Home Region:  East Africa (Africa)

Buganda

G SC New EA  ug_buganda_k_2 / Classical Buganda

Preceding:
[continuity; Early Buganda] [continuity]   Update here

Succeeding:
No Polity found. Add one here.

No General Descriptions provided.

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
36 N  
Original Name:
Buganda  
Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[1,700 CE ➜ 1,894 CE]  
Political and Cultural Relations
Supracultural Entity:
Interlacustrine States  
Succeeding Entity:
British Empire  
Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity  
Preceding Entity:
UNCLEAR:    [continuity]  
Degree of Centralization:
unitary state  
Language
Linguistic Family:
Niger-Congo  
Language:
Luganda  
Religion
Religious Tradition:
Ugandan Religions  
Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
20,000 people  
Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
3  
Military Level:
4  
Administrative Level:
7  
Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent  
Professional Military Officer:
absent  
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
inferred absent  
Merit Promotion:
inferred absent  
Full Time Bureaucrat:
inferred absent  
Examination System:
inferred absent  
Law
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
present  
Food Storage Site:
present  
Utilitarian Public Building:
present  
Transport Infrastructure
Road:
present  
Port:
inferred absent 1700 CE 1850 CE
present 1851 CE 1894 CE
Bridge:
present  
Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present  
Special Purpose Site:
present  
Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
present 1860 CE 1894 CE
Script:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
present 1860 CE 1894 CE
Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
present 1860 CE 1894 CE
Non Phonetic Writing:
absent  
Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
unknown 1860 CE 1894 CE
Sacred Text:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
inferred present 1860 CE 1894 CE
Religious Literature:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
present 1860 CE 1894 CE
Practical Literature:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
present 1860 CE 1894 CE
Philosophy:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
unknown 1860 CE 1894 CE
Lists Tables and Classification:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
unknown 1860 CE 1894 CE
History:
absent  
Fiction:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
unknown 1860 CE 1894 CE
Calendar:
absent 1700 CE 1859 CE
unknown 1860 CE 1894 CE
Information / Money
Token:
present  
Precious Metal:
absent  
Paper Currency:
absent  
Indigenous Coin:
absent  
Foreign Coin:
absent  
Article:
inferred absent 1700 CE 1879 CE
present 1880 CE 1894 CE
Information / Postal System
Courier:
present  
Information / Measurement System
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Military use of Metals
Projectiles
Handheld weapons
Animals used in warfare
Armor
Naval technology
Religion Tolerance Nothing coded yet.
Human Sacrifice Nothing coded yet.
Crisis Consequences Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions Nothing coded yet.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Buganda (ug_buganda_k_2) was in:
Home NGA: None

General Variables
Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[1,700 CE ➜ 1,894 CE]

Start date: "The situation, however, changed during the 18th century. This was a period of intense military and administrative activity during which headquarters for new and old chieftainships were established. The period also witnessed the settlement of newly conquered territories and the integration of their societies. Beginning with the reign of Mawanda, we see a streamlining of the administration and because of this Mawanda may be rightly called the father of the kiganda system of local government. The county head- quarters he founded in Bulemezi, Kyaddondo, Kyaggwe and Singo are still the seats of governments and the titles of chiefs which were first used in his reign became permanent and are still used today." [1] End date: "Into this turmoil, in the last days of 1890, came Captain Frederick Lugard, ’an officer of Her Majesty Queen Victoria’ but employed at the time by the Imperial British East Africa Company, the instrument of those officials, businessmen, churchmen and military men who sought to push the British state into the heart of Africa. Buganda had just been assigned to the British ’sphere’ as part of a general settlement of matters at issue between Britain and Germany, and the Company was eager to begin the exploitation of the ivory-rich and fertile Lake region in the far interior. Lugard’s small force decided the internal conflict [between religious factions in Buganda] in favour of the Christians and, within the Christian party, in favour of the Protestant, or ’English’, faction. [...] The Company was broken financially by the cost of Lugard’s operations, and in 1894 a reluctant imperial government felt bound to take direct charge of the country, which was then known by the Swahili form of its name, Uganda." [2]

[1]: (Kiwanuka 1969: 175) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/22DD3KG7/collection.

[2]: (Wrigley 2002: 4) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DNKVW9WZ/collection.


Political and Cultural Relations
Supracultural Entity:
Interlacustrine States

Succeeding Entity:
British Empire

"Into this turmoil, in the last days of 1890, came Captain Frederick Lugard, ’an officer of Her Majesty Queen Victoria’ but employed at the time by the Imperial British East Africa Company, the instrument of those officials, businessmen, churchmen and military men who sought to push the British state into the heart of Africa. Buganda had just been assigned to the British ’sphere’ as part of a general settlement of matters at issue between Britain and Germany, and the Company was eager to begin the exploitation of the ivory-rich and fertile Lake region in the far interior. Lugard’s small force decided the internal conflict [between religious factions in Buganda] in favour of the Christians and, within the Christian party, in favour of the Protestant, or ’English’, faction. [...] The Company was broken financially by the cost of Lugard’s operations, and in 1894 a reluctant imperial government felt bound to take direct charge of the country, which was then known by the Swahili form of its name, Uganda." [1]

[1]: (Wrigley 2002: 4) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DNKVW9WZ/collection.


Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity

Preceding Entity:
Early Buganda

"Buganda’s position in 1700 was markedly different from that in 1500. The sixteenth century, when Buganda experienced massive invasion from Bunyoro, was a period during which the kingdom narrowly escaped total destruction: Kabaka (king) Nakibinge in particular is associated with this era, and his actions are examined more closely below." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: ) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Degree of Centralization:
unitary state

"Most African kingdoms have ill-defined frontiers, a wide borderland where the king’s commands may or may not be obeyed, but Buganda, as has been well said, had ’sharp edges; one was either in it or outside it’. Royal power was exercised close to the border not much less effectively than within a mile of the palace. Beyond the border there was a wide domain of influence and depredation but not government. Kings Kamaanya, Ssuuna and Muteesa launched regular raids into these areas, interfered in succession disputes so as to secure pliant rulers, sometimes exacted tribute, but did not incorporate them into their own system." [1]

[1]: (Wrigley 2002: 66) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DNKVW9WZ/collection.


Language
Linguistic Family:
Niger-Congo

Language:
Luganda

"It was clear to the British when they arrived that the Baganda shared a common language spoken among all members, namely Luganda. Attempts by 19th-century European missionaries to use Luganda to preach to Banyankole and Banyoro failed, thereby demonstrating the linguistic uniqueness of Luganda and its association with the Baganda.61 Similarly, although Luganda is most similar to Lusoga, the spoken language of the Busoga region east of Buganda, the languages are not similar enough that attempts have been made to merge them, as has been done with the consolidation of Lunyoro, Lutoro, Lunyankole, and Luchiga into Runyakitara in western Uganda." [1]

[1]: (Green 2010: 9) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/CSATUHA2/collection.


Religion
Religious Tradition:
Ugandan Religions


Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
20,000 people

Inhabitants. "The first European descriptions, as we have seen, concerned the kings’ courts . The nature of these "capitals" is indeed revealing. The number of permanent and transient residents in each in the late nineteenth century was impressive: according to sources from this period, there were five hundred in Bunyoro, two thousand in Bukeye in Burundi, two thousand in Nyanza in Rwanda, but twenty thousand in Mengo in Buganda." [1]

[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 166) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection.


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
3

levels. "All such roads led to the capital, which at this time was at a place called Bandabalogo just to the east of modern Kampala. Here, quite exceptionally in the interior of East Africa, was an undoubted town, a well-laid-out mass of thatched huts that housed palace officials, soldiers, artisans, the scores of royal wives and the thousands of other women who kept the court supplied and served, as well as a floating population of corvee labourers and of provincial chiefs, who were required to spend part of their time under the king’s eye. [...] Like most East Africans, the Ganda did not live in nucleated villages but in homesteads scattered about the countryside, often irregularly strung out along a path that traversed the side of a hill. These were dwellings of the ba-kopi, a term usually rendered as ’peasants’ but more suitably as ’commoners’ or ’ordinary people’. [...] At intervals there were somewhat larger groups of huts, including one that was bigger and better built than the rest. Here lived a chief, with his several wives, servants and hangers-on, sometimes known as the ’people of the reed fence’, this being the feature that most clearly distinguished the home of a mwami." [1]

[1]: (Wrigley 2002: 59-62) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DNKVW9WZ/collection.


Military Level:
4

levels. "The absence of a ‘permanent’ army also meant that there was no title denoting overall military command. Instead, chefs, often prominent territorial governors, were appointed on merit to lead campaigns, based on their reputations as soldiers and leaders of men. The basic mechanism of recruitment through regional chiefs probably dates back to the kingdom’s foundation and indeed earlier. It seems logical, then, that as the kabaka assumed ever greater political control, the concept of a ‘supraregional’ army, marching under the colours of regional chiefs but with the kabaka at its head, developed accordingly. Regions within the ssaza (or province) system remained the basic units of military organisation, but the increasing authority of the kabaka ensured growing coherence and unity of purpose. This system had reached a peak of efficiency by the first half of the nineteenth century. Stanley’s detailed description of the war against Buvuma in 1875 indicates that most major provincial chiefs held positions of command, according to merit and experience. Just as there was differentiation within command structures, there was also a distinction within the rank and file between peasant-soldiers of renown - with well-kept weaponry and perhaps a family or clan tradition of military glory - and those who supported the military machine through scouting, looting and provision of supplies. As we shall see, however, by the 1880s the ‘peasant-warrior’ had been to a large degree supplanted by the ambitious musketeer at the capital." [1] 1. Kabaka :2. Regional chiefs ::3. "peasant-soldiers of renown" :::4. "those [soldiers?] who supported the military through scouting, looting and provision of supplies"

[1]: (Reid 2010: 51) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Administrative Level:
7

levels. Inferring at least three levels of lesser chiefs. "Early travellers were impressed by the flying ’pages’, young lads who scudded around the capital bearing messages and generally making themselves useful. From these, in the main, were recruited the next generation of the ruling elite. A youth who had survived the rigorous palace schooling and had displayed aptitude and fidelity would graduate to the captaincy of a ki-tongole troop. That is, he would become a mu-tongole, in theory the lowest kind of chief though some such people wielded considerable power. Some troops were of course maintained at the capital but others were stationed in the provinces, where they had small estates forming enclaves in the territory of a district chief, a mukungu. The mutongole remained directly responsible to the kabaka and his role was in effect to keep an eye on the chief. On occasion he would be ordered to seize the chiefs property and take his place, or a mutongole would be sent from the capital for the same purpose. He was then established in the administrative hierarchy. This was a complex structure with many gradations. At the highest level, apart from the katikkiro, the chief minister and judge, and the kimbugwe or keeper of the king’s umbilical cord, were the chiefs of the ten ssazas, literally ’divisions’ but conventionally Englished as ’counties’. These were not all of the same kind. The most important were the four marcher provinces: Buddu in the south-west, Ssingo in the north-west, Bulemeezi in the north and Kyaggwe in the east. In the west-centre of the country were four smaller counties: Mawokota on the coast, Butambala, Gomba, and Busujju further inland. That left the two central counties of Busiro and Kyaddondo, which were a patchwork of domains belonging to ritual officiants, members of the royal family and shrine priests, nominally presided over by the sacred officeholders called the Mugema and the Kaggo. Within each county was an array of lesser ba-kungu, ranked in a conventional order." [1] 1. Kabaka (king) :2. Katikkiro (chief minister and judge) ::3. Kimbungwe (keeper of the king’s umbilical cord) :::4. Chiefs of the ten ssazas (districts) ::::5. Lesser chiefs :::::6. Lesser chiefs ::::::7. Lesser chiefs

[1]: (Wrigley 2002: 63-64) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DNKVW9WZ/collection.


Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent

"There was no standing army in pre-colonial Buganda, although as we shall see, there was by the nineteenth century a class of chiefs associated with military duties, while a measure of what we might call ‘part-time professionalism’ lay at the heart of the Ganda military ethos." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 51) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Professional Military Officer:
absent

"There was no standing army in pre-colonial Buganda, although as we shall see, there was by the nineteenth century a class of chiefs associated with military duties, while a measure of what we might call ‘part-time professionalism’ lay at the heart of the Ganda military ethos." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 51) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3] Moreover, it is curious that, despite the wealth of literature available on this polity, so far we have been unable to find mentions of a bureaucracy, which strongly suggests (without outright confirming) that it was simply not present at this time.

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Merit Promotion:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3] Moreover, it is curious that, despite the wealth of literature available on this polity, so far we have been unable to find mentions of a bureaucracy, which strongly suggests (without outright confirming) that it was simply not present at this time.

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Full Time Bureaucrat:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3] Moreover, it is curious that, despite the wealth of literature available on this polity, so far we have been unable to find mentions of a bureaucracy, which strongly suggests (without outright confirming) that it was simply not present at this time.

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Examination System:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3] Moreover, it is curious that, despite the wealth of literature available on this polity, so far we have been unable to find mentions of a bureaucracy, which strongly suggests (without outright confirming) that it was simply not present at this time.

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Law
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
present

"The waters off Kyagwe were noted as being particularly rich fishing-grounds, and by the early eighteenth century the long-established markets along the Kyagwe shore were renowned throughout the kingdom. [...] By the mid-nineteenth century, certain markets had become established as the most important in the interlacustrine region. In 1876-7 Emin Pasha identified ’Werhanje’ in Karagwe, *Mpara Nyamoga’ in Bunyoro, and Rubaga, then the capital of Buganda, as the major regional marts. At Kabarega’s capital he found an exciting and cosmopolitan atmosphere in which anything and everything was brought for sale. [...] Although it is clear that there were a few major markets in the region, one of which was in the Ganda capital itself, there seems little doubt that smaller marts were scattered throughout Buganda. Although within the capital, the kabaka exercised a certain amount of control over commercial interaction - most obviously in the restrictions placed on certain imported goods - there appear to have been few such restrictions placed on local markets outside the capital. Local traders did, however, have to work within regulations, and Roscoe suggests that even markets in the outlying districts were closely supervised by political authority. Fees, for example, were levied on all articles brought for sale. In the capital itself, and possibly beyond, markets were under the supervision of a ’special chief appointed by the kabaka, one of whose duties was to collect the market dues which "amounted to ten per cent, of the value of each article sold or bought." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 83, 111, 117) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Food Storage Site:
present

Granaries. "The first European descriptions, as we have seen, concerned the kings’ courts. [...] These certainly were not cities, but rather rustic palaces, both princely residences and sites of political decision making, complete with military camps, granaries, cattle enclosures, and workshops, all of which had the look of an open market on certain days." [1]

[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 165-166) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection.


Utilitarian Public Building:
present

Markets. "The waters off Kyagwe were noted as being particularly rich fishing-grounds, and by the early eighteenth century the long-established markets along the Kyagwe shore were renowned throughout the kingdom. [...] By the mid-nineteenth century, certain markets had become established as the most important in the interlacustrine region. In 1876-7 Emin Pasha identified ’Werhanje’ in Karagwe, *Mpara Nyamoga’ in Bunyoro, and Rubaga, then the capital of Buganda, as the major regional marts. At Kabarega’s capital he found an exciting and cosmopolitan atmosphere in which anything and everything was brought for sale. [...] Although it is clear that there were a few major markets in the region, one of which was in the Ganda capital itself, there seems little doubt that smaller marts were scattered throughout Buganda. Although within the capital, the kabaka exercised a certain amount of control over commercial interaction - most obviously in the restrictions placed on certain imported goods - there appear to have been few such restrictions placed on local markets outside the capital. Local traders did, however, have to work within regulations, and Roscoe suggests that even markets in the outlying districts were closely supervised by political authority. Fees, for example, were levied on all articles brought for sale. In the capital itself, and possibly beyond, markets were under the supervision of a ’special chief appointed by the kabaka, one of whose duties was to collect the market dues which "amounted to ten per cent, of the value of each article sold or bought." [1] Granaries. "The first European descriptions, as we have seen, concerned the kings’ courts. [...] These certainly were not cities, but rather rustic palaces, both princely residences and sites of political decision making, complete with military camps, granaries, cattle enclosures, and workshops, all of which had the look of an open market on certain days." [2]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 83, 111, 117) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.

[2]: (Chrétien 2006: 165-166) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection.


Transport Infrastructure
Road:
present

"One of the first things that impressed visitors to Buganda [in the 19th century] was that a road was what they found themselves walking on - not a winding track from one village to the next, but a wide well-maintained thoroughfare with causeways over the many swamps. All such roads led to the capital, which at this time was at a place called Bandabalogo just to the east of modern Kampala." [1]

[1]: (Wrigley 2002: 59) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DNKVW9WZ/collection.


Port:
absent
1700 CE 1850 CE

"Canoes, particularly the larger vessels, needed ports, or areas for landing, collection and, indeed, construction. Before the second half of the nineteenth century, there were few ports between the Nile and the Kagera river, the latter approximately representing Buganda’s southern extremity. There existed, rather, numerous smaller landing stages which were used according to season. [...] By the late nineteenth century, the port of Munyonyo had also become established on the eastward-facing shore between modern-day Entebbe and Kampala. The origins of this port are unclear, but it first came to prominence in the late 1860s when Mutesa established one of his ’capitals’ there." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 238-240) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.

Port:
present
1851 CE 1894 CE

"Canoes, particularly the larger vessels, needed ports, or areas for landing, collection and, indeed, construction. Before the second half of the nineteenth century, there were few ports between the Nile and the Kagera river, the latter approximately representing Buganda’s southern extremity. There existed, rather, numerous smaller landing stages which were used according to season. [...] By the late nineteenth century, the port of Munyonyo had also become established on the eastward-facing shore between modern-day Entebbe and Kampala. The origins of this port are unclear, but it first came to prominence in the late 1860s when Mutesa established one of his ’capitals’ there." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 238-240) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Bridge:
present

"By the nineteenth century, state labour was locally-organised. In much the same way that ’labour armies’20 were drafted to build enclosures for the kabaka, the ssaza chiefs and their subordinates commanded local labour on behalf o f the state. The primary function of this labour was the construction of roads and bridges, and occasionally public buildings, while the clearing of forest and bush were also common operations." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 259) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present

"Mining and smithing can be traced as far back as Buganda itself, a fact reflected in a number of clan histories." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 97) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Special Purpose Site:
present

"Mining and smithing can be traced as far back as Buganda itself, a fact reflected in a number of clan histories." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 97) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Written Record:
present
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Script:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Script:
present
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
present
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Non Phonetic Writing:
absent

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1] Both Arabic an Kiswahili feature phonetic alphabets.

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Scientific Literature:
unknown
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Sacred Text:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

Quran. "Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Sacred Text:
present
1860 CE 1894 CE

Quran. "Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Religious Literature:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

Islamic texts. "Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Religious Literature:
present
1860 CE 1894 CE

Islamic texts. "Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Practical Literature:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

Islamic texts. "Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Practical Literature:
present
1860 CE 1894 CE

Islamic texts. "Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Philosophy:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Philosophy:
unknown
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Lists Tables and Classification:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Lists Tables and Classification:
unknown
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


History:
absent

It seems that the earliest historical writing produced in Uganda dates to the beginning of the British colonial period. "There developed some rich early historiographies in Africa and some, namely the early historical writing which had started to be produced in the kingdom of Buganda and to a lesser extent in the kingdom of Bunyoro and among some other neighbouring peoples since the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, have continued to thrive." [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2016: 193) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WMEMW3T7.


Fiction:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Fiction:
unknown
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Calendar:
absent
1700 CE 1859 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.

Calendar:
unknown
1860 CE 1894 CE

"Literacy entered Uganda for the first time with the introduction of Islam in the late 1860’s and for nearly a decade instruction in Islam was progressing and flourishing at the royal court. When literacy was introduced into the kingdom of Buganda, it was confined to speakers of Arabic and Kiswahili. " [1]

[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.


Information / Money
Token:
present

"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Precious Metal:
absent

"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Paper Currency:
absent

"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Indigenous Coin:
absent

"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Foreign Coin:
absent

"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Article:
absent
1700 CE 1879 CE

It seems that cloth became currency in the decades or perhaps years immediately preceding colonialism. "Cloth became increasingly accessible, and the old restrictions increasingly inoperative, particularly after the upheavals of the late 1880s. To some extent it represented a new currency. [...] As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 122, 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.

Article:
present
1880 CE 1894 CE

It seems that cloth became currency in the decades or perhaps years immediately preceding colonialism. "Cloth became increasingly accessible, and the old restrictions increasingly inoperative, particularly after the upheavals of the late 1880s. To some extent it represented a new currency. [...] As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 122, 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Information / Postal System
Courier:
present

"Throughout the engagement, the kabaka would have been kept informed, by means of runners of athletic renown, of developments concerning the course of the war and the spoil being accumulated. These runners or messengers were identified in 1880 as bakayungirizi by the missionary Livinhac. They were trained from an early age in prolonged, rapid marches, moving night and day with only short breaks; Mutesa had a number in his service." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 199) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection.


Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Military use of Metals
Projectiles
Handheld weapons
Animals used in warfare
Armor
Naval technology

Human Sacrifice Data
Human Sacrifice is the deliberate and ritualized killing of a person to please or placate supernatural entities (including gods, spirits, and ancestors) or gain other supernatural benefits.
- Nothing coded yet.
- Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions
- Nothing coded yet.