Ganda

By Ian Skoggard

Buganda, Luganda, Kiganda.

The Ganda, who refer to themselves as "Baganda" (sing. MUGANDA), are people of mixed origins, whose ancestors migrated to their present location between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Historically, they were known as a warlike people who conquered many of their neighbors and, at the time of European contact, were a dominant power in the region. Buganda was one of the Lacustrine kingdoms along with Bunyoro, Toro, Ankole, and Kiziba. Today Buganda is one of four provinces in the state of Uganda and is located on the northern and western shores of Lake Victoria, from 2 degrees north to 1 degree south latitude. The province extends 320 kilometers along the lake shore and 130 kilometers inland, comprising a total land area of approximately 45,000 square kilometers.

The northwestern shore of Lake Victoria is a region characterized by flat topped hills separated from each other by swampland. The elevation averages about 1,200 meters above sea level. Temperatures throughout the year range from 16 to 27 degrees Celsius, with an annual rainfall of 152 cm.

According to the 1991 census there were 3,015,980 Luganda speaking people in Uganda, constituting 16 percent of the country's population. At about the time of European contact there were an estimated 3,000,000 Ganda, however, civil wars, famine, and disease had reduced their number to about 2,000,000 by 1911.

The Ganda speak the Bantu language which they call "Luganda." Linguistically, Luganda can be placed within the Interlacustrine Group of the Northern Zone of Bantu languages or within the Central Branch of the Niger-Congo Language Family.

The oral histories of Buganda chronicle a succession of 36 kings beginning with Kintu, who scholars reckoned immigrated to Buganda in the 14th century. Some scholars argue that Kintu was a conqueror of an even older kingdom in the region. In any case, Buganda has had at least a 600-year history of kingship, from the 1300s to the establishment of British overrule in 1900. Scholars surmise that the early kingdom was a federation of clans which shared the kingship on a rotating basis. As time went on, the kingship became more centralized and powerful, and an object of more intense clan conflict. After 1700, bloody succession wars were a recurring feature of Buganda history and further contributed to the process of political centralization.

Before 1600 Buganda was on the losing side in its wars with Bunyoro--the region's most powerful kingdom of the time--and its vassal states. Beginning in the seventeenth century, Buganda began to win back territory from Bunyoro. At the end of the eighteenth century, King Mawanda successfully waged campaigns that extended Buganda territory in all directions. By 1800, Buganda had replaced Bunyoro as the most powerful state in the North Interlacustrine region.

The earliest Arab contact occurred in 1844, and the first trade caravan arrived from Zanzibar in 1869. The first Europeans, the British Captains Speke and Grant, arrived in 1862 on their journey to discover the source of the Nile. Soon thereafter Protestant, Catholic and Moslem Missionaries arrived. Both kings, Mutesa I and his successor Mwanga, were suspicious of religious converts who did not respect the king's absolute authority. Also, the kings were wary of the growing British, German and Arab influence in East Africa. On various occasions, the kings had Moslem and Christian believers executed. In 1885, King Mwanga executed three Christian leaders and the visiting Anglican Bishop, James Hannington, because he had entered the kingdom from the north, using "the back door," which for a stranger revealed evil intentions. In 1888, Moslem and Christian forces deposed Mwanga and replaced him with a Moslem prince. However, argument between the Christian and Moslem factions over distribution of offices broke out into armed conflict. After an intense two-year religious war, the Christian forces prevailed, backed by neighboring tribes and the Sudanese mercenaries of the Imperial British East African Company (IBEAC). The final Christian victory gave undisputed power to what would become the new bureaucratic elite of modern Uganda. In 1894 Buganda was formally proclaimed a British protectorate which later included Bunyoro, Toro, Ankole, Busogaes and other kingdoms to the north of the Victoria Nile River. The Uganda Agreement of 1900 laid the basis of a new administrative order by granting the chiefs freehold estates, which strengthened their position vis-à-vis the monarchy.

Uganda's more recent history has also been troubled by violence and instability. After the Second World War, Buganda pressed the protectorate government for independent status. Eventually all of Uganda was granted its independence in 1962, and Milton Obate, the leader of the Lango people from Northern Uganda became prime minister, with the support of his own United People's Congress and the conservative Baganda party, Kabaka Yekka. Obate appointed the Buganda king, Mutesa II as president. Growing rivalry between parties and among ethnic groups led to Mutesa II's forceful ouster by Obate's military chief, Ida Amin. Obote took over as president and proclaimed a new constitution in 1966. Ida Amin was able to exploit the bad feelings between the Baganda and Obate and in 1971 staged a successful military coup. However, Amin's rule was disastrous and brutal, and he in turn was ousted with help from Tanzanian forces in 1978. Obote was reelected president in 1980 and again deposed by a military coup in 1985. The following year the new military rulers themselves were ousted by a southern resistance movement. Their leader, Yoweri Museveni, became president in 1986 and ruled Uganda with an indirectly- elected governing council until 1995, when a new constitution was established.

Villages are built on the slopes of the innumerable low flat topped hills that dot the Buganda countryside. Villages consist of between 30 and 80 dispersed homesteads, each one surrounded by its banana garden and interspersed by fallow land and patches of cotton, each homestead covered an average of 5-6 acres. Originally, dwellings consisted of a round framework of posts and canes covered with thatched grass which extended upward to form a bee-hive-shaped roof. In the twentieth century, the typical dwelling was rectangular, also of post and cane framework, but with mud walls and a corrugated iron roof replacing that of thatched grass.

The Ganda are primarily an agricultural society; their staple crops are bananas and yams. They also grow sweet potatoes, taro, manioc, maize, millet, peanuts, beans, squashes, gourds, sesame, tomatoes, and sugarcane. Cotton was introduced as a market crop in 1904, and later, coffee. The Ganda keep some goats, chickens, sheep, and cattle, which are regarded as a sign of wealth. The banana is the most important crop and each household has a banana grove, which supplies their major food needs. A grove can produce for as long as seventy years and requires little weeding and mulching, work done by women. The banana has supported a relatively dense and settled population. There are two growing seasons a year.

Commerce was little developed in Buganda. Markets were introduced and encouraged by Europeans. Under the British, the rich Interlacustrine soils of Buganda were developed for cash crops such as coffee, tea and cotton. In the Postwar years, coffee alone counted for 90 percent of the value of all Uganda's exports. Most Baganda farmers grow at least one cash crop along with their subsistence crops.

Traditionally, Bagandans made a variety of utilitarian and ornamental objects for domestic and royal use. They sawed ivory bracelets from elephant tusks; wove rope from plantain fibers and mats from papyrus or palm leaves; pounded bark to make barkcloth for clothing; and made pottery using the coil method. They cut planks from trees and stitched the pieces together to make canoes and shields. They also smelted iron to make spear points and hoe blades.

In the pre-contact days, the Baganda exchanged bananas and barkcloth for iron from the Lake Albert region, and salt, clay pots, and fish from the islands of Lake Victoria. With neighboring pastoral people, they traded dried bananas for cattle, sheep, and goats. In general, Baganda raiding and warfare precluded much of the need for trade. War booty was distributed according to military rank with the largest share given to the king. Beginning in the eighteenth century the king carried out trade with Zanzibar, exchanging primarily ivory for cotton cloth, and later slaves for firearms. The Arabs introduced cowry shells, although barter continued to be the dominant form of exchange. In the postwar period, Uganda has become an exporter of cotton, coffee, tea and tobacco.

Children sweep the yards, fetch water from the well and cook meals. Women garden, cook and do other domestic chores, and make baskets. Men tend the coffee or cotton crop and make barkcloth in a special shed near the main house. Men build the houses, hunt and fish. Traditionally, most of a man's time was occupied attending to the needs of his chief, including public works and war. In the 1960s, rural occupations might include clerical work for a chief, carpentry, bicycle repair, butchering and fishing. In the city, you find other occupations including those of teacher, shopkeeper, craftsmen, or driver.

In the past, land was controlled by patrilineal clans, each of which was protected by a major and a minor totem. Clan estates were administered by the heads of the clans, who were confirmed by the KABAKA, or king. Newly-conquered lands were owned by the kabaka, who appointed local chiefs to administer them. Appointed chiefs, military chiefs and traditional clan chiefs all had estates to support their households. Villagers had rights to use land through their support of a particular chief. In the Uganda Agreement of 1900, all chiefs were given freehold tenure (MAILO).

The Baganda practice patrilineal descent in which the genitor is recognized as the true father and to whose clan one belongs. There are approximately fifty clans (KIKA) in Buganda. Traditionally, the head of each clan lived on the original estate settled by the first ancestor, however, clans in general were not localized. Clan members observed the obligation of mutual aid and collective responsibility. Clans were divided into SIGA, those descended from the sons of the original founder, and MUTUBA, those descended from the grandsons or great- grandsons of the original founders. The head of a SIGA would arbitrate various disputes regarding inheritance, clan status, debts, and injuries. Members of the same mtuba were expected to attend funeral ceremonies, support relatives in legal disputes, blood feuds and the payment of fines.

The Baganda use a classificatory system of kinship terminology in which all father's brothers are called "father," all mother's sisters called "mother" and all children "brother and sister."

In the past, marriage was an economic necessity as women were the cultivators and cooks. The word "to marry" in Luganda means "to peel plantains" (OKUWATA) and "to cook for" (OKUFUMBIRA). One could not marry within one's father's or mother's clan. The suitor first obtained the consent of his prospective bride before asking her hand in marriage. If she agreed, he then sent letters, some with money in them, to various relatives designated by his prospective bride. This was followed by gifts of food to the latter's parents and a formal introduction which included a request by the fiancee's brother for a bride-price. The bride- price was in essence a contract which was supposed to be returned if the marriage failed. Other gifts were also exchanged at this time. The wedding ceremony involved the exchange of the bride at a crossroads followed by singing, drinking and dancing in the bridegroom's village. Secondary marriages were less formal.

Traditionally the Baganda practiced polygyny, but this practice began to change under the influence of Christianity, to which most Baganda now adhere. In the 1960s, only one in twenty marriages are polygamous. Christian marriages are conducted in church and modern wedding attire is worn.

The domestic unit is the homestead (MAKA) consisting of a house and kitchen, with additional sleeping huts and a latrine. A yard surrounds the house and itself is surrounded on three sides by gardens where permanent crops of coffee and bananas grow. The normal residential group is the nuclear family. Married sons and daughters live in separate homesteads. The average size homestead is three people.

Traditionally, land was not inherited because estates were attached to offices granted by the kabaka and clan leaders. Moveable property, such as livestock, barkcloth and cowry shells, was distributed to relatives at the time of the funeral, with clan elders arbitrating disputes. Senior clansmen also took a share and a `gift' was sent to the chief. The direct descendants had claim to the deceased's household implements and tools. Widows received nothing, because they were not members of the patriclan. With regard to the later freehold (mailo) estates, usually the eldest son is the principal heir receiving under half of the estate, with the rest divided among the other children, including daughters.

Ganda children are encouraged to behave socially from an early age. Children are brought up to be polite, well behaved, and respectful of elders. They learn to cultivate a code of etiquette (MPISA) which will serve them in negotiating Ganda's hierarchical, fluid society. In many cases, children are sent away after weaning to be brought up by relatives, who are less intimate and more strict than their own parents. Corporal punishment is the norm. Children begin school at age six. The Ganda do not practice any bodily mutilation or scarification. There are no puberty rituals for boys and only a family ceremony marks a girl's first menstruation.

Communities were not bound together by ties of kinship, necessarily, but were formed by those who elected to follow a particular chief and estate holder. Once settled and established, a client may attract his own kinsmen and friends who would form the core of another village.

For most of its history up to 1900, Buganda was a centralized monarchy. Tribute in the form of goods and services flowed from the clans, to the chiefs, and to the kabaka. The chief of each clan and clan segment held a hereditary estate. A council of elders decided who from a small chiefly lineage was to inherit the office of chief, subject to approval by the kabaka. A chief was responsible to the chief of the clan segment immediately above him. All chiefs were responsible for maintaining peace and security in their region, carrying out public works, and leading their men into battle. Each clan was responsible for performing a certain duty for the king, such as supplying barkcloth, herding the royal cattle or guarding the royal children. All the clans supplied personnel for the court pages, who someday might gain royal favor and be appointed chiefs.

Although there was a royal family, there was no royal clan, rather, the children of the kabaka were affiliated with their mothers' clans. Sons, grandsons, and brothers were all eligible to inherit the kingship. Because it was the practice for all the clans to marry their women to the king, each clan had a legitimate claim to the kingship, making successions highly contested. As the kingdom expanded the king was able to wrest some power away from the clan chiefs (BATAKA) by granting estates (BATONGOLE) in the newly conquered territories to his favorites, and rewarding loyal chiefs with war booty.

In the Uganda Agreement of 1900, Buganda was designated a province of Uganda and ruled as a protected state. The position of the kabaka was confirmed, and the native system of administration was preserved. The central government of Buganda Province consists of the kabaka, three ministers, and a legislative assembly (LUKIIKO). For administrative purposes, the province is divided into counties, districts, and parishes, which replaced villages as the smallest territorial unit. In 1962 the status of Uganda changed from that of a British protectorate to an independent nation and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Traditionally, the chiefs and their councils adjudicated all disputes. Charges were brought before the offender's chief, who then summoned the accused. Both parties pleaded their cases and provided witnesses. The chief and his council then questioned both parties. The council would then discuss the case and the chief came to a decision. Under the British Protectorate, chiefs continued to judge cases regarding customary laws, inheritance and succession, and relied on subordinate chiefs rather than a council to discuss the case. Protectorate Government courts adjudicated more serious crimes, such as homicide.

Violent conflict among the Baganda occurred in the wars of territorial expansion and royal succession. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Buganda was a predatory state, constantly warring upon its neighbors. This had a toll on its population. Royal succession was a time of bloody interclan fighting, which with local population often caught in between. As the king's power grew he more demonstrated it through arbitrary killings of his subjects.

The traditional religion of the Ganda was based on belief in a hierarchy of god-heroes (LUBALE), ancestral spirits (MIZIMU) and nature spirits. The most important god was Mukasa, the god of Lake Victoria, health and fertility. Another important god was Kibuka, the god of war. Besides such `national' gods, Each clan worshipped their own lubale. Priests maintained temples, shrines and cults centered on the spirits of former clan leaders and kings. Prophets, or mediums, were able to consult with these spirits, which had influence over the affairs of the living. Although today most Ganda are either Christian or Moslem (a small minority), traditional religious practices are still performed, such as sorcery, folk medicine, spirit possession, and ancestor worship.

Traditionally a group of priests and prophet, or medium, was associated with each temple. The priests performed the rites and sacrifices, and the prophet communicated with the spirit. Prophets were initiated into a cult after first being possessed by the cult's spirit. Prophets also practiced magic, both good and bad, and performed curing ceremonies.

There were few public ceremonies in traditional Bagandan religion. Most ceremonies were conducted by priests away from public view. Others involved only clan elders or members of the royal court. Public ceremonies were initiated by individuals requesting an interview with a god. A day was set and gifts brought. The prophet invoked the lubale and the audience sang songs appropriate to the particular god. The god descended and possessed the prophet and the sponsor of the event made his requests. The ceremony ended with further singing, dancing and drinking. The kabaka would also make requests of the national gods in a similar but more elaborate ceremony.

In the past, the Ganda decorated objects with simple designs: They glazed pottery, and painted barkcloth and boats. Musical instruments included a one-string violin, a six-holed fife, a nine-string harp, a wooden zither (MADINDA), a gourd horn, and various kinds of rattles and drums. There were musical bands that played at funerals and in the court. Songs were sung in the minor key. Drums were an emblem of office and were used for dancing, feasting, marching, and to announce major social and political events, including births, deaths and war. A rich folklore chronicles the history of the clans and royal succession.

According to the Ganda sickness is attributed to gods, ghosts, sorcerers, and the breaking of taboos. Cures involved propitiating the god or ghost, and righting the violated taboo with a sacrifice. For other ailments, medicine-men administered such remedies as bleeding for headaches, herbal vapor baths for fever, and branding to relieve bodily pains. Bubonic plague was not uncommon and at any sign of the plague locals abandoned their settlements.

A death was immediately followed by wailing of close relatives who had gathered in the home of the sick person. The widow washed and shaved the corpse and after two days wrapped it in barkcloth. Traditionally, butter was rubbed on the face of the deceased by the direct descendants. The corpse was buried at night under the supervision of a senior clansman. Relatives helped to dig the grave in the homestead's banana grove. Beer was brewed and drunk. The installation of an heir concluded the mourning period. Traditionally, a chief was buried in a grave inside his home, which was then abandoned. The funeral of a kabaka followed the same basic procedure as above, but was more elaborate. The kabaka was buried in the royal cemetery and a shrine constructed to house his jawbone and, in some cases, umbilical cord. A staff of slaves, priests and prophet would be responsible for maintaining the shrine and associated cult.

The Ganda believe that the spirit of the deceased remains in or near the grave, but can travel on occasion. It stays in close contact with its descendants and must be placated with offerings if the descendants are to avoid misfortune and insure prosperity. The ancestral spirit can express its anger by possessing any one of its descendants and making him or her speak. Cults grew around the more famous, especially former kings.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Ganda file contains 28 books and articles. The studies focus on Baganda history before British overrule (1200-1900), acculturation during the subsequent period of British administration (1901-1961), and various subjects in the contemporary period following independence in 1962. General ethnographies give an account of Baganda culture and society both before and after 1901 (Roscoe 1911, no. 2; Kagwa 1934, no. 8; Mair 1934, no. 1; Fallers 1960, no. 12; Southwold 1966, no. 15.) Studies of Baganda history up to 1900 are found in Kagwa (1971, no. 23), Kiwanuka (1972, no. 22), and Ray (1991, no. 19). The file includes studies of the traditional system of authority (Southwold 1961, no. 14; Fallers 1964, no. 25; Richards 1964, no. 29) and changes in the system that occurred after 1900 (Richards 1960, no. 9; 1966, no. 13; Southwold 1964, no. 28.) Other studies focus on post-1900 changes in land tenure (Mukwaya 1953, no. 11), status (Wigley 1964, no. 24), social mobility (Fallers 1964, no. 26), and marriage (Mair 1940, no. 5.) Two labor studies examine labor migration under the colonial administration (Powesland 1954, no. 6) and the assimilation of immigrant laborers in Buganda in the 1950s (Richards 1954, no. 7.) Other postwar studies include examinations of political behavior and attitudes (Doob 1964, no. 31; Richards 1964, no. 30), changes in occupational structure (Fallers 1964, no. 26), and the effect of the Baganda authority system on innovation and change (Apter 1967, no. 16.) Post-Independence studies include an examination of ethnic categories of mental health (Orley 1970, no.17), infant care and development (Ainsworth 1967, no. 18; Kilbride 1974, no. 20), and the impact of microtechnologies on rural life (Robbins 1987, no. 21.)

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in the file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

The culture summary and synopsis were written by Ian Skoggard in August, 1997.

• BAGALAGALA--court pages--644

• BAKOPI--commoners--565

• BAKUNGA--king and appointed chiefs--631

• BALUBAALE--hero-god--776

• BATAKA--lineage heads or clan chiefs--614

• BATONGLE--officials--631

• GGOMBOLOA--subcounty, subcounty chief--634

• GREAT LUKIIKO--national assembly--646

• KABAKA--king--643

• KINTU--personal name of founding king--773, 643

• KITIIBWA--prestige, respect, "to fear"--152, 554

• KUSENGA--patron-client relationship between chief and villager--571

• KYALO--village chief estate--631, 423

• LUBAALE--hero-gods--776

• LUKIIKO--chiefs council--631, 623

• MAGEMBE--mass executions--782

• MAILO--freehold estates--423

• MISAMBWA--spirit--774

• MIZIMU--ghost--775

• MPISA--proper demeanor and conduct--576

• MUKONGOZZI--spirit medium--791

• MUKOPI--commoner, undistinguished person--565

• MULUKA--parish chiefs--632

• MUTAKE--head of a unilineal descent group--614

• MUTONGOLE--(sing. Butongole) administrative chiefs--631

• MUZIMU--ghosts--775

• SABADDU--head of royal servants--644

• SABAKAKI--head of gate guards--644

• SENKOOLE--second sub-chief in charge of royal fuse and caretaker of royal fire, a county chief--631, 635, 644

• SSAABAKAAKI--head of court pages--644

• SSAZA--county, county chief--635

• SSEKABAKA--guardian of the king's shrine--793

Apter, David E. The Political Kingdom of Uganda: A Study in Bureaucratic Nationalism. 2d ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967

Fallers, Margaret Chave. The Eastern Lacustrine Bantu (Ganda and Soga). London: International African Institute, 1960

Grimes, Barbara F. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1988

Kilbride, Philip L. and Janet E. Kilbride. Sociocultural factors and the early manifestation of sociability behavior among Baganda infants. Ethos 2 (1974): 296-314

Mair, Lucy Philip. An African People in the Twentieth Century. London: G. Routledge & Sons, 1934

Mair, Lucy Philip. Native Marriage in Buganda. London: Oxford University Press for the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, 1940

Martin, M. Marlene. "Ganda," In Sixty Cultures: A Guide to the HRAF Probability Files. Robert O. Lagacé, ed. New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files, Inc. 1977

Ray, Benjamin C. Myth, Ritual, and Kingship in Buganda. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991

Richards, Audrey Isabel. "The Ganda." In East African Chiefs: A Study of Political Development in Some Uganda and Tanganyika Tribes, edited by Audrey I. Richards, 41-77. London: Faber & Faber for the East African Institute of Social Research, 1960

Richards, Audrey Isabel. The Changing Structure of a Ganda Village: Kisozi 1892-1952. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1966

Richards, Audrey Isabel, ed. Economic Development and Tribal Change: A Study of Immigrant Labour in Buganda. Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons for the East African Institute of Social Research, 1954

Roscoe, John. The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs. London: Macmillan, 1911

Southwold, Margin. "The Ganda of Uganda." In Peoples of Africa, edited by James L. Gibbs, Jr., 81-118. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965