Jinja is a city in the Eastern Region of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

, located on the North shores of Lake Victoria.

Location

Jinja is in

Jinja District Jinja District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Jinja is the district's main municipal and commercial center. Location Jinja District is bordered by Kamuli District to the north, Luuka District to the east, Mayuge Dist ...

, Busoga sub-region, in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is approximately , by road, east of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, the capital and largest city of Uganda. It sits along the northern shores of Lake Victoria, near the source of the White Nile. The city sits at an average elevation of above sea level.

History

The city was founded in 1901 by British settlers. It was planned under colonial rule in 1948 by

Ernst May Ernst May (27 July 1886 – 11 September 1970) was a List of German architects, German architect and :German urban planners, city planner. May successfully applied urban design techniques to the city of Frankfurt am Main during the Weimar R ...

, German architect and urban planner. May also designed the urban planning scheme for Kampala, creating what he called "neighborhood units." Estates were built for the ruling elite in many parts outside the center city. This led to the area's '

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

' which displaced more than 1,000 residents in the 1950s. In 1954, the construction of the

Owen Falls Dam Nalubaale Power Station, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric power station across the White Nile near its source at Lake Victoria in Uganda. ''Nalubaale'' is the Luganda name for Lake Victoria. Location The dam sits across t ...

submerged the

Ripon Falls Ripon Falls at the northern end of Lake Victoria in Uganda was formerly considered the source of the river Nile. In 1862–3 John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and offi ...

. Most of the "Flat Rocks" that gave the area its name disappeared under water as well. The local

Baganda The Ganda people, or Baganda (endonym: ''Baganda''; singular ''Muganda''), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans (although since a 1993 survey, only 46 are official ...

called the area "the stones" which is "Mayinja" in Luganda. The name "Jinja" is derived from this. A description of what the area looked like can be found in the notes of

John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nil ...

, the first European to lay eyes on the

source of the Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I expected, for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep and four to five hundred feet broad, were broken by rocks; still it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours. The roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger fish leaping at the falls with all their might, the fishermen coming out in boats, and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made in all, with the pretty nature of the country—small grassy-topped hills, with trees in the intervening valleys and on the lower slopes—as interesting a picture as one could wish to see."

Jinja was among the Ugandan cities affected by the

Uganda–Tanzania War The Uganda–Tanzania War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War (Kiswahili: ''Vita vya Kagera'') and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979 and led to the overthrow of Ugan ...

of 1978–1979. After the

Fall of Kampala The Fall of Kampala, also known as the Liberation of Kampala ( Kiswahili: ''Kukombolewa kwa Kampala''), was a battle during the Uganda–Tanzania War in 1979, in which the combined forces of Tanzania and the Uganda National Liberation Front ...

to the coalition of the

Tanzania People's Defence Force The Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) ( sw, Jeshi la Ulinzi la Wananchi wa Tanzania) is the military force of the United Republic of Tanzania. It was established in September 1964, following a mutiny by the former colonial military force ...

(TPDF) and the

Uganda National Liberation Army The Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) was a political group formed by exiled Ugandans opposed to the rule of Idi Amin with an accompanying military wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). UNLA fought alongside Tanzanian forces in ...

(UNLA), Ugandan President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

initially fled to Jinja. There, he attempted to rally remnants of the Uganda Army (UA). According to journalist Nelson Bwire Kapo, Amin even declared Jinja the new capital of Uganda, but soon fled to Arua and from there into exile. Parts of the local UA garrison belonging to the Eagle Colonel Gaddafi Battalion remained, drunkenly harassing and murdering local civilians, but most soldiers gradually deserted and fled Jinja. The TPDF and their UNLA allies assaulted Jinja on 22 April 1979, occupying the city after encountering little resistance. The remaining UA troops mostly fled, and Jinja's civilian residents greeted the TPDF-UNLA force with cheers. The operation was accompanied by some looting in the city. Following the end of hostilities, Tanzanian officers reportedly used Jinja as a hub to transport stolen goods from Uganda to

Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,182,000 in 2021, it is Tanzania's second largest c ...

, including cars, tons of coffee, large amounts of gasoline, and war materiel.

Population during the 2000s

The national census of 2002 estimated Jinja's population to be 71,213 of which 36,325 were males and 34,888 were females. In 2010, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) estimated the population at 82,800. In 2011, UBOS estimated the population at 89,700. In 2014, the national population census put the population at 72,931 However, the Municipality Authority contested the recent census of 2014, saying it under-counted Jinja's population. According to the 2014 national population census data, Jinja is the largest metropolitan area in the Jinja District and the 14th-largest metropolis in the country. The majority of the population are of

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

origin.

Lusoga Soga, or Lusoga, is a Bantu language spoken by the Soga people of the Busoga region in Eastern Uganda. With over three million speakers, it is one of the major languages of Uganda, after English, Swahili, and Luganda. However, it is largely re ...

is the main local language. Jinja has a large population of inhabitants who are defined as "working urban poor". The average annual household income is estimated at US $100.

Economy

Jinja has the second largest economy in Uganda. In the past, factories chose Jinja as their base because of the nearby electric power station at the

. Since the early 2000s, the economy of Jinja has picked up steadily. The main economic activities take place in the central business district. A new market for fresh produce was completed during the fourth quarter of 2014. The facility can accommodate up to 4,500 vendors and cost US$13.7 million to construct, with a loan from the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...

from 2011 until 2014. The biggest local employer is the Kakira Sugar Works (KSW), a member of the

Madhvani Group The Madhvani Group of Companies commonly referred to as the Madhvani Group, is one of the largest conglomerates in Uganda. The group has investments in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Middle East, India, and North America. His ...

of companies. KSW is one of the largest sugar factories in East Africa, employing over 7,500. The factory burns bagasse byproducts from sugar manufacturing to generate 50 megawatts of electricity for internal use and sale to the national grid. Sugar cane cutting median wages are about UGX:1,000 per day. The headquarters of

Nile Breweries Limited Nile Breweries Limited (NBL) is the leading beer manufacturer in Uganda. Location The NBL's headquarters and main brewery are in the town of Njeru in Buikwe District, approximately north-east of the central business district of Jinja, Uganda. ...

are in

Njeru Njeru is a town in Buikwe District, in the Central Region of Uganda. It is the largest town in the district. It is mainly a residential town. However, it hosts industries such as ''East African Packaging Solutions Limited'', a manufacturer of ...

, in Buyikwe district in central Uganda, near the

Source of the Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

, from which the brewery has been drawing its water since 1956. Building of the brewery commenced in 1952 and was completed four years later. Bottles of Nile Beer, renamed Nile Special Lager, the company's flagship brand, were first consumed in 1956. In 2001, Nile Breweries Limited was fully acquired by

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-B ...

. MM Integrated Steel Uganda Limited is one of the leading manufacturers of steel in the region. It has completed a $47 million (Shs122 billion) plant to produce 50,000 tonnes of steel products a year and directly employs 1,800 people. The company has projected to invest US$600 million through 2018. Bidco International Oil Refining Company maintains a palm oil factory in the city. The palm oil fruits come from Bidco's plantation on

Bugala Island Bugala Island, in Uganda, is the tenth-largest lake island in the world. With an area of , it is also the second largest island in Lake Victoria, after Tanzania's Ukerewe Island, and the third largest lake island in Africa, after Ukerewe and ...

in the Ssese Islands Archipelago,

Kalangala District Kalangala, also known as Ssesse, is a district in Central Uganda. The district is coterminous with the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria and does not have territory on mainland Uganda. Like other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town' ...

, in Lake Victoria. The factory in the islands crushes the fruit, and the crude palm oil is transported to Jinja for refining into

edible oil Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavoring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and may be called edible oil ...

and other products.

Kiira Motors Corporation Kiira Motors Corporation or KMC is a State Enterprise in Uganda established to champion the Development of the Domestic Automotive Value Chain for job and wealth creation and commercialize the Kiira Electric Vehicle Project. The Equity Partners ...

, also known as the Kiira EV Project, a locally based startup car company, expects to set up the first car manufacturing facility in Uganda, based in Jinja. The Kiira EV Project received of land at the Jinja Industrial and Business Park. Production is expected to start in 2018. The government of Uganda will provide funding to the initial production and setting up of a factory for the project. Jinja city's strategic location at the source of River Nile with numerous power generating plants makes it ideal for industrialisation. TOURISM, Jinja city is considered to be the tourism hub of Africa with numerous adventure activities for tourists such as, kayaking, watching games, traditional dances, sailing, native fights and tag of wars, horse riding, experience night life, bike riding, village walks, visit the museum, water rafting, visit Busoga Kingdom palace, camping, visiting the beaches, hiking mountains, fishing, food tasting, tubing the Nile, bungee jumping, sun bathing, trekking, swimming, water skiing, visiting forests, windsurfing, cabling, canoeing, cycling, tour sugarcane plantations and factories, visit Jinja city Port Pier, visit the source of river Nile, visit Makwanzi, Busowoko and Itanda waterfalls. The tourism sector of Jinja city is booming with numerous hotels, guesthouses, resorts, pavilions, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, night dance clubs, theatres, golf courses, illuminations, amusement centres, zoos, bathing pools, sliding centres, casinos, cinemas, recreational centres, with many more opening up in the city.

Education

The city also has several educational establishments including the following:

Universities and colleges

Royal Academy of Art and Design
* Eastern Campus of Makerere University * Jinja Campus of the Makerere University Business School * Jinja Campus of Busoga University * Jinja Campus of Kampala University * Nsaka University * Civil Service College University * International Institute of Health Sciences * Jinja Vocational Institute * YMCA College of Business * Nile Vocational Institute * JInja School of Nursing and Midwifery * Hotel and Tourism Training Institute Civil Service College Uganda

* Jinja School of Ophthalmic Clinical Officers * Medical Laboratory Technicians School, Jinja * Pasty Helm Memorial Vocational Training Center

Military colleges

Uganda Senior Command and Staff College The Uganda Senior Command and Staff College (USCSC) is a training facility for senior commanders in the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF), including the army, air force, and special forces. Location The facility is located in Kimaka, a subu ...

Uganda Junior Staff College The Uganda Junior Staff College, is a staff college in Uganda. Typically, graduates are commanders in the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF). Other African countries also send their cadets to the college for training. Past graduates of the co ...

* Uganda Non-Commissioned Officer Academy *

National Defence College, Uganda National Defence College, Uganda is a National Security and Strategic Studies training and educational institution in Uganda. Location The college is located in Njeru, in Buikwe District. This is near the city of Jinja, approximately , by roa ...

Secondary schools

Busoga College Busoga College Mwiri, commonly known as Busoga College, is a boarding secondary school located in Uganda. Location Busoga College Mwiri is located on Mwiri Hill in Wairaka Parish, Kakira Town Council-Jinja District, Eastern Region of Uganda, ad ...

Jinja College Jinja College is a Government Aided, Boys, Boarding, O and A’ level School, found in Jinja (Uganda). History The school was founded in 1946 as a junior school by the Mill Hill Missionary fathers, when the administration of the Budini Colle ...

* Jinja Senior Secondary School * Kiira College Butiki * Wanyange Girls Secondary School * Amazima School * Holy Cross Schools * Kakira Secondary School * Lords Meade School * Nakanyonyi Girls School * Pilkington College Muguluka * St. James' Secondary School, Jinja * Bugembe Islamic Institute Secondary School.

Primary schools

* Galaxy International School-Jinja Campus * Jinja Christian School * Jinja Montessori Pre School * Kiira International School * Kiira Primary School * Maggwa Crescent Primary School * Riverside Academy * Shilo Nile Star Nursery and Primary School * Spire Road Primary School * Victoria Nile Primary School * Vic View Primary School *Naranbhai Road Primary School

Defense

The Qaddafi Barracks, an institution of the

Uganda People's Defence Force The Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), previously known as the National Resistance Army, is the armed forces of Uganda. From 2007 to 2011, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the UPDF had a total strength of 40,000–4 ...

(UPDF), are in Jinja. They are the location of the

, one of the about a dozen military schools in Uganda. The town is also the site of the

, another UPDF institution, located in the

Kimaka Kimaka is a neighborhood in the city of Jinja, in the Eastern Region of Uganda. Location Kimaka is bordered by to the west by the Nile River, (from Nalubaale Power Station to Bujagali Power Station), to the south by the Kampala-Jinja Highway ...

neighborhood about north of Jinja's central business district.

Electricity generation

In 1993, construction began on a second power station at the source of the White Nile; an extension of the original

Nalubaale Power Station Nalubaale Power Station, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric power station across the White Nile near its source at Lake Victoria in Uganda. ''Nalubaale'' is the Luganda name for Lake Victoria. Location The dam sits across the N ...

. The extension was completed in 2003, named the

Kiira Power Station Kiira Hydroelectric Power Station, is a hydroelectric power station in Uganda, with an installed capacity of . Location The power station is located at Kimaka, a northern suburb of Jinja, in Jinja District, in the Eastern Region of Uganda, a ...

, and is capable of producing 200 megawatts of hydroelectric power at maximum utilization.

Transport

Jinja is a major station on the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the li ...

and is a port for

Lake Victoria ferries Lake Victoria ferries are motor ships (earlier examples were steamboats) for ferry services carrying freight and/or vehicles and/or passengers between Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya on Lake Victoria. Operating ferries on Lake Victoria are m ...

Jinja Airport Jinja Airport is a small civilian and military airport in Uganda. It serves the town of Jinja in Jinja District, Busoga, Eastern Region. It is adjacent to the Uganda Senior Command and Staff College of the Uganda People's Defence Force at Kimak ...

, a small civilian and military airport, is located at

, about north of Jinja's central business district. A bridge, known as the

Source of the Nile Bridge The Source of the Nile Bridge, also New Jinja Bridge, which was commissioned on 17 October 2018, by the President of Uganda, is a cable-stayed bridge across the Victoria Nile in Uganda. It replaced the Nalubaale Power Station, Nalubaale Bridge, w ...

, was built across the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

, connecting the town of

to Jinja. Construction started in 2013 and the completed structure was commissioned on 17 October 2018. The

Kampala–Jinja Highway The Kampala–Jinja Highway is a road in Uganda, connecting the cities of Kampala and Jinja. Sometimes referred to as Kampala–Jinja Road, it is a busy road, with several towns, trading centers and other points of interest along the way. As of ...

connects Jinja with the capital.

Local attractions

Jinja is commonly regarded as "the adventure capital of East Africa" due to the very many activities in town that one could engage in, especially for tourists. Local attractions include

white-water rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

, the "Source of the Nile", and bungee jumping. About north of Jinja is the

Bujagali Power Station The Bujagali Power Station is a hydroelectric power station across the Victoria Nile that harnesses the energy of its namesake; the Bujagali Falls, in Uganda. Construction began in 2007 and concluded in 2012. It was officially inaugurated o ...

. The hydroelectric facility is providing 250 megawatts of electric power. Since 2015, the city has hosted the Nyege Nyege Festival, at Discovery Beach in the suburb of Njeru in Buyikwe district approximately 20 minutes from the Jinja Central Business District. It is East Africa's largest electronic music festival.

Places of worship

Among the

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

, they are predominantly Christian churches and temples :

Roman Catholic Diocese of Jinja The Roman Catholic Diocese of Jinja ( la, Gingian(us)) is a diocese located in the city of Jinja in the Ecclesiastical province of Tororo in Uganda. History * June 10, 1948: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Kampala from the Apostolic Vica ...

(

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Church of Uganda The Church of Uganda is a member province of the Anglican Communion. Currently there are 37 dioceses which make up the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop. Each diocese is divided into archdeaconries, each headed by a senior priest known ...

(

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

Presbyterian Church in Uganda Presbyterian Church in Uganda is a conservative Reformed Calvinistic denomination in Uganda with almost 100 churches in 5 presbyteries in the late 2000s. Origin The Presbyterian Church in Uganda was founded in the 1970s by the Ugandan pastor ...

(

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

), Baptist Union of Uganda (

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is the largest international Baptist organization with an estimated 51 million people in 2022 with 246 member bodies in 128 countries and territories. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA account ...

), Assemblies of God. There are also Muslim mosques.

Sport

Jinja has two major football teams Bul FC and Gaddafi FC, both of whom play in the

Ugandan Super League The Ugandan Premier League, also known as the StarTimes Uganda Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations. The league was previously known as the Uganda Super League but changed in ...

Notable people

* Tarique Ghaffur, British police officer * Zari Hassan, Ugandan Socialite, musician and businesswoman.

Geographic data

Jinja hosts the regional offices of the Uganda Red Cross Society, a humanitarian organization.

City status

On 1 July 2020, the government of Uganda awarded city status to about one half-a-dozen municipalities. Jinja was one of those localities. As part of the qualifications to become a city, Jinja expanded to include the former Jinja Municipality, Bugembe Town Council, Mafubira sub-county and Budondo sub-county. The estimated population of the new city, as of October 2020, is about 300,000. In October 2020, the city mayor, Titus Kisambira, signed a memorandum of understanding, as an initial step in the establishment of sister cityhood with the city of Shenyang, in Liaoning Province, in China.

Notes

# Great African Travellers, From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley, The Project Gutenberg EBook of Great African Travellers, by W.H.G. Kingston (2007) (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21391/21391-h/21391-h.htm).

References

* *

External links

Online Luganda Dictionary
{{Jinja District Jinja District Busoga Populated places in Eastern Region, Uganda Populated places on Lake Victoria Cities in the Great Rift Valley Populated places on the Nile Palm oil production in Uganda Ports and harbours of Uganda

Location

History

Population during the 2000s

Economy

Education

Universities and colleges

Military colleges

Secondary schools

Primary schools

Defense

Electricity generation

Transport

Local attractions

Places of worship

Sport

Notable people

Geographic data

City status

See also

Notes

References

References

External links