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The Kinglists of Buganda*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

C.C. Wrigley
C.C. Wrigley*
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Extract

In 1901 the katikkiro or ‘prime minister’ of Buganda, Apolo Kagwa, published a vernacular history of his country entitled The Book of the Kings of Buganda. Most of this work dealt with the events of his own lifetime, but it also included a circumstantial account of the twenty-nine reigns which, he alleged, had preceded that of King Mutesa, who received the first European visitors and who died in 1884. This version of the Ganda past has not since been challenged in its essentials either by Ganda traditionalists or by European or European-trained commentators. Some of the former have tried to lengthen the history still further by naming ancestors or forerunners of King Kintu, with whom Kagwa began his tale. But these additional kings are plainly legendary, like the dragon Bemba, or abstractions, like ‘King Buganda,’ and have not achieved official status. Scholars, by contrast, have been inclined to shorten the list slightly, holding with Sir Harry Johnston that the first real king of Buganda was Kimera [K3] and relegating the first two of Kagwa's rulers, Kintu and Cwa, to a nebulous prehistory. In other respects they have generally accepted Kagwa's account with only a few amendments and hesitations, and have used it as the basis for quite elaborate chronological and developmental studies.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 1 , 1974 , pp. 129 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1974

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Footnotes

*

The present paper is part of a larger, full-scale enquiry into the early history of the interlacustrine area. Because of this it is not always possible to develop as fully as could be desired all of the points advanced. Some elaboration must await the completion of this larger study.

References

Notes

1. Kagwa, A., Ekitabo kya Basekabaka b'e Buganda, 3rd ed. (London, 1927)Google Scholar, ed. and trans. Kiwanuka, M.S.M. as The Kings of Buganda (Nairobi, 1971).Google Scholar For further commentary on this work and others see Kiwanuka, M.S.M., “The Traditional History of the Buganda Kingdom, with Special Reference to the Historical Writings of Sir Apolo Kagwa” (Ph.D. diss., University of London, 1965)Google Scholar, and Rowe, J.A., “Myth, Memoir and Moral Admonition: Luganda Historical Writing, 1893-1969,” UJ, 33 (1969), pp. 17–40.Google Scholar The substance of Kagwa's narrative was repeated by Roscoe, J. in The Baganda: Their Customs and Beliefs (London, 1911), pp. 214–30.Google Scholar

2. See, for instance, Kabuga, C.E.S., “The Genealogy of Kabaka Kintu and the Early Bakabaka of Buganda,” UJ, 27 (1963), pp. 205–16.Google ScholarNsimbi, M.B., Amannya Amaganda n'Ennono Zaago (Kampala, 1956), p. 149Google Scholar, lists (without commitment) sixteen pre-Kintu rulers.

3. Johnson, H.H., The Uganda Protectorate, 2 vols. (London, 1902), 2:680.Google Scholar [K3] indicates the third king in Kagwa's list, ‘K’ standing for both king and Kagwa: I borrow this annotation from Martin South wold.

4. For instance, Gorju, J., Entre le Victoria, l'Albert et l'Edouard (Rennes, 1920)Google Scholar; Gray, J.M., “The Early History of Buganda,” UJ, 2 (1935), pp. 259–70Google Scholar: Cox, A.H., “The Growth and Expansion of Buganda,” UJ, 14 (1950), pp. 53–9Google Scholar; Southwold, M., Bureaucracy and Chiefship in Buganda (Kampala, 1961)Google Scholar; idem, “Succession to the Throne in Buganda,” in J. Goody, ed., Succession to High Office (Cambridge, 1966), pp. 82-126; idem, “Royal Succession in Buganda,” in I.M. Lewis, ed., History and Social Anthropology (London, 1968), pp. 127-51; Cohen, D.W., “A Survey of Interlacustrine Chronology,” JAM, 9 (1970), pp. 177–201Google Scholar; Kiwanuka, M.S.M., A History of Buganda from the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900 (London, 1971).Google Scholar

5. Roscoe, , Baganda, pp. 175–80.Google Scholar A shorter version had appeared in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 32 (1902), after p. 80.Google Scholar

6. Kagwa, A., Mpisa za Baganda (Kampala, 1905; 2nd ed. 1918)Google Scholar, ed. Mandelbaum, M. as The Customs of the Baganda (New York, 1934)Google Scholar; idem, Ebika bya Baganda (The Clans of the Baganda), 2nd ed. (Kampala, 1949).

7. Henige, D.P., “Oral Tradition and Chronology,” JAH, 12 (1971), pp. 371–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, The Chronology of Oral Tradition: Quest for a Chimera (Oxford, 1974).

8. Oliver, R., “The Royal Tombs of Buganda,” UJ, 23 (1959), pp. 124–33Google Scholar; Ray, B., “Royal Shrines and Ceremonies of Buganda,” UJ, 36 (1972), pp. 35–48.Google Scholar

9. See, among others, Treharne, R.F., The Glastonbury Legends (London, 1967).Google Scholar

10. Roscoe, J., Twenty-Five Years in East Africa (Cambridge, 1921), p. 173.Google Scholar

11. A. Achte, “Histoires des rois Baganda,” ms. in the Archives of the White Fathers, Rome. This document was used by Czekanowski, J., Forschungen im Nil-Kongo-Zwischengebiet, 5 vols. (Leipzig, 1917-1927), l:60ff.Google Scholar

12. Stanley, H.M., Through the Dark Continent (London, 1878), pp. 220ff.Google Scholar

13. Kiwanuka, , “Traditional History,” p. 161.Google Scholar

14. Stuhlmann, F., ed., Die Tagebücher von Emin Pasha, 6 vols. (Brunswick, 1916-1921), 1:381Google Scholar; Wilson, C.T. and Felkin, R.W., Uganda and the Egyptian Soudan (London, 1882), p. 197.Google Scholar This list was repeated by Felkin, , “Notes on the Waganda,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 13 (1886), pp. 739–40.Google Scholar

15. In comparing the sources of the several lists it should be borne in mind that l and r are interchangeable in Luganda, that b is a fricative sound close to v (and to German w) and that ki could equally be represented by chi.

16. Stuhlmann, F., Mit Emin Pasha ins Hen von Afrika (Berlin, 1894), pp. 192–3.Google Scholar

17. Johnston, , Uganda Protectorate, 2:681–3.Google Scholar

18. The variations in form seem mainly due to errors of transcription, the commonest being a for u and y for f. The latter, which recurs constantly in Stuhlmann's work, is clearly an over-correction, resulting from a confusion between English and German values.

19. The repetition of the erroneous form Nakibingo suggests that he may have had Stuhlmann's book available. That he also had an oral source is clear from his introduction of new phonetic errors, e.g., for Stuhlmann's Yemba he has Zemba, instead of the correct Jemba.

20. Kagwa, , Basekabaka, p. 146Google Scholar; Kasirye, J.S., Obulamu bwa Stanislas Mugwanya (Dublin, 1963), p. 35.Google Scholar

21. Czekanowski, , Forschungen, p. 64.Google Scholar

22. Kasirye, , Obulamu, p. 1.Google Scholar

23. Nambi, , Amartnya, p. 133Google Scholar; Roscoe, , Baganda, p. 308.Google Scholar

24. Speke, J.H., Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (London, 1863), p. 205.Google Scholar Speke transcribed the names as ‘Mahanda’ and ‘Katereza’.

25. The story was told (as a linguistic exercise along with other folktales) in Veux, Henri Le, Manuel de langue luganda (Algiers, 1914 [but first issued in Uganda in 1894]), pp. 24–7.Google Scholar

26. Ray, , “Royal Shrines,” p. 38.Google Scholar

27. For the legend of Ndahura see Fisher, Ruth, Twilight Tales of the Black Baganda (London, 1911), pp. 84–98.Google Scholar

28. Wrigley, C.C., “Kimera”, UJ, 23 (1959), pp. 38–43.Google Scholar

29. Kagwa, , Basekabaka, p. 56Google Scholar; idem, Afpisa, p. 6. Cf. Roscoe, , Baganda, p. 192.Google Scholar

30. For a recent interpretation of this and other Ganda royal rituals see Ray, B., “History and Symbolism in Buganda's Royal Rituals and Dynastic Traditions,” paper presented at the Conference on the Historical Study of African Religions in East Africa, Nairobi, 23-29 June 1974.Google Scholar

31. Kagwa, , Basekabaka, pp. 46–58.Google Scholar

32. Cf. Cox, “Growth and Expansion,” and Kiwanuka, History of Buganda.

33. Sutton, J.E.G., “New Radio-Carbon Dates for Eastern and Southern Africa,” JAH, 13 (1972), p. 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34. Henige, D.P., “Reflections on Early Interlacustrine Chronology: An Essay in Source Criticism,” JAH, 15 (1974), pp. 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Cf. J. Vansina, review of Karugire, S.R., A History of the Kingdom of Nkore, in JAH, 14 (1973), p. 141.Google Scholar

35. Kagwa, , Basekabaka, pp. 47–9.Google Scholar

36. K.W., [SirWinyi, Tito IV], “The Kings of Bunyoro-Kitara,” UJ, 4 (1936), pp. 78ff.Google Scholar

37. Henige, “Reflections”; idem, Chronology of Oral Tradition, pp. 105-41.

38. Fisher, , Twilight Tales, p. 137.Google Scholar

39. Kagwa, , Ekiba bya Baganda, pp. 35-9, 67–72.Google Scholar This provenance is confirmed for the Lungfish, though not for the Sheep clan, by Roscoe, , Baganda, pp. 148ff.Google Scholar The Lungfish group's leader, the Gabunga, commanded the war-fleet of Buganda, and it claimed Nakibinge [K8] as its sister's son. Most of the traditions place this immigration near the beginning of the kingdom but for reasons which cannot be discussed here it should probably be made much more recent.

40. Kagwa, , Basekabaka, p. 38Google Scholar; Stanley, , Through the Dark Continent, p. 221.Google Scholar

41. Richards, A.I., “Social Mechanisms for the Transfer of Political Rights in Some African Tribes,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 90(1960), pp. 175–90.Google Scholar