No General Descriptions provided.
| East African Interlacustrine States |
| Classical Nkore |
| continuity | |
| population migration |
| Succeeding: Nkore (ug_nkore_k_2) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Cwezi Dynasty (ug_bunyoro_k_1) [population replacement] |
| quasi-polity |
| Year Range | Nkore (ug_nkore_k_1) was in: |
|---|
Inferred from the following. "Indeed, considering what is recorded it seems fairly certain that following Nkuba’s consolidation of personal power over the Hima clans until the eventful reign of Ntare IV (1699-1727/26), the absence of historical information stems from the fact that few people in Ankole then or since would recognize the society of the first ten generations as either an historical or political unit much less as a state. Nkuba and his successors emerge dimly from the spare record as what Ruhinda himself was — a wandering herdsman and warrior. The Mugabe (king) of later years was at this stage merely the leading member of the central clan of a cluster of pastoral clans — the giver of gifts of cattle as his title literally implies rather than the monarch or ruler (Mukama) of a sovereign state." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 136) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
"Ankole, or Nkore as it was known before European contact corrupted its pronunciation and its traditions, lies in the southwest of the Republic of Uganda, south of the equator and north of the international boundary with Tanzania." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 131) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
NB The first quote posits the earliest possible start date for this polity, but the second quote suggests that the polity changed significanty in the 18th century, enough to warrant splitting its history into two phases. "Individual settlements were governed by clan chiefs, but around the middle of the 1400s, one of these, Ruhinda, rose to dominance and established himself as mugabe , or paramount ruler over all the Ankole clans. [...] Ankole kings managed to maintain the independence of their people until 1901, when Great Britain claimed the region as a colonial possession and the kingdom came under British control." [1] "Between the establishment of the Hinda regime under Ruhinda and his son, Nkuba, and the first half of the eighteenth century, ’nothing of importance seems to have taken place’, according to S. R. Karugire (1971: 150), Ankole’s leading historian. [...] [C]onsidering what is recorded it seems fairly certain that following Nkuba’s consolidation of personal power over the Hima clans until the eventful reign of Ntare IV (1699-1727/26), the absence of historical information stems from the fact that few people in Ankole then or since would recognize the society of the first ten generations as either an historical or political unit much less as a state. Nkuba and his successors emerge dimly from the spare record as what Ruhinda himself was — a wandering herdsman and warrior. The Mugabe (king) of later years was at this stage merely the leading member of the central clan of a cluster of pastoral clans — the giver of gifts of cattle as his title literally implies rather than the monarch or ruler (Mukama) of a sovereign state." [2]
[1]: (Middleton 2015: 45) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM.
[2]: (Steinhart 1978: 136) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
"For many centuries prior to British rule, the Ankole area had been politically and culturally related to various other societies in the interlacustrine region of Eastern Africa. The kingdom of Nkore, which was the nucleus around which the Ankole district was formed at the beginning of the colonial period, was centrally situated within this large region: its most important neighbours were Bunyoro-Kitara to the north, Karagwe and Buhaya to the south, Mpororo and Rwanda to the southwest, and Buganda to the east. In a narrow circle around Nkore lay a string of smaller kingships, including Koki, Buzimba, Buhweju, Igara." [1]
[1]: (Doornbos 1978: 18) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ISMJWJ4U/collection.
"Individual settlements were governed by clan chiefs, but around the middle of the 1400s, one of these, Ruhinda, rose to dominance and established himself as mugabe , or paramount ruler over all the Ankole clans." [1] "Prior to the Hinda invasion, Nkore had been a remote district on the marches of the ’empire’ of the Bacwezi. The Bacwezi are so fully legendary that their existence as real men has been seriously doubted by some scholars (Wrighley 1958)." [2]
[1]: (Middleton 2015: 45) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM.
[2]: (Steinhart 1978: 133) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
"Individual settlements were governed by clan chiefs, but around the middle of the 1400s, one of these, Ruhinda, rose to dominance and established himself as mugabe , or paramount ruler over all the Ankole clans." [1] "Prior to the Hinda invasion, Nkore had been a remote district on the marches of the ’empire’ of the Bacwezi. The Bacwezi are so fully legendary that their existence as real men has been seriously doubted by some scholars (Wrighley 1958)." [2]
[1]: (Middleton 2015: 45) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM.
[2]: (Steinhart 1978: 133) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
(Relationship): "Individual settlements were governed by clan chiefs, but around the middle of the 1400s, one of these, Ruhinda, rose to dominance and established himself as mugabe , or paramount ruler over all the Ankole clans."
[1]
"Prior to the Hinda invasion, Nkore had been a remote district on the marches of the ’empire’ of the Bacwezi. The Bacwezi are so fully legendary that their existence as real men has been seriously doubted by some scholars (Wrighley 1958)."
[2]
, "Individual settlements were governed by clan chiefs, but around the middle of the 1400s, one of these, Ruhinda, rose to dominance and established himself as mugabe , or paramount ruler over all the Ankole clans."
[1]
"Prior to the Hinda invasion, Nkore had been a remote district on the marches of the ’empire’ of the Bacwezi. The Bacwezi are so fully legendary that their existence as real men has been seriously doubted by some scholars (Wrighley 1958)."
[2]
(Entity): "Similar overlaps were salient in regard to other aspects of culture. Various interlacustrine societies, especially the Bahinda-ruled areas, had basically similar myths of origin, the common mythology being the presumed sojourn in the region of the semi-legendary Bacwezi."
[3]
"Prior to the Hinda invasion, Nkore had been a remote district on the marches of the ’empire’ of the Bacwezi. The Bacwezi are so fully legendary that their existence as real men has been seriously doubted by some scholars (Wrighley 1958). [...] The reality of Bacwezi rule, despite its ardent critics and more ardent proponents, was almost certainly little more than the dominance of a pastoral clan and their close followers over a vast, thinly populated and sporadically administered region."
[2]
[1]: (Middleton 2015: 45) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM.
[2]: (Steinhart 1978: 133) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
[3]: (Doornbos 1978: 19) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ISMJWJ4U/collection.
"Indeed, considering what is recorded it seems fairly certain that following Nkuba’s consolidation of personal power over the Hima clans until the eventful reign of Ntare IV (1699-1727/26), the absence of historical information stems from the fact that few people in Ankole then or since would recognize the society of the first ten generations as either an historical or political unit much less as a state. Nkuba and his successors emerge dimly from the spare record as what Ruhinda himself was — a wandering herdsman and warrior. The Mugabe (king) of later years was at this stage merely the leading member of the central clan of a cluster of pastoral clans — the giver of gifts of cattle as his title literally implies rather than the monarch or ruler (Mukama) of a sovereign state." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 136) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
"Culturally, manifold areas of overlap existed between the societies of the interlacustrine region. With few exceptions their languages were all patterned on the basic Bantu structure. On top of this several languages were especially closely related and in some instances two or more societies virtually shared a linguistic identity. Runyankore, for example, was basically identical to the Rukiga spoken by the Bakiga (in the present Kigezi district of Uganda), so that in the present century a common orthography could be developed for the two languages. While Runyankore was less close to Luganda, its linguistic affinities with, among others, Karagwe and Bunyoro-Kitara (and the latter’s nineteenth-century offshoot Toro) easily allowed two-way communication with these societies." [1]
[1]: (Doornbos 1978: 19) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ISMJWJ4U/collection.
“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.” [1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library
inhabitants. "In the Great Lakes, capitals and the individual structures within them were undoubtedly impressive (e.g. Kigongo and Reid 2007), but they were short-lived, frequently occupied for less than five years, and built entirely from non-durable materials; to date, even 19th-century capitals, the locations of which are known, remain archaeologically invisible. Settlement in the region, royal or otherwise, seems generally to have been relatively short-term and dispersed, leaving isolated scatters of archaeological debris across the inhabited landscape." [1]
[1]: (Reid 2013: 889) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/PA7Z3NFR/collection.
levels. "Residence patterns were generally based on scattered homesteads, not villages, a fact with far-reaching implications in terms of the kind of socio-political frameworks that evolved." [1] NB The following quote suggests no significant centralization before the 18th century: "Indeed, considering what is recorded it seems fairly certain that following Nkuba’s consolidation of personal power over the Hima clans until the eventful reign of Ntare IV (1699-1727/26), the absence of historical information stems from the fact that few people in Ankole then or since would recognize the society of the first ten generations as either an historical or political unit much less as a state. Nkuba and his successors emerge dimly from the spare record as what Ruhinda himself was — a wandering herdsman and warrior. The Mugabe (king) of later years was at this stage merely the leading member of the central clan of a cluster of pastoral clans — the giver of gifts of cattle as his title literally implies rather than the monarch or ruler (Mukama) of a sovereign state." [2]
[1]: (Doornbos 1978: 20) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ISMJWJ4U/collection.
[2]: (Steinhart 1978: 136) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
levels. Inferred from the following. "The Mugabe (king) of later years was at this stage merely the leading member of the central clan of a cluster of pastoral clans — the giver of gifts of cattle as his title literally implies rather than the monarch or ruler (Mukama) of a sovereign state." [1] 1. Mugabe :2. Lesser clan leaders ::3. Tribute collectors (inferred)
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 136) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
"For a ’conquest state’, Ankole was singularly lacking in even a defensive military capacity and clearly had never developed the organized force for carrying out any but the most casual of raiding operations. The absence of a military system for the defense of the territorial integrity of Ankole further attests to the nature of the society as a congeries of pastoral clans with only the most rudimentary institutions of chieftainship down through the reign of Ntare IV." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 138) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
"For a ’conquest state’, Ankole was singularly lacking in even a defensive military capacity and clearly had never developed the organized force for carrying out any but the most casual of raiding operations. The absence of a military system for the defense of the territorial integrity of Ankole further attests to the nature of the society as a congeries of pastoral clans with only the most rudimentary institutions of chieftainship down through the reign of Ntare IV." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 138) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
Inferred from the fact that even when this polity grew in complexity following the reforms of the 18th century, it still lacked a bureaucracy: "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, although the colonial era saw the formation of a council of chiefs (Eishengyero) claiming traditional status. 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. In fact, the only governmental business conducted at court was the hearing of cases, often involving the disputed possession of cattle or women by the Hima. The appointment and dismissal of military and administrative functionaries from among those aristocratic Hima and Hinda princes who regularly attended court was the Mugabe’s sole administrative function." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
Inferred from the fact that even when this polity grew in complexity following the reforms of the 18th century, it still lacked a bureaucracy: "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, although the colonial era saw the formation of a council of chiefs (Eishengyero) claiming traditional status. 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. In fact, the only governmental business conducted at court was the hearing of cases, often involving the disputed possession of cattle or women by the Hima. The appointment and dismissal of military and administrative functionaries from among those aristocratic Hima and Hinda princes who regularly attended court was the Mugabe’s sole administrative function." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
Inferred from the fact that even when this polity grew in complexity following the reforms of the 18th century, it still lacked a bureaucracy: "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, although the colonial era saw the formation of a council of chiefs (Eishengyero) claiming traditional status. 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. In fact, the only governmental business conducted at court was the hearing of cases, often involving the disputed possession of cattle or women by the Hima. The appointment and dismissal of military and administrative functionaries from among those aristocratic Hima and Hinda princes who regularly attended court was the Mugabe’s sole administrative function." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
Inferred from the fact that even when this polity grew in complexity following the reforms of the 18th century, it still lacked a bureaucracy: "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, although the colonial era saw the formation of a council of chiefs (Eishengyero) claiming traditional status. 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. In fact, the only governmental business conducted at court was the hearing of cases, often involving the disputed possession of cattle or women by the Hima. The appointment and dismissal of military and administrative functionaries from among those aristocratic Hima and Hinda princes who regularly attended court was the Mugabe’s sole administrative function." [1]
[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.
"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] We are inferring presence for the kingdom of Nkore due to likely spread of literacy from the Buganda polity.
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.
"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] We are inferring presence for the kingdom of Nkore due to likely spread of literacy from the Buganda polity.
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.
"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] We are inferring presence for the kingdom of Nkore due to likely spread of literacy from the Buganda polity. Note that both Arabic an Kiswahili feature phonetic alphabets.
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.
"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.
"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.
"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] We are inferring presence for the kingdom of Nkore due to likely spread of literacy from the Buganda polity.
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.
"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] We are inferring presence for the kingdom of Nkore due to likely spread of literacy from the Buganda polity.
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2014: 145) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T7IMKZJJ.
"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.
"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.
"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.
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 Nkore 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.
"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.
"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.