Bunyoro

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Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom Obukama bwa Bunyoro-Kitara (Nyoro)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Habwa Ruhanga n'Ihanga Lyange "For God and My Country"
Anthem: "Bunyoro-Kitara Anthem"
Ethnic groups		Banyoro, Bagungu
Demonym(s)	Banyoro
Government	Constitutional monarchy
• Omukama	Solomon Iguru I
• Prime Minister	Andrew Kirungi Byakutaga Ateenyi
History
• Established by Rukidi	16th century
• Establishment of Protectorate of Uganda	1894
• Obote abolishes Uganda's traditional kingdoms	1967
• Bunyoro re-established	1993
Area
17th century[1]	80,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi)
Now	16,114.6 km2 (6,221.9 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	1.4 million
Time zone	UTC+3
Calling code	256
Preceded by Empire of Kitara

Bunyoro,^[a] also called Bunyoro-Kitara, is a traditional Bantu kingdom in Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 16th century to the 19th century. It is ruled by the King (Omukama) of Bunyoro-Kitara.^[2][3] The current ruler is Solomon Iguru I, the 27th Omukama.^[4][5][6]

The kingdom of Bunyoro was established in the late 16th century by

According to

Archaeological excavations of Bigo bya Mugenyi has shown that the centre of the site was "radically reconstructed so as to include a large, hemispherical mound reminiscent of those made at Shilluk capitals and elsewhere." Oral traditions say that in the long run, a capital in the grasslands proved unsuitable for a Luo dynasty, which soon moved its headquarters to the region around and north of Mubende, where agriculture could be practiced on a larger scale. It was there, in the northern half of the old Kitara kingdom, that the new kingdom of Bunyoro developed.^[14]

The early Bito kings surpassed the feats of their Chwezi forefathers and achieved regional pre-eminence. Recent historical studies by Jean-Pierre Chrétien, Henri Médard and Christopher Wrigley have concluded that Bunyoro during the first one or two centuries of Bito rule was the greatest power in the region. Bito princes established themselves in the kingdom of Kiziba (in northern kagera), the northern Busoga kingdoms and west of the Rwenzoris. As far away as Buzinza, kings claimed to have their origins in Bunyoro.

In July 1890 an agreement was settled whereby the entire Buganda region north of Lake Victoria was given to Great Britain. In 1894 Great Britain declared the region its protectorate. In alliance with Buganda, King Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro resisted the efforts of Great Britain, aiming to take control of the kingdom. However, in 1899 Omukama Kabalega was captured and exiled to the Seychelles, and Bunyoro was subsequently annexed to the British Empire. Because of Bunyoro's resistance to the British, a portion of the Bunyoro kingdom's territory was given to Buganda and Tooro.

The country was put under the governance of Buganda administrators. The Banyoro revolted in 1907; the revolt was put down, and relations improved somewhat. After the region remained loyal to Great Britain in World War I a new agreement was made in 1933^[18] giving the region more autonomy. Bunyoro remains as one of the five constituent kingdoms of Uganda, along with Buganda, Busoga, Rwenzururu, and Tooro.^[17][19]

During the first regime of

According to 1997 projections, the total population of the Kingdom is between 800,000[22] but there may be 1,400,000 (depending on sources) living in 250,000-350,000 households. 96% of the population lives in rural areas, and only 1% of the population uses electricity for lighting and cooking. More than 92% of the population is poor, and earned less than half that of the Ugandan national average, and about 50% of the population is illiterate.^[23][24]

In the Northern and eastern parts of Bunyoro, it was difficult to determine where the borders of the Bunyoro kingdom ended, and where separate (but in some degree dependent) polities began, and due to the broadening and varying shades of influence the question might have been meaningless. Due to British colonialism, the Nile river, and not any traditional division in language, culture, or political allegiance, became the formal northern boundary of the attenuated Nyoro state.^[25]

People north of the Nile, such as the Alur and Acholi, recognized the Mukama (king of Bunyoro) as overlord and sent tribute to him. According to the cultural anthropologist Aidan Southall, the Alur recognized their "ritual subordination to Bunyoro by going there for confirmation of their title after accession to kingship".^[26] Gifts were given to the king of Bunyoro by Lango and Acholi chiefs, who acknowledged the Nyoro king’s supremacy.^[27]

The rulers of Bunyoro acted as the ultimate arbiters of the Acholi political system. Disputes about succession to chieftainship were taken to them to settle. Many of the drums and spears which form part of the regalia of Acholi Rwodi are said to have been presented to an ancestor by a past Mukama. Representatives of the Banyoro rulers attended the installation and other ceremonies of the Rwodi of Payera.

^[28]

Bunyoro's Nilotic neighbors viewed themselves and were viewed by the Banyoro, as "mother's brothers" to the Bito dynasty, rooted in the fact that Rukidi Mpuga's mother, Nyatworo, was a Nilotic Luo from Bukidi. Bunyoro's relationship with its Nilotic neighbors was not only defined by political dominance but also by kinship ties. In Nyoro culture, it is believed that sisters' sons are to "rule" their mothers' brothers.^[29]

The first Bito King Rukidi and his brothers took the totem (Muziro) of the clan of their Luo mother, Nyatworo, which was the bushbuck (Ngabi) because their Chwezi father, Kyomya, abandoned them when they were infants. Today, the aristocratic lineages of the Acholi people to the north still have the bushbuck as their totem, like the Babito clan of Bunyoro.^[30]

The first Babito kings made sure that succession to the throne was restricted to sons born to them by their Luo wives. This gave the Paluo (luo speakers in northern Bunyoro) major political influence in Bunyo-Kitara. It was Oyo Nyimba, Rukidi's son born by Nyatworo of the Luo clan of Kwonga, who succeeded him. Nyimba, in turn, made sure that it Waswinyi, born by a Luo woman, who became king after him. The practice of restricting succession to children born by Luo women went uninterrupted, and thus, all the kings of Bunyoro-Kitara were born by Luo women until 1733.^[31]

In the Acholi language, the term "Bito" is used "generally of the sons of an aristocratic lineage". The Empaako praise names that every Munyoro is given after birth are still found in Acholi, where they are called "Pak," meaning 'praise.' Many of the mpako names are also of Luo origin. Although many Bito personal names are Luo, Bunyoro's political terminology features only two words of Luo origin, "ekikali" ("royal courtyard" found also in the kingdom of Ankole and Rwanda) and "dyangi". Some of the objects which make up the regalia of the Nyoro kings can be identified with artifacts of Nilotic origin.^[32][33] The Nyoro word "Mugole" (wife) is a Nilotic loanword that can be found in the Acholi "Nya gol" (wife) and beyond that to the Dinka-Nuer word "Gol" (clan, family). It can be found as far south as Rwanda where Mugole/Mugore simply means "woman" in Kinyarwanda. The nyoro word, "wakonga" (pangolin) is related to the Acholi "Okong" and Dinka "Akuong". the Nyoro "Mukago" ("blood-brotherhood" which is initiated by cutting the hands) is related to Shilluk "Kago" and Dinka "Kak" (cut open).^[34]

European visitors in the late nineteenth century consistently observed that Bunyoro was one of the most densely populated parts of East Africa." Wilhelm Junker, who had explored much of the Nile Valley before traveling through the heart of Bunyoro in 1886, wrote that 'of all the Negro regions visited by me, Bunyoro and Buganda were by far the most densely populated. Interestingly, in 1893. Henry Colvile, found Bunyoro as a whole to be 'far more thickly populated and highly cultivated' than Buganda, though it is important to note that Buganda had suffered heavy mortality and emigration during its recent civil wars.

^[35]

In describing the Kingdom of Bunyoro, Samuel Baker states that the people of Bunyoro "have become the most advanced nation in Central Africa; they are well clothed and clean in their persons, courteous and dignified in demeanor, and susceptible of enlarged political organization."^[36]

Bunyoro consists of three classes of people: Iru, Huma, and Biito. The distinction between the Iru and Huma has never had the importance in Bunyoro, as it did in other kingdoms such as Ankole or Rwanda.^[37]

The Iru are commoners who engage in farming and some cattle rearing. The Iru were Ironsmiths and provided tools and weapons to the Huma (who themselves did not practice smithing). Intermarriage between the Iru and Huma (Hima) in Bunyoro was never prohibited, and it has always been possible for Bunyoro of Iru (commoner) origin to rise to a high position in the state as many did in historical times.^[38][39] There is a Luo speaking community in the Kibanda county of the Kiryandongo District of northern Bunyoro called the Paluo (or Palwo) or Chope/Chopi. The Paluo were generally regarded as Iru by other Banyoro people. It was possible for Paluo families settling south into the Kitara heartland and assimilating its culture to become part of the Huma category.^[40]

The Huma are those engaged only in pastoralism. The name "Bahuma" comes from the verb "okuhuma", which means the "cacophony of sound made by a herd of cattle on the move, lowing, thudding of hooves, and cries of herdsmen".^[41] Although the Bahuma claimed and were accorded high status, they have always, as Bahuma, lacked major political importance and they have never been rulers in Bunyoro-Kitara but were herdsmen, who "attached themselves to the great chiefs as custodians of their herds".^[42] Samuel Baker describes them:^[43]

There is a curious custom throughout Unyoro; a peculiar caste are cattle-keepers. These people only attend to the herds and the profession is inherited from past generations. They are called Bahooma. If the herds are carried off in battle, the Bahooma, who never carry arms, accompany them to their new masters and continue their employment. Nothing but death will separate them from their cattle

The Bahuma loved their cattle so dearly that Gaetano Casati reports that after a Sudanese raid into Bunyoro that captured 10,000 cattle, the Bahuma preferred to serve the Sudanese as cattle keepers rather than be separated [sic] from their cows. Thus The Bahuma willingly followed the raiders with their families.^[44]

The Biito are the royal clan of Bunyoro. The Babiito are originally descended from the Chwezi prince Kyomya and the Luo woman Nytworo. The Banyoro say, "the Babito are the children (Bana) of the Bacwezi, and the grandchildren (baijukuru) of the Batembuzi". When the Luo diviner Nyakoka left Kitara and entered northern Uganda, he encountered Kyomya's sons resting under a Bito tree, which is where the Bito clan gets its name from (although it is unknown what kind of tree a bito tree was).^[45]

Samuel Baker praised the crafts made by Bunyoro artisans. He said that the Banyoro "make good earthenware, they sew with needles of their own make, the eye of the needles being simply a fine end overlapped; their smiths are clever and use hammers instead of stones as in neighbouring countries and they draw fine brass and copper wire for ornamenting belts, knife handles".^[46]

European travelers in the

Bunyoro blacksmiths were regarded as among the greatest in east Africa. Bunyoro's historical ties with Luo speakers to the north, many of whom considered Bunyoro as "home," and with Buganda to the south secured the stability of trade in Bunyoro. The ties also ensured that "Bunyoro's ironsmiths had a guaranteed market among the Iteso and Langi [to the northeast], peoples who did not smelt". Having the highest quality of metallurgy in the region made it one of the strongest economic and military powers in the Great Lakes region.^[56][57]

Historian John Nyakatura delineates three categories of slaves in the Bunyoro region. The first category, known as "Embomboza," consists of individuals who were found wandering without a home or family, likely as a result of conflict or famine. The second category encompasses individuals who were captured during warfare. The third category comprises those who were acquired through purchase from neighboring kingdoms.^[58]

King Kabalega forcibly relocated various ethnic groups into Bunyoro to ease the demographic crisis the kingdom was experiencing. When he reconquered Busongora and the Tooro Kingdom he relocated many Bahuma herders into the Nyoro heartland. The Masindi area was settled by Alur slaves and entire Bakonjo families from the Rwenzori region were settled into central Bunyoro and were almost completely culturally assimilated into Bunyoro society by 1900.^[44]

The Banyoro tried not to mistreat their slaves too harshly, due to the fear of their ghosts returning to seek retribution. The Banyoro say, "If you ever mistreated a slave, his ghost would always disturb the family. And that one is very, very dangerous, even more, dangerous than the ghost of a relative".^[59]

If a female slave had a child with her master, then that child would be considered free and not discriminated against in Nyoro society. Female slaves who married their masters were no longer treated as slaves and overworked.^[60]

Slaves were able to rise to political power. A famous example of this is Nyakamatura, who was a slave of Iru origin. King Kamarusi recognized Nyakamatura's talents, freed him, and made him a chief. Nyakamatura was a friend of Kamamrusi's son, Kabalega, which caused the Iru chief's status to rise even further in society. After Kabalega took the throne he honored Nyakamatura by naming him the first minister.^[59]

Kabalega created a standing army called the "Abarusura". Most members of Bunyoro's army were Iru, such as Rwabudongo, who was the leader of the army.^[61][59]

The army of Bunyoro was supplemented with mercenaries from foreign ethnic groups such as the Lango. War captives could also be integrated into the military, such as in the case of Ireeta, who was freed and eventually became one of Bunyoro's leading generals.^[59]

Kabalega defeated the rebellious Paluo in northern Bunyoro and put them back under Nyoro authority, and the Acholi and Alur tribes across the Nile were forced to pay tribute.^[62]

Bunyoro's army achieved a significant victory against the Baganda (who outnumbered them) at the Battle of Rwangabi (or Rwengabi) in February 1886. Following this victory, the army occupied parts of western Buganda and enslaved 20,000 Baganda.^{[63] [64]}

Bunyoro boasted an impressive and well-maintained network of roads, which facilitated efficient movement throughout the region. Henry Colvile effectively utilized these routes to swiftly transport his army, taking advantage of the carefully constructed bridges that spanned the streams. John Roscoe, a missionary, also picked up on Bunyoro's network of roads.^[65]

The people of Bunyoro developed a form of writing based on a floral code^[66]

It is especially interesting that the form of writing that developed in Bunyoro was based on a floral code, as the absence of both writing and flowers in African culture have been used by Jack Goody as evidence of African culture's separateness from that of "Eurasia." Goody has written that African peoples generally did not make significant use of flowers in worship, gift-giving or decoration. He does "not know of any indigenous use of odours", nor of plants playing a role in stories or myths. This is thought to be because of Africa's "simple" agriculture, "non-complex" societies and absence of a "culture of luxury". This description of African life does not fit well with what we know of precolonial Bunyoro, a large, relatively ancient, and extremely hierarchical kingdom, and the analysis of the role of flowers was quite inaccurate.

— Shane Doyle, The Language of Flowers: Knowledge, Power and Ecology in Precolonial Bunyoro

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Unyoro".

• The National University of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom
• Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom
• Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom NGO.
• Royal Coat of Arms of Bunyoro-Kitara Archived 2020-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
• More on the Bunyoro Culture