Baganda

Bantu native to Buganda, Uganda

Ethnic group

Baganda

Flag of the Buganda Kingdom.

Baganda traditional dance

Total population
5,555,319[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Uganda
Languages
Luganda, Swahili, English
Religion
Christianity, African Traditional Religion, Islam
Related ethnic groups
Basoga, Bagwere and other Bantu peoples
Ganda

Person| OmuGanda
People| AbaGanda
Language| OluGanda
Country| BuGanda

The Baganda[3] (endonym: (A)Baganda; singular (O)Muganda; in Luganda or plural Waganda in Kiswahili or Ganda in old English texts), are a Bantu ethnic group that share a common culture, history and language and clans, and are primarily native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans (although since a 1993 survey, only 46 are officially recognised), the Baganda are the largest people of the Bantu ethnic group in Uganda, comprising 16.5 percent of the population at the time of the 2014 census.[2][1][4]

A single individual is called a Muganda whereas several people are called Baganda. The word Abaganda refers to "The Baganda People" and Omuganda refers to "The Muganda person".

Sometimes described as "The King's Men" because of the importance of the king, or Kabaka, in their society,[5] the Baganda number an estimated 16.3 million people in Uganda.[2][5] In addition, there is a significant diaspora abroad, with organised communities in Canada, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[6] Traditionally, they speak Luganda but each Muganda must belong to a clan. According to the 2002 Census of Uganda, 42.7% of Baganda are Roman Catholic, 27.4% are Anglican (Church of Uganda), 23% are Muslim, and 4.3% are Pentecostal.[7] As shown by the official statistics, the bulk of the Baganda in Uganda belong to the new Abrahamic religions and a few to the old traditional Kiganda religion. In practice, some Baganda officially belong to one of the Abrahamic religions but also secretly follow the old traditional Kiganda religion.

## Etymology

[edit]

The term Ganda means brotherhood and unity and comes from the noun "obuganda", which means bundles of stalks piled, wrapped, or tied together. it ultimately comes from the Proto Bantu word, "-ganda" (family).[8]

## The Clan

[edit]

Main article: Clans of Baganda

### Clans (Ebika)

[edit]

The Baganda are organized in Clans or ebika in Luganda. The clan is a unit of social organization and in the past, was also a unit of political organization. Every Muganda must belong to a clan (Ekika). This is usually his or her father's clan and so a "naturalized" Muganda person must pick a clan to belong to and therefore a surname or last name belonging to that clan. Each clan will have a list of at least 20 boys' surnames and 20 girls' surnames for one to pick from. Therefore, one's surname (last name) will give a clue to which clan they belong as well as their biological gender. The exceptions to this are a woman's married name (which she inherits from her husband) as well as unique names given to twins and their immediate siblings or Royals (the first-born son is called Kiweewa and the first-born daughter is called Nassolo), and gods' (lubaale) names.

All members of a clan are believed to have a common ancestor. This means that they are siblings and so it's taboo for them to marry each other (Clan Exogamy). This has even been held up in a court of law (i.e there's a precedent in law) in the famous case of Bruno L. Kiwawu vs Ivan Serunkuma and Juliet Namazzi in May 2007.[9] A few exceptions exist especially among the members of the large Mmamba clan. On occasion, these have been known to intermarry.

Another taboo is that the members of a clan cannot eat or harm their totem animal, plant or thing. So a member of the Mmamba (Lungfish) clan is forbidden from consuming a Lungfish. However, members of other clans do eat Lungfish.

The Baganda are organized around roughly 50 clans with the Kabaka (Ssaabataka) being the head of the clan heads (Abataka). Each clan has a hierarchical structure. The top (or roof) of this clan hierarchy is called Akasolya. So the Baganda are organized around the roughly 50 roofs (obusolya). Akasolya is the singular form of Obusolya. The person who heads the clan is called Ow'akasolya. Below each roof (or Kasolya) are several units called amasiga, headed by Ow'essiga. Essiga is singular form of Amasiga. Under each ssiga are several units called ennyiriri, headed by Ow'olunyiriri. Olunyiriri is the singular form of ennyiriri. Below the lunyiriri are several units called emituba, headed by Ow'omutuba. Omutuba is singular form of Emituba. Below each mutuba are several units called enzigya, headed by Ow'oluggya. Oluggya is singular form of Enzigya. The Luggya is the level of the paternal grandfather (of the family). Below the luggya are several units called ennyumba (Houses), headed by Ow'ennyumba (Ennyumba is singular form of Ennyumba). The House is essentially the nuclear family and is headed by a father or if he is dead, then it's headed by his heir (always a male). The heir is a cultural head not economic head and so for instance, in a household headed by a single mother or a widow, the family property is not owned by the cultural heir. Among the Baganda, an heiress is a biological female who inherits the cultural position of a deceased woman (i.e sister or mother). In ancient times, this heiress, if she were single, could become the widower's wife as it was assumed that she would love her deceased sister's children as if they were her own.

## Culture and Society

[edit]

The word Kiganda is usually used in reference to the Baganda culture.

### Names of Twins

[edit]

The names and titles of people related to twins are unique. The father of the twins is called Ssaalongo and Nnaalongo is the title of the mother of the twins. The surname of the older twin is Wasswa if the twin is a boy and Babirye if the older twin is a girl. The surname of the younger twin is Nnakato if she's a girl and Kato if the younger twin is a boy. Kigongo is the surname given to the boy who was born before the twins and Kizza the surname of the child born right after the twins. Ssaabalongo is another title given to the Kabaka.

### Surnames Inspired by Kiganda Mythology or gods (Lubaale)

[edit]

Some surnames given to boys and girls were inspired by mythology or by traditional gods (Lubaale) or events. Some of the boys' names are:

1. Ddungu
2. Kibuuka
3. Mukasa
4. Musisi
5. Musoke
6. Wamala

Some of the girls' names are:

1. Nnagaddya (or Nagaddya)
2. Nnagajja (or Nagajja)
3. Nnakayaga (or Nakayaga)
4. Nnakimu (or Nakimu)
5. Nnamirembe (or Namirembe)
6. Nnamukasa (or Namukasa)
7. Nnamusoke (or Namusoke)
8. Nnamusisi (or Namusisi)

### Ekitiibwa

[edit]

Ekitiibwa (which translates as honour, glory, prestige, dignity, respect, reverence, or pomp) was the greatest ideal and the most sought-after attribute of the Baganda. It has an importance comparable to that of “face” found in many Eurasian societies such as China and Japan. In contrast to comparable notions in highly stratified societies like the Kingdom of Rwanda, moreover, ekitiibwa (Honour) was not conferred by birth. It was a right to respect for which all people openly competed. Baganda could commit suicide from shame if discovered in theft or cowardice. A brave man was expected to go to execution with silent composure as it was believed that "everyone should endure pain with stoicism". [10]

Grudges were rarely forgotten, a Ganda proverb says "He who makes you shed tears, you make him shed blood."[11]

The Kabaka (King) was Fount of honour (the ultimate source of honour and authority). The Kabaka was able to bestow administrative and military positions to individuals based on his discretion. He conferred them in return for loyalty and service so that Buganda's politics centred on competition for office and its associated ekitiibwa, a competition open in principle to any man of talent and courage. [12]

### Women

[edit]

In Ganda society, women married at a later age than most other African societies, (rarely marrying before the age of twenty). Both bridewealth and virginity were necessary to a fully honourable marriage. A married woman's status depended on her ancestry and the rank of her husband. Women gained respect by their control of the household economy and by their fertility; loss of a baby was a woman's most common reason for suicide.[13][14]

### Appearance

[edit]

John Roscoe noted that the Baganda varied in their heights, with some being just a little over 5 feet tall and others being over six feet tall (the warrior Tebukoza Kyambalango was 6'6" tall). The Anthropologist Lucy Mair further describes the appearance of the Baganda:[15]

> The people are dark-brown skinned, woolly-haired, and reasonably tall. One is struck by their superior physique after the Kikuyu whom one sees on the journey through Kenya; but they did not attain to the tremendous stature of the Hima in the other kingdoms. It would be impossible to describe a "typical" Baganda face. Some are exactly like the full moon, some have Roman noses; my best informant made me think of one of Dürer's "Four Apostles", and his brother had a remarkably triangular face which he had passed on to all his children. A light skin is not taken as a mark of noble birth or Hima origin, but as a sign of delicate health. Their bright eyes and ready smile, the fact that a dark skin does not show minor defects and makes teeth look better than they deserve, and, in the case of women, their dignified walk make them very pleasing to the eye.

Men rarely kept facial hair–they plucked it out or shaved it off. Women were careful to keep their armpit hair shaved, unless their husbands were at war or on a journey, (custom forbade married women from shaving until the husband returned). [16]

John Roscoe noted that "The Baganda are the only Bantu tribe in Eastern Equatorial Africa who do not mutilate their persons ; they neither extract their teeth nor pierce their ear lobes, nor practise the rite of circumcision ; in fact, they are most careful to avoid scarifications of any kind." [16] The Baganda did indeed abhor and forbade any mutilation of the body, and regarded circumcision as a violation of their traditional customs.[17]

When Speke prepared for his first audience with King Mutesa of Baganda, he put on his finest clothes, but admitted that he "cut a poor figure in comparison with the dressy Baganda [who] wore neat bark cloaks resembling the best yellow corduroy cloth, crimp and well set, as if stiffened with starch".[18] According to Christopher Wrigley, "The Ganda were careful, even prudish, about the covering of the body; Some use was made of animal skins, but the preferred form of dress was bark-cloth, which also had other uses such as bedding and wrapping of goods."[19]

## History

[edit]

Main article: History of Buganda

### Creation myth

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The Baganda have a creation myth that says that the first man on earth (and Buganda in particular) was Kintu. Kintu married Nnambi, the daughter of the god, Ggulu. The Baganda are the descendants of Kintu and Nnambi. According to this myth, Walumbe, Nnambi's jealous brother is responsible for all human disease, sickness (Olumbe) and death on earth. Another brother, Kayikuuzi tried to protect humans from Walumbe but failed. To this day, Kayikuuzi is still trying to capture Walumbe from the underground where he hides and take him back home. Based on this creation myth, the Baganda are called abaana ba Nnambi (Nnambi's Children).

### Early history

[edit]

Kabaka Muteesa I's bodyguard receives an invited Stanley (1875) (top). The Baganda house (1911) (bottom) .

The Baganda men traditional wear at an introduction ceremony.

As for the founding of the Kingdom of the Ganda (Buganda), the most widely acknowledged account is that it was founded by Kato Kintu. This Kato Kintu is different from the mythical Kintu, as he is generally accepted as a historical figure who founded Buganda and became its first 'Kabaka', adopting the name Kintu in reference to the legend of Kintu to establish his legitimacy as a ruler. He was successful in unifying what had previously been a number of scattered clans to form a strong kingdom.[20]

As such by the 18th century, the formerly dominant Bunyoro kingdom was being eclipsed by Buganda. Consolidating their efforts behind a centralized kingship, the Baganda (people of Buganda) shifted away from defensive strategies and toward expansion. By the mid 19th century, Buganda had doubled and redoubled its territory conquering much on Bunyoro and becoming the dominant state in the region. Newly conquered lands were placed under chiefs nominated by the king. Buganda's armies and the royal tax collectors traveled swiftly to all parts of the kingdom along specially constructed roads which crossed streams and swamps by bridges and viaducts. On Lake Victoria (which the Ganda call Nalubaale), a royal navy of outrigger canoes, commanded by an admiral who was chief of the Mamba(Lungfish) clan, could transport Baganda commandos to raid any shore of the lake.

### Arrival and interference of European colonialists

[edit]

The explorer John Speke, searching for the source of the Nile, had visited Buganda in the 1860s and back home in Britain givewithlowing account of the advanced Bantu kingdom he had found in East Africa, and fellow explorers as well as colonialists were to soon follow him into the kingdom.

The journalist Henry Morton Stanley visited Buganda in 1875 and painted a good picture of the kingdom's strength, as well as providing an estimate of Buganda troop strength.

In 1876 Christian missionaries started entering the kingdom of Buganda to introduce the Baganda people to Christianity. Between 1881 and 1890, the Baganda people started to convert to both Islam and Christianity.[21]

At Buganda's capital, Stanley found a well-ordered town of about 80,000 surrounding the king's palace, which was situated atop a commanding hill. A wall more than four kilometers in circumference surrounded the palace compound, which was filled with grass-roofed houses, meeting halls, and storage buildings. At the entrance to the court burned the royal gombolola (fire), which would only be extinguished when the Kabaka died. Thronging the grounds were foreign ambassadors seeking audiences, chiefs going to the royal advisory council, messengers running errands, and a corps of young pages, who served the Kabaka while training to become future chiefs. For communication across the kingdom, the messengers were supplemented by drum signals.

To Europeans, the Baganda belonged to a distinct political and social order and were thus privileged over other ethnic and cultural groups in the region. Early travel, missionary, and colonial accounts often called the Baganda the “most advanced and intelligent of all central African societies.” The British in their colonial ventures were much impressed with the government as well as the society and economic organization of Buganda, which they ranked as the most advanced nation they had encountered in East Africa and ranked it with other highly advanced nations like the ones they had encountered in Zimbabwe and Nigeria.[22]

> clothed, sedentary, civilized, and—martial. In the eyes of the military British administrators, the Baganda had a fine military tradition even as they themselves did. In certain ways, then, for the British, the Baganda were ‘people more like us.'

[23]

Buganda was, indeed, an aggressive empire building monarchy at the moment when the British entered the region; other African peoples "paled into insignificance when compared with the Baganda."[24]

In the turn of the century, "flush of enthusiasm for capitalism, expansion, and development", the Baganda were singled out for their initiative in seeking out markets, getting an education, and, above all, for their money-consciousness. Other Ugandan peoples were then viewed as being in a "pre-monetary stage."[25]

Under Kabaka Mwanga II, Buganda became a protectorate in 1894. This did not last, and the Kabaka declared war on Britain on July 6, 1897. He was defeated at the Battle of Buddu on July 20 of the same year. He fled to German East Africa, where he was arrested and interned at Bukoba. The Kabaka later escaped and led a rebel army to retake the kingdom before being defeated once again in 1898 and being exiled to the Seychelles.[26][27][28]

Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda was allowed near complete autonomy and a position as overlord of the other kingdoms. While in exile, Mwanga II was received into the Anglican Church, and baptized with the name Danieri (Daniel). He spent the rest of his life in exile. He died in 1903, aged 35 years. In 1910, his remains were repatriated and buried at Kasubi.[29][30][31]

The war against Kabaka Mwanga II had been expensive, and the new commissioner of Uganda in 1900, Sir Harry H. Johnston, had orders to establish an efficient administration and to levy taxes as quickly as possible. Sir Johnston approached the chiefs in Buganda with offers of jobs in the colonial administration in return for their collaboration. The chiefs did so but expected their interests (preserving Buganda as a self-governing entity, continuing the royal line of kabakas, and securing private land tenure for themselves and their supporters) to be met. After much hard bargaining, the chiefs ended up with ev.

## References

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1. ^ a b "Uganda". World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. Minority rights Group International. June 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
2. ^ a b c "2014 Uganda Population and Housing Census – Main Report" (PDF). Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
3. ^ "Ganda". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
4. ^ Zaragozà, Jordi Anglès. "BAGANDA PEOPLE". AFRICA 101 LAST TRIBES.
5. ^ a b "Baganda". Countries and Their Cultures. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
6. ^ Mukasa E. Ssemakula. "Baganda in the Diaspora". The Buganda Home Page. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
7. ^ "Population Composition" (PDF). ubos.org. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
8. ^ https://allafrica.com/stories/201504061694.html [bare URL]
9. ^ Bruno L. Kiwawu vs Ivan Serunkuma and Juliet Namazzi (Civil Suit No. 52 of 2006) (PDF). Kampala: Uganda Legal Information Institute, ULII. May 5, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
10. ^ Honour in African History. p. 167-168.
11. ^ Honour in African History. p. 167-168.
12. ^ Honour in African History. p. 168.
13. ^ Musisi, Nakanyike B. (1991). "Women, "Elite Polygyny," and Buganda State Formation". Signs. 16 (4): 773–782\. doi:10.1086/494702. JSTOR 3174572.
14. ^ Honour in African History. p. 170.
15. ^ An African People in the Twentieth Century. George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. 1934. p. 18-19.
16. ^ a b The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs. Cambridge University Press. 2011. p. 7\. ISBN 978-1-108-03139-4.
17. ^ Religion and politics in Uganda: a study of Islam and Judaism. p. 82.
18. ^ Uganda. p. 412.
19. ^ Wrigley, Christopher (16 May 2002). Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. Cambridge University Press. pp. 60–61\. ISBN 9780521894357.
20. ^ Mukasa E. Ssemakula. "The Founding of Buganda". The Buganda Home Page. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
21. ^ "UNHCR Web Archive".
22. ^ Women in African Colonial Histories. p. 97.
23. ^ Deadly Developments: Capitalism, States and War. p. 108.
24. ^ Deadly Developments: Capitalism, States and War. p. 108.
25. ^ Deadly Developments: Capitalism, States and War. p. 108.
26. ^ "Mwanga | king of Buganda". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
27. ^ "Kabaka exiled as Buganda calls for independence". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
28. ^ "The Uganda Crisis, 1966". www.buganda.com. Archived from the original on 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
29. ^ "The four Kabakas buried at Kasubi". www.kasubitombs.org. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
30. ^ "Kabaka tombs - Kasubi Tombs | Buganda Kingdom Tours". Achieve Global Safaris. 2019-08-15. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
31. ^ Brierley, Jean (1988). "Mutesa, The Missionaries, and Christian Conversion in Buganda". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 21 (4): 601–618\. doi:10.2307/219743. JSTOR 219743.

Sources

* Roscoe, John (2005). The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4179-7538-9.

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