Kigezi District once covered what are now Kabale District, Kanungu District, Kisoro District and Rukungiri District, in southwest Uganda. Its terraced fields are what gives this part of Uganda its distinctive character. Kigezi was popularly known as the

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

of Africa. The coordinates for the region are: Latitude:01 13 20S, 29 53 20E.

Constituencies

Before its division into the districts shown as above, Kigezi consisted of counties of: * Rukiga County, southeast of modern-day Kabale District, which bordered on the then

Ankole Ankole (Nkore language, Runyankore: ''Nkore''), was a traditional Bantu peoples, Bantu kingdom in Uganda and lasted from the 15th century until 1967. The kingdom was located in south-western Uganda, east of Lake Edward. History Ankole Realm, K ...

District. * Ndorwa County, this is the central area of modern-day Kabale District, where Kabale town is still located and Lake Bunyonyi is shared with the county of

Rubanda Rubanda is a town in the extreme southwest of the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. It serves as the commercial, political and administrative center of Rubanda District. Location Rubanda is located approximately , by road, west of ...

. * Rubanda County, southwest of modern-day Kabale District, bordering Kanungu District and Kisoro District and Kinkizi County, where the famous Nyamasizi Hot Springs are located. * Kinkizi County, northwest of modern-day Kabale District. This county shares its borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also touches on Lake Edward on the border with DRC * Bufumbira County, southwest of modern-day Kabale District, bordering with Rubanda County, the Republic of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bufumbira County is the location of Lake Mutanda and

Lake Chahafi A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...

. *

Rujumbura County {{unreferenced, date=March 2021 Rujumbura was one of the six independent kingdoms which was established after the fall of the Kingdom of Mpororo in 1752 in present day Rukungiri, south western Uganda. It was ruled by an Omukama from the Beene Kiren ...

, which was the most northerly county of the district and bordered on the former

Ankole District Ankole (Runyankore: ''Nkore''), was a traditional Bantu kingdom in Uganda and lasted from the 15th century until 1967. The kingdom was located in south-western Uganda, east of Lake Edward. History Ankole Kingdom is located in the South-Western ...

and on Lake Edward. After the division of Kigezi into the four (4) current districts, they were named after their respective main towns, namely Kabale, Kanungu, Kisoro and

Rukungiri Rukungiri is a town in Rukungiri District of the Western Region of Uganda. It is the site of the district headquarters. Location Rukungiri is approximately , by road, north of Kabale, the largest city in the Kigezi sub-region. This is about , ...

People

The four modern district of the former Kigezi District are inhabited predominantly by the Bakiga,

Bahororo The Hororo or Bahororo are a Bantu speaking ethnicity who live mainly in the north of the former Kigezi District of south-western Uganda. In 1905, they were described by a British officer as a "quiet, inoffensive people" who owned cattle. They ar ...

, Bafumbira and

Banyarwanda The Banyarwanda ( rw, Abanyarwanda (plural), Umunyarwanda (singular), lit=those who come from Rwanda) are the cultural, tribal and linguistic group of people who inhabit mainly Rwanda. Some Banyarwanda live in the Democratic Republic of the C ...

people. All these ethnic groups share the similar cultural characteristics.

Paul Ngologoza Paul Ngologoza OBE, KSG (1897–1984) was a Ugandan writer of '' Kigezi and Its People.'' He was born at Rwanyena, in Rubaya (now in Kabale District), in then Kigezi District. He wrote about the people of Kigezi, which originally comprised the pre ...

’s book Kigezi and Its People provides detailed information about the

Bakiga people Kiga people, or ''Abakiga'' ("people of the mountains"), are a Bantu ethnic group native to south western Uganda and northern Rwanda. History Pre-colonial period The Kiga people are believed to have originated in Rwanda as mentioned in one of ...

, their traditions and history. The region is uniquely characterized by the Albertine Rift, or Western Rift Valley, and the African Great Lakes, which include Lake Bunyonyi, Lake Edward, Lake Mutanda and

Lake Kyahafi A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

. Kigezi is also the home to the chain of volcanic mountains, the Virunga Mountains, located in what is now Kisoro District, and which also form the south-west Uganda border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. Located in the Ugandan part of the Virunga Mountains is Mgahinga Gorilla National Park which, along with the nearby Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are home to the internationally famous mountain gorilla populations. The mountains also form part of the watershed between the two major African rivers, the Nile and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the highest peak on the Uganda side of the border being Mount Muhabura. In the intervening valleys, often one finds expansive swampy areas, some of which, particularly those in Kabale District, have been reclaimed for pastureland.

References

External links

Updated Travel Guide to the Kigezi Region
{{Authority control Districts of Uganda

Constituencies

People

See also

References

External links