippu Tip’s own earliest journeys were with Nyamwezi caravans traveling round the south end of Lake Tanganyika to Katanga. He set up his own headquarters at Kasango on the Lualaba where he described himself as Sultan of Utetera. For twenty years, beginning in the early 1870s Tippu Tip was the most powerful man in eastern Zaire. He was loyal to the Sultan of Zanzibar of the Arabs, he maintained excellent relations with the Nyamwezi.
Tippu Tip began his own career in 1867. He set out from Zanzibar at the head of a large and exceptionally well- armed caravan to obtain Ivory in Tabwa country in northern Zambia. He entered, attacked and conquered Nsima, a ruler of known to possess a vast store of Ivory. When he returned his fortune from Nsama included thirty tons of Ivory, ten tons of copper and a thousand slaves. Through the use of diplomacy and force Tippu Tip eventually ruled a state for more than 30 000 people, in eastern Zaire. From about 1870 to about 1890 he expanded his state northwards until he ruled about a quarter of modern Zaire. He called himself the “Sultan of Utetera”. He appointed Swahili-Arab, Nyamwezi and local agents to act for him to maintain order and collect tribute in the form of Ivory and slaves.
Tippu Tip had plenty of guns (50 000 at one stage) and trained his men in the proper use of them. He was also able to establish political power because the local populations were small in numbers and politically fragmented. The navigability of the rivers in his territory greatly facilitated both the extension of his rule and the expansion of his trade.
Besides political dominance in eastern Zaire-Tippu Tip and other Swahili-Arabs developed large plantations of food crops such as rice, sorghum and maize. He also constructed large and well-built houses in the style of Zanzibar. Over and above that Tippu-Tip and other Arabs were also responsible for the adoption of KiSwahili as the Lingua franca of eastern Zaire. Tippu-Tip worked well with both Mirambo and Leopold II. He had friendly relations with Mirambo in contrast to the Tabora traders who quarreled with the King of Urambo to the detriment of their trade. He used his close family ties with the Nyamwezi to cement an alliance with Mirambo. Tippu-Tip agreed to trade for Mirambo at the coast, while in return Mirambo would protect Tippu-Tip’s caravans between Ujiji and Tabora from the Tuta Ngoni and other raiders.
After realizing that the European powers were closing in on Tropical Africa, Tippu-Tip from 1883 to 1886, made a great great effort to rally the Arabs of eastern Zaire to acknowledge the political authority of the Sultan of Zanzibar. His hope was that the Sultan’s dominion over East Africa would be recognized by the Europeans. In this way Tippu-Tip hoped that his rule in eastern Zaire would become permanent. However the European powers at the Berlin Conference did not uphold the Sultan’s claims over the interior of East Africa. Tippu Tip became a colonial agent of Belgium in 1887 when the accepted appointment as Leopold’s Governor at Stanley Falls. After his eventual retirement to Zanzibar in 1892 his former lands were conquered by European forces. The Belgians took over many of the institutions of Arab rule in eastern Zaire and employed many Swahili in positions of subordinate authority. However the Swahili language known locally as Kingwana remains the common language of this part of Zaire.
Mirambo of the Nyamwezi
The Nyamwezi people occupied West-Central Tanzania. They pioneered routes westward to Lake Tanganyika and beyond into the upper Zaire region, southwards to Shaba, northwards to Buganda and about 1800 they had reached the east coast. Their strategic position along the central routes from Zanzibar to the interior was a vital factor in Nyamwezi development in the 19th century. It enabled them to build on their existing extensive trade in salt, ironwork, copper, grain livestock, bark goods, pottery and later ivory. This economic enlargement combined with the new military techniques learned from the Nguni who came to East- Central Africa from Tshaka’s Mfecane resulted in the formation of three large states i.e. Unyanyembe, Urambo and Ukimbu.
Mirambo-was born Mbuya Mtelya in the late 1830s. He grew up a warrior and also took part in the long- distance trading expeditions. Mirambo used wealth gained from ivory trading to equip a private army of mercenary soldiers. These soldiers, known as ruga- ruga in Nyamwezi country, and Maviti and Magwangwara elsewhere roamed the countryside usually pillaging on their own account but ready to be employed by ruthless warlords or Arab traders. Sometimes their raids caused their victims to combine against them. The centralized state of the Hehe for instance in South-Central. Tanzania was formed in this way. Mirambo welded the ruga- ruga into a highly disciplined and efficient force using Ngoni weapons and tactics. His personal courage and the booty he distributed to his followers for their service in war, gained a large loyal following Mirambo created by the 1860s a state of his own called Urambo. He expanded westwards as far as Ujiji, northwards almost to Lake Victoria and Southwards to Lake Rukwa.
In this way Mirambo managed to control the major trade routes from Tabora to Ujiji, Tabora to Buganda and Tabora to Shaba. He could exact tolls on all of these routes Mirambo had 20,000 guns at one time but a chronic shortage of ammunition meant they could not be used in war as well as Ivory hunting. He had to rely on spears instead, as weapons for warfare.
Mirambo became powerful enough in the 1870s to rival the Arab merchant princes. It was with Mirambo and not with his fellow Arabs, that Tippu Tip allied himself in his commercial exploitation of eastern Zaire.
Through diplomacy Mirambo welcomed and allied himself with a number of Europeans. He welcomed Philippe Broyan the Swiss trader who was a valuable commercial partner and the British missionary Southon. Southon did not make a single convert in Urambo, but he wrote a letter on behalf of Mirambo. He also kept Mirambo informed on world politics. His attempt to befriend Sir John kick, the British Consul on Zanzibar was a great failure. This was mainly due to the death of two British Traders Frederick Carter and Tom Cadenhead at the hands of some of Mirambo’s warriors in 1880.
Although he managed to curve such a great state, Mirambo failed to successfully modernize it. The state he created was insecurely built on his personal charismatic qualities and did not long survive his death in 1884. During Mirambo’s life time, the new local rulers were loyal to him but after his death many rebelled to reassert the traditional authority of their family. There was no real community feeling among different people. Each component of the state remained basically committed to its own entity. Over and above that Mirambo successors lacked his ability. The personal loyalty of soldiers was not carried over to the new rulers. His brother Mpandashalo succeeded him and ruled from 1885-90. Mpandashalo was not a gifted leader. The state which Mirambo built over the years crumbled under the leadership of Mpandashalo.
Mkwawa of the Hehe
The Hehe state existed in the northern part of the southern Highlands of Tanzania. It lies between the Great Ruaha and Kilombero rivers. By 1855 the Hehe, people were divided into many small political units based on clans.The Hehe people came together under Munyigumba to oppose the Ngoni incursions. Munyigumba used profits from ivory trading to build up an army along Ngoni lines. The army successfully resisted Ngoni raids into Uhehe.
Munyigumba died in 1879 and was succeeded by his able son Mkwawa. Mkwawa defeated a rival claimant to Mwambambe. In power, Mkwawa quickly emerged as one of the most powerful rulers of new states in eastern Africa. He continued the Hehe Ngoni war which had started in 1878, won several battles against the Ngoni and forced them to make peace in 1881. He organized raids on neighbouring Ubena, Usagara, Ugogo and Usangu, and on Swahili-Arab trading caravans. Raids, trade and tribute from weak neighbours helped to build up his wealth.
Mkwawa controlled his state through the use of fear. He killed all opponents in Uhehe even those who were perceived as opponents. This helped to hold his state together. However it was not only through fear that he controlled the state. Many people were loyal to him out of gratitude. They depended on him for their personal position and wealth. They also wanted protection from the Ngoni people Mkwawa improved the political organization created by his father. Within Uhehe itself Mkwawa made provincial rulers subject to appointment and dismissal by himself as head of state and thus increased the strength of central government and the unity within the state. Those areas which did not resist his expansion often retained their own rulers who had to pay regular tribute. Mkwawa also used diplomacy to unite his people. Marriage alliances for example were concluded with as many groups as possible.
The Hehe state eventually crumbled as a result of German invasion.
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