Home Region:  East Africa (Africa)

Buganda

G SC New EA  ug_buganda_k_1 / Early Buganda copy

Preceding:
No Polity found. Add one 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:
[1,450 CE ➜ 1,699 CE]  
Political and Cultural Relations
Supracultural Entity:
Interlacustrine States  
Succeeding Entity:
Classical Buganda  
Language
Linguistic Family:
Niger-Congo  
Language:
Luganda  
Religion
Religious Tradition:
Ugandan Religions  
Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Hierarchical Complexity
Military Level:
4  
Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent  
Professional Military Officer:
absent  
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Law
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Transport Infrastructure
Port:
inferred absent  
Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present  
Special Purpose Site:
present  
Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent  
Script:
absent  
Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent  
Non Phonetic Writing:
absent  
Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent  
Sacred Text:
absent  
Religious Literature:
absent  
Practical Literature:
absent  
Philosophy:
absent  
Lists Tables and Classification:
absent  
History:
absent  
Fiction:
absent  
Calendar:
absent  
Information / Money
Token:
present  
Precious Metal:
absent  
Paper Currency:
absent  
Indigenous Coin:
absent  
Foreign Coin:
absent  
Article:
absent  
Information / Postal System
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_1) was in:
Home NGA: None

General Variables
Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[1,450 CE ➜ 1,699 CE]

"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]

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


Political and Cultural Relations
Supracultural Entity:
Interlacustrine States

Succeeding Entity:
Classical Buganda

"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]

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


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
Law
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Transport Infrastructure
Port:
absent

" 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." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2010: 238-240) 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

"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

"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

"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

"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

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

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

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

"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

"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

"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

"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

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
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.