Kampala (,
)
is the
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
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 Nakawa Division is one of the five administrative divisions of the city of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The town of Nakawa is the site of the division headquarters.
Location
Nakawa Division lies in the eastern part of the cit ...
, and
Rubaga Division.
Kampala's metropolitan area consists of the city proper and the neighboring
Wakiso District
Wakiso District is a district in the Central Region of Uganda that partly encircles Kampala, Uganda's capital city. The town of Wakiso is the site of the district headquarters.
Kira, the country's second largest city and suburb of Kampala, is ...
,
Mukono District
Mukono is one of the districts in the Central Region of Uganda. The town of Mukono is home to the district's main commercial center and district headquarters.
Location
Mukono District is bordered by Kayunga District to the north, Jinja Dist ...
,
Mpigi District,
Buikwe District and
Luweero District. It has a rapidly growing population that is estimated at 6,709,900 people in 2019 by the
Uganda Bureau of Statistics in an area of .
In 2015, this metropolitan area generated an estimated nominal GDP of $13.80221 billion (constant US dollars of 2011) according to Xuantong Wang et al., which was more than half of Uganda's GDP for that year, indicating the importance of Kampala to Uganda's economy.
Kampala is reported to be among the fastest-growing cities in Africa, with an annual population growth rate of 4.03 percent, by City Mayors.
Mercer (a
New York-based consulting firm) has regularly ranked Kampala as East Africa's best city to live in, ahead of
Nairobi and
Kigali.
Etymology
Kampala originally referred to only the present-day
Old Kampala hill, on whose summit Fort Lugard was located, and the initial headquarters of the British colonial authorities in the soon to be
Uganda Protectorate.
Before the British construction of Fort Lugard, the hill was a hunting reserve of the
Kabaka
the kabaka Palace in kireka
Kabaka is the title of the king of the Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual an ...
(King) of
Buganda and had several species of antelope, especially the
impala. As a result, when the British colonial officials were allocated this hill by the then Kabaka (King) of Buganda, they referred to it as "The Hill of the Impala".
The Baganda, in whose territory this British settlement was located, then translated "Hill of the Impala" as Akasozi ke'Empala. This was then shortened to K'empala and finally Kampala. ''Kasozi'' means "hill", ''ke'' "of", and ''empala'' the plural of "impala". Hence the name "Kampala" came to refer to this initial British colonial settlement that would later on spread out from the occupied
Old Kampala hill near the pre-existing
Kibuga (capital) of the Buganda Kingdom.
History
This area of numerous hills and swamps that later become known as Kampala was part of the core of the highly centralised
Buganda Kingdom
Buganda is a Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Buganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 m ...
. It was also the site of the shifting ''Kibuga'' (capital) of the different ''Bassekabaka'' (kings) of the Buganda Kingdom, with each ''
Kabaka
the kabaka Palace in kireka
Kabaka is the title of the king of the Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual an ...
'' (king) upon coronation, or subsequently during their reign, setting up their ''Kibuga'' (capital) on a new and or different hill as they wished or desired.
19th century
The first written description of this ''Kibuga'' (capital) was by the explorer
Sir Richard Burton in his book, ''The Lake Region of East Africa'', published in 1860. In the book, Burton, relying on the information collected by Snay Bin Amir, an Arab trader, described the ''Kibuga'' as
In 1862, when explorer
John Speke arrived in Buganda, the ''Kibuga'' (capital) was at Bandabarogo, present-day
Banda Hill, and the reigning ''Kabaka'' (King) was
Mutesa I.
In 1875, explorer
Henry Morton Stanley reported the capital as being at present-day
Lubaga Hill where he met the same ''Kabaka'',
During this visit, Henry M. Stanley wrote a letter that was published in the ''Daily Telegraphy'', inviting missionaries to come to Buganda. He also described the ''Kibuga'' in his 1870s dispatches to ''
The New York Herald
The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the ''New York Herald Tribune''.
His ...
'', thus:
In 1877, the first missionaries from the
Church Mission Society, who were of the Protestant faith, arrived from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
and were allocated
Namirembe Hill. Two years later, in 1879, the Catholic
White Fathers also arrived, first settling at the present day village of Kitebi near Lubaga; subsequently, they would be allocated
Lubaga Hill. The arrival of these two missionary groups laid the ground for the religious wars of 1888 to 1892 between their new converts, and forced the missionaries from
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
to then lobby for the British government to take over Buganda/Uganda as a protectorate.
In 1890,
Frederick Lugard
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...
, an agent of the
Imperial British East Africa Company, arrived in Buganda during the reign of
Ssekabaka Mwanga II, with whom he signed a treaty of protection by the British government over Buganda, and the ''Kibuga'' (capital) was located at
Mengo Hill.
Captain Lugard would, later on, be allocated the hill that would soon be known as
Old Kampala, and on which he built a fort.
In 1895,
Mengo Senior School, the first school offering Western education in Kampala, was opened by the
Church Missionary Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
at
Namirembe hill, where mostly the children of chiefs and pages of the royal palaces were students.
In 1897, Ssekabaka Mwanga launched a rebellion but was defeated and was subsequently captured and
exiled, in 1899, to
the Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
alongside Omukama
Kabalega
Chwa II Kabalega (18 June 1853 – 6 April 1923), was the ruler or Omukama of Bunyoro in Uganda from 1870 to 1899.
Biography
In 1869, Kamurasi died, and two of the legitimate royal candidates, Kabalega and Kabigure, could not agree on who sh ...
, and his 3-year-old son was made ''
Kabaka
the kabaka Palace in kireka
Kabaka is the title of the king of the Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual an ...
'' by the combined forces of the European officers leading Nubian and Baganda
colonial soldiers. This state of affairs later culminated in the signing of the
Buganda Agreement (1900) Signed in March 1900, this agreement formed the basis of British relations with Buganda, the Kabaka (King) was recognised as ruler of Buganda as long he remained faithful to her Majesty, the Lukiko (council of chiefs) given statutory recognition. T ...
that formalised British colonial rule in Buganda.
Also in 1897, Kampala's first Western-style health facility,
Mengo Hospital, was opened on
Namirembe
Namirembe is a hill in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. It is also a common name given to girls in several Baganda clans. Namirembe comes from the Luganda word "mirembe" meaning ''peace''. Namirembe loosely translates into ''Full of ...
hill by British doctor and missionary
Sir Albert Ruskin Cook. In addition, Sir Albert Ruskin Cook would in 1913 found
Mulago Hospital
Mulago National Specialised Hospital, also known as Mulago National Referral Hospital, is a component of Mulago Hospital Complex, the teaching facility of Makerere University College of Health Sciences. It is the largest public hospital in Ug ...
, the current National Referral Hospital, at
Mulago hill.
In 1899, the
Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa
The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (french: Les soeurs Missionnaires de Notre-Dame d'Afrique), often called the White Sisters, is a missionary society founded in 1869 that operates in Africa. It is closely associated with the Society o ...
founded
Lubaga Hospital
Uganda Martyrs' Hospital Lubaga, commonly known as Lubaga Hospital, which was formerly named Rubaga Hospital, is a private, not-for-profit, community hospital in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.
Location
The hospital is located on Lubaga ...
on
Lubaga Hill.
20th century
In 1900, the regents of the infant ''
Kabaka
the kabaka Palace in kireka
Kabaka is the title of the king of the Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual an ...
''
Daudi Cwa II (who were
Apolo Kagwa
Sir Apollo Kagwa (standard Luganda orthography spelling Kaggwa) (1864–1927) was a major intellectual and political leader in Uganda when it was under British rule. He was a leader of the Protestant faction and was appointed prime minister ( ...
, the ''
Katikiro
Katikkiro is the official title of the prime minister of the Kingdom of Buganda, a traditional kingdom in modern-day Uganda. The current Katikkiro is Charles Peter Mayiga, of the mutima clan, who was appointed to that position by the current monar ...
'' (Prime Minister) of Buganda, Stanislaus Mugwanya, the ''Mulamuzi'' (Chief Judge) of Buganda, and Zakaria Kisingiri, the ''Muwanika'' (Chief Treasurer) of Buganda, with
Bishop Alfred Tucker
Alfred Robert Tucker (1849–1914) was the Anglican Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa (covering the contemporary countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania), from 1890 to 1899, and Bishop of Uganda from 1899 to 1908.
Early days
Tucker was bo ...
), signed the
Buganda Agreement on behalf of Buganda with
Sir Harry Johnston, who signed on behalf of the
British government.
This agreement with Sir Harry Johnston created new land tenures such as freehold,
Crown land, and
mailo
Mailo is a unique form of land tenure in Uganda. Around 9 per cent of the country's land is held under the mailo system, which is similar to freehold. It was set up by the 1900 Buganda Agreement. Idi Amin then made all land publicly owned, and ...
, and divided up and allocated the land in such a way that would come to define the development of Kampala.
The land in
Buganda's ''Kibuga'' (capital), including
Mengo Hill and
Makerere Hill, was allocated to the young ''
Kabaka
the kabaka Palace in kireka
Kabaka is the title of the king of the Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual an ...
'', the Baganda colonial collaborators, etc., under mailo and freehold.
The religious missions were also formally allocated land they were previously occupying. Thus, the Catholic
White Fathers got
Lubaga Hill, the Protestant
Church Missionary Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
got
Namirembe
Namirembe is a hill in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. It is also a common name given to girls in several Baganda clans. Namirembe comes from the Luganda word "mirembe" meaning ''peace''. Namirembe loosely translates into ''Full of ...
Hill, the Muslims under Prince Nuhu Mbogo's leadership received
Kibuli
Kibuli is a hill in the centre of Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda. The area is a suburb in the city centre and its name also applies to the commercial and residential neighbourhoods on that hill.
Location
Kibuli Hill is border ...
Hill, the
British Catholic Mill Hill Missionaries received most of
Nsambya
Nsambya is a hill in the center of Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda. The name also refers to the upscale and middle-class neighborhoods that have been developed on the hill and its slopes.
Location
Nsambya is located approximate ...
Hill. The
Uganda Protectorate government obtained land classified as Crown lands in the area such as
Old Kampala Hill,
Nakasero Hill, etc..
To legalise the above changes, the following laws and ordinances were subsequently passed: The Crown lands Ordinance of 1903, The Land Law of 1908, The Registration of Land Titles ordinance of 1922, and the Busulu and Envujo law of 1928.
In 1906, the Crown lands consisting of Old Kampala, Nakasero hills etc. and covering was consolidated and gazetted as Kampala Township.
In 1912, Kampala Township received its first land-use plan and had a European and Asian population of 2,850.
In 1922, Kampala's oldest university,
Makerere, was founded as the Uganda Technical College at the present Makerere Hill and initially offered carpentry, building construction, mechanics, arts, education, agriculture, and medicine.
In 1930, the first sewerage plan was prepared to target a population of 20,000 people in the
Nakasero and
Old Kampala areas of the Kampala township. This plan guided sewerage development from 1936 to 1940 in planned urban areas of the Kampala Township and excluded the ''Kibuga'' area occupied by the
Baganda and other natives.
In 1931, the
Uganda Railway line reached Kampala, connecting Kampala to
Mombasa Port, thirty-five years after the commencement of its construction.
In 1938, The East African Power & Lighting Company was granted a licence for thermal electric power generation and distribution for the towns of Kampala and
Entebbe
Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. Th ...
, and in the same year
Sir Philip Mitchel, the
Governor of Uganda, switched on Kampala and Uganda's first electric
street lights.
In 1945,
Ernst May, a German architect, was commissioned by the
Uganda Protectorate Government to design a new physical plan for Kampala. Ernst May's plan of 1947 was intended to extend Kampala eastwards covering
Kololo Hill and
Naguru
Naguru is a village and panchayat in Garugubilli mandal in Parvathipuram Manyam district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Naguru is a small village with a population of around 5000. Most of the people are employed in cultivation and cattle. Naguru w ...
Hill, and with the commercial centre on the southern slopes of
Nakasero Hill, an industrial zone in the southeast of Kampala, and, for the first time, a planned residential zone for the Ugandan natives.
The plan was never fully implemented, and in 1951 the third physical plan by Henry Kendall was instead adopted, though it incorporated some elements of Ernst May's 1947 plan.
[Folkers, Antoni S. et al. (2019). "Modern Architecture in Africa: Practical Encounters with Intricate African Modernity". Springer. 1st Ed. p. 61.]
Henry Kendall's 1951 plan expanded Kampala from the area of the 1930 plan to an area of incorporating areas like
Kololo Hill, and the Industrial Area. However, like the first two planning schemes, the 1951 plan failed to achieve many of its stated objectives.
On 9 October 1962,
Uganda gained independence; subsequently the capital city was transferred from
Entebbe
Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. Th ...
to Kampala and in the same year, Kampala was granted
city status.
In 1968, six years after Uganda attained independence, the boundaries of Kampala were expanded incorporating the ''Kibuga'' (then known as Mengo Municipality), Kawempe and Nakawa Townships, and areas including Muyenga and Ggaba.
This increased the administrative area of Kampala from to the current .
In 1972, the fourth physical plan for Kampala was made covering the newly incorporated areas of Kampala's boundary extensions of 1968, but the subsequent political and economic turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s meant the plan was never implemented.
The
Battle of Kampala during the
Ugandan Bush War
The Ugandan Bush War, also known as the Luwero War, the Ugandan Civil War or the Resistance War, was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number o ...
occurred in January 1986. It resulted in the capture of the city by the
National Resistance Movement
The National Resistance Movement ( sw, Harakati za Upinzani za Kitaifa; abbr. NRM) has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986.
History
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded as a liberation movement that waged a guerrilla ...
, led by
Yoweri Museveni and the subsequent surrender of the
Ugandan government.
Similarly, the fifth physical plan for Kampala, made in 1994, like the 1972 plan, was also never implemented.
21st century
In 2010, the
Kampala Capital City Authority
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is the legal entity, established by the Ugandan Parliament, that is responsible for the operations of the capital city of Kampala in Uganda. It replaced the Kampala City Council (KCC).
Location
The hea ...
Act was enacted, giving the Ugandan Government more control of the administration of Kampala. The act also created the Kampala Metropolitan Physical Planning Authority with the stated aims of improving the infrastructure of the City of Kampala and the surrounding districts of
Wakiso
Wakiso is a city in the Central Region of Uganda. It is the headquarters of Wakiso District.
Location
Wakiso is located on the Kampala–Hoima Highway, approximately north-west of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. The coordinates ...
,
Mukono,
Buikwe,
Mpigi and
Luwero.
On 11 July 2010,
al-Shabaab suicide bombers
killed 74 people.
Geography
Topography
The City of Kampala covers a total area of , comprising of land and of water.
Kampala is a hilly place with its valleys filled with sluggish rivers/ swamps. The highest point in the city proper is the summit of
Kololo hill at , located in the center of the city and the lowest point at the shores of
Lake Victoria south of the city center at altitude of .
Hills
Kampala was originally
built on seven hills, but it has expanded to cover more than the original seven hills.
The original seven hills are:
*
Old Kampala Hill on which Fort Lugard was located, the first seat of the British colonial authorities in colonial Uganda.
* The second is
Mengo Hill
Mengo is a hill in Rubaga Division, Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. The name also applies to the neighborhood on that hill.
Location
Mengo is bordered by Old Kampala to the north, Nsambya Hill to the east, Kibuye to the south-ea ...
which was the then Kibuga (capital) of Buganda kingdom at the start of British colonial rule.
* The third is
Kibuli
Kibuli is a hill in the centre of Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda. The area is a suburb in the city centre and its name also applies to the commercial and residential neighbourhoods on that hill.
Location
Kibuli Hill is border ...
Hill, that is home to the
Kibuli Mosque
Kibuli is a hill in the centre of Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda. The area is a suburb in the city centre and its name also applies to the commercial and residential neighbourhoods on that hill.
Location
Kibuli Hill is border ...
.
* The fourth is
Namirembe
Namirembe is a hill in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. It is also a common name given to girls in several Baganda clans. Namirembe comes from the Luganda word "mirembe" meaning ''peace''. Namirembe loosely translates into ''Full of ...
Hill, that was home to the Anglican (Wangeleza) faction of the Buganda religious wars of 1888 to 1892 and site of Namirembe
Anglican Cathedral.
* The fifth is
Lubaga Hill, that was home to the White Fathers Catholic (Wafaransa) faction of the above-mentioned Buganda religious wars and also site of the Rubaga Catholic Cathedral.
* The sixth is
Nsambya
Nsambya is a hill in the center of Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda. The name also refers to the upscale and middle-class neighborhoods that have been developed on the hill and its slopes.
Location
Nsambya is located approximate ...
Hill, site of the former Cathedral of St Peter's Nsambya and allocated to the
British Catholic Mill Hill Mission during the signing of the Uganda Agreement (1900).
* The seventh is
Nakasero Hill on whose summit was Fort Nakasero, a British military installation built after relocating from Fort Lugard in Old Kampala. The hill was also the site of the European Hospital (the current government analytical laboratory opposite Ministry of Public Service headquarters).
Swamps and slow rivers
Due to Kampala's hilly nature and tropical climate, the valleys have slow rivers/swamps that tend to flow southwards towards
Lake Victoria or northwards. These seasonal and or permanent swamps cover 15% of Kampala's land area. They include:
* Kinawataka swamp river covering an area of flowing southwards into
Lake Victoria and is located in
Nakawa Division Nakawa Division is one of the five administrative divisions of the city of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The town of Nakawa is the site of the division headquarters.
Location
Nakawa Division lies in the eastern part of the cit ...
.
* Nakivubo swamp river covering an area of flowing southwards to Lake Victoria from the foothills of
Makerere and of length .
*
Lubigi swamp covering an area of flowing westwards from the foothills of
Kisaasi into the
Mayanja River
River Mayanja is a river in Uganda, East Africa.
Location
The Mayanja River is located in Central Uganda. It starts from the hills, northeast of the town of Wakiso, in Wakiso District, Central Uganda and flows in a northwestern direction to e ...
.
* Kansanga swamp
* Kyetinda swamp
Vegetation
Kampala, due to the diversity of habitats that include
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...
s and hills, was previously covered with short-grasses on the tops of the hills, elephant grass (''Pennisetum purpureum'' Schumach.), ''
Cyperus papyrus'', African water lily etc. in the swamps and evergreen forests with trees such as
African olive (mpafu) and
Natal fig (mutuba).
Geology
Kampala is located on the
East African Plateau between the two arms of the
East African Rift and on the northern limits of
Tanzania Craton.
Climate
Kampala has a
tropical rainforest climate (''Af'') under the
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system.
A facet of Kampala's weather is that it features two annual
wetter seasons. While the city does not have a true
dry season month, it experiences heavier precipitation from August to December and from February to June. However, it is between February and June that Kampala sees substantially heavier rainfall per month, with April typically seeing the heaviest amount of precipitation at an average of around of rain.
Education
Pre-primary education
Pre-primary education is offered only by private entities which are located in the various neighborhoods of Kampala, and is lightly regulated by the
Ministry of Education and Sports and starts from age of 6 weeks. Education in Kampala city is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions offering a wide range of educational training that includes pre-primary, primary, secondary, vocational, technical undergraduate and post-graduate education.
Primary and secondary education in Kampala
Kampala has a number of both primary and secondary schools in every parish that are mostly privately owned and a handful that are state-owned and are also lightly regulated by the City Education directorate and Ministry of Education and Sports.
Some of the private institutions:
Vocational and technical education in Kampala
Kampala has a number of both private and state institutions offering training in a broad range of fields as indicated in the table below:
Demographics
The population of Kampala city proper has been rapidly increasing from 62,264 in 1948 to 1,189,142 in 2002, then 1,507,080 in 2014. In 2019, the population was estimated to be 1,650,800.
Kampala, being the capital city and economic engine of Uganda, has a diverse ethnic population drawn from all parts of the country and also from neighboring countries such as
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Rwanda,
South Sudan,
Eritrea,
Somalia, and even from countries as far away as India and China.
Cross-cultural intimate relations in Kampala and even Uganda as a whole are still unusual. Although many of Kampala's residents live and work in close contact, they still define themselves by their ethnic origins. This is more evident in the native languages (alongside
Luganda and English) that are used at home, work places, and public spaces. In addition to the
Baganda and Banyankole, other large ethnic groups include the
Basoga,
Bafumbira,
Batoro,
Bakiga,
Alur,
Bagisu (better known as Bamasaba),
Banyoro
Bunyoro or Bunyoro-Kitara is a Bantu kingdom in Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is ruled by the King (''Omukama'') of Bunyoro-Kitara. The curren ...
,
Iteso,
Langi, and
Acholi.
Historical population data for Kampala
Culture
Cultural institutions
Prominent institutions include the
Uganda Museum
The Uganda Museum is located in Kampala, Uganda. It displays and exhibits ethnological, natural-historical and traditional life collections of Uganda's cultural heritage. It was founded in 1908, after Governor George Wilson called for "all artic ...
and the
Ugandan National Theatre
The Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC) is a Ugandan statutory body that was established by the Uganda National Cultural Centre Act, a 1959 Act of Parliament (amended 1965).
Location
The headquarters of UNCC are located at the corner of Said ...
.
Ndere Cultural Centre
A prominent cultural centre in the Kampala area of Kisasi that aims to promote Ugandan and African cultural expressions through music, dance, and drama. The name Ndere is derived from the noun 'endere', which means flute. As an instrument found in all cultures, it is chosen as a peaceful symbol of the universality of cultural expressions. The Ndere centre is famous for its Ndere troupe, a music and dance troupe that perform several nights every week at the centre showcasing music and dance from all over Uganda as well as Rwanda and Burundi.
Sports
Kampala is home to the
City Oilers
City Oilers is a basketball club based in Lugogo, Kampala, Uganda. The team competes in the Ugandan National Basketball League (Uganda), National Basketball League (NBL), where it has won eight championships, the most in league history. The Oilers ...
, one of East Africa's top basketball club teams. It is the only East African team that competes in the
FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup. The Oilers play their home games in the
MTN Arena MTN may refer to:
* MTN Group, mobile telephone network operator in African and Middle Eastern countries
** MTN-Qhubeka, cycling team sponsored by the telephone company
* Maritime Telecommunications Network, satellite phone network
* Martin State ...
, which is based in Kampala's
Lugogo Area
Lugogo is an area in the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital.
Location
Lugogo is on the eastern edge of the Kampala Central Division, one of the five administrative divisions of Kampala. It is bisected into north and south by the Kampala–Ji ...
.
The city hosted the
IAAF World Cross Country Championships in
2017.
Notable people
*
Apollo Milton Obote
Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from British colonial rule in 1962. Following the nation's independence, he served as prime minister of Uganda from 1962 t ...
, led Uganda to independence in 1962
*
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the longest serving president of the Republic Of
Uganda
*
Nancy Kacungira, presenter and reporter at
BBC World News, winner of the first ever BBC Komla Dumor Award
*
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known by his stage name Bobi Wine, is a Ugandan politician, singer, and actor. He is a former Member of Parliament for Kyadondo County East constituency in Wakiso District, in Uganda's Central Region. He also leads ...
, Ugandan politician, businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and musician
*
Micheal Azira
Micheal Azira (born 22 August 1987) is a Ugandan professional footballer who plays for New Mexico United and the Uganda national team.
Professional career
Azira signed with Charleston Battery of USL Pro in 2012. He scored the winning goal for ...
, Ugandan
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...
, who plays for the
New Mexico United in the
USL Championship
*
Allen Kagina, executive director, Uganda National Roads Authority, UNRA
*
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (''née'' Damji; born 10 December 1949) is a British journalist and author, who describes herself as "a leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim...person". A regular columnist for the ''i '' newspaper and the ''Eveni ...
, British journalist and author
*
Cornelius Boza-Edwards
Cornelius Boza-Edwards (born Cornelius Bbosa; 27 May 1956) is the former WBC Super Featherweight Champion of the World. Born in Kampala, Uganda, he fought in both the super-featherweight and lightweight divisions. He emigrated from Uganda to En ...
, former boxer
*
Ellinor Catherine Cunningham van Someren, scientist
*
Richard Gibson, British actor
*
Mandy Juruni, basketball coach
*
Aamito Lagum
Aamito Stacie Lagum (born 3 December 1992) is a Ugandan actress and fashion model, best known for being the winner of the first cycle of '' Africa's Next Top Model''.
Early life
Lagum was raised by a single mother, Sidonia Ayaa, in Kampala. Aft ...
, fashion model, winner of the first season of ''
Africa's Next Top Model
''Africa's Next Top Model'' is a reality television show and spin-off to ''America's Next Top Model''. It follows the format of the original version, and documents a competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of ''Afr ...
''
*
John Mugabi
John Mugabi (born March 4, 1960) is a Ugandan former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1991, and 1996 to 1999. He held the WBC super-welterweight title from 1989 to 1990, and challenged twice for world titles at middleweight, includi ...
, world champion boxer
*
Muteesa I Muteesa (variably spelled Mutesa or Mutessa) may refer to:
*Muteesa I of Buganda, the 30th Kabaka of Buganda who reigned between 1856 and 1884.
*Muteesa II of Buganda
Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II (mod ...
, the 30th
Kabaka of Buganda
*
Muwenda Mutebi II of Buganda, the 36th Kabaka of Buganda
*
Pepe Julian Onziema, human rights activist
*
Rajat Neogy Rajat Neogy (December 17, 1939 – December 3, 1995),Paul Theroux '' The Independent'', 15 January 1996, a Ugandan of Indian Bengali ancestry, was a writer, poet and publisher. In Kampala in 1961, at the age of 22, he founded ''Transition Magazin ...
, Ugandan-Indian journalist, writer, poet and founder and editor of ''
Transition Magazine
''Transition Magazine'' was established in 1961 by Rajat Neogy as ''Transition Magazine: An International Review''. It was published from 1961 to 1976 in various countries on the African continent, and since 1991 in the United States. In recent y ...
''
*
Shimit Amin
Shimit Amin is an Indian film director and editor. He is best known for the award-winning film '' Chak De! India'' (2007) starring Shah Rukh Khan.
Biography
Amin was born in Kampala, Uganda but grew up in Florida, in the United States. While ...
, Uganda-born Indian filmmaker
*
Salma Lakhani, Lieutenant Governor for the Province of
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
*
Sudhir Ruparelia, Ugandan entrepreneur and builder, Founder Chairman of
Ruparelia Group
*
Paulo Muwanga
Paulo Frobisher Muwanga Seddugge Muyanja (4 April 1924 – 1 April 1991) was a Ugandan politician who served briefly as ''de facto'' president, and later as prime minister, of Uganda.
Career
Paulo Frobisher Muwanga Seddugge Muyanja was born in ...
, former president and prime minister
*
Denis Onyango
Denis Masinde Onyango (born 15 May 1985) is a Ugandan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for South African Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns.
Having begun his career in his native country, Onyango went on to play in th ...
, footballer
*
Moses Magogo Hassim, FUFA President who took Uganda Cranes to AFCON after 39 years and first Ugandan on CAF Executive
*
Samuel Sejjaaka, professor
*
Wasswa Serwanga,
American football player
*
Marcel Theroux, British novelist
*
Erias Lukwago, Ugandan lawyer and politician and the Lord Mayor of Kampala City
*
Phiona Mutesi
Phiona Mutesi (born 28 March 1996) is a Ugandan chess player. She has represented Uganda at four Women's Chess Olympiads, and is one of the first titled female players in Ugandan chess history. Mutesi is the subject of a 2012 book and a 2016 fil ...
, chess prodigy and subject of the 2012 book and 2016 Disney film ''
Queen of Katwe''
*
Martin Ssempa, pastor-doctor and head of a large congregation
*
Pione Sisto, footballer, Ugandan born Danish footballer, playing for Danish Club
FC Midtjylland and the
Danish National football team.
*
John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
*
Ash Amin
Ash Amin, (born 31 October 1955) is a British academic known for his writing on urban and regional development, contemporary cultural change, progressive politics, and the collaborative economy. He holds the 1931 chair at the Department of Geogr ...
, British academic and geographer
*
Julius Kakeeto
Julius Kakeeto, is a Ugandan accountant, businessman, and bank executive. He has served as the managing director and chief executive officer of PostBank Uganda since November 2019. Before that, from 2015 until 2019, he was the managing director ...
, Bank executive and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of
PostBank Uganda
*
Jennifer Musisi, former execute Director of
Kampala Capital City Authority
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is the legal entity, established by the Ugandan Parliament, that is responsible for the operations of the capital city of Kampala in Uganda. It replaced the Kampala City Council (KCC).
Location
The hea ...
*
Joshua Cheptegei, long-distance runner, world-record holder in the
10,000 metres and
5000 metres
*
Jacob Kiplimo, long-distance runner, world-record holder in the
Half marathon
People awarded the
honorary citizenship of Kampala are:
Economy
Efforts are underway to relocate heavy industry to the
Kampala Business and Industrial Park, located in
Namanve,
Mukono District
Mukono is one of the districts in the Central Region of Uganda. The town of Mukono is home to the district's main commercial center and district headquarters.
Location
Mukono District is bordered by Kayunga District to the north, Jinja Dist ...
, approximately east of the city's central business district, thereby cutting down on city traffic congestion. Some of the businesses that maintain their headquarters in the city center include all of the 25
commercial banks licensed in Uganda; the
New Vision Group, the leading news media conglomerate and majority owned by the government; and the ''
Daily Monitor'' publication, a member of the Kenya-based
Nation Media Group
Nation Media Group (abbreviated as NMG) is a Kenyan media group listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. NMG was founded by Aga Khan IV in 1959 and is the largest private media house in East and Central Africa with offices in Kenya, Uganda, and ...
.
Air Uganda
Meridiana Africa Airlines (Uganda) Limited, trading as Air Uganda, was a privately owned airline in Uganda from 2007 to 2014. It suspended its operations when the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) revoked the airline's air operator's certif ...
maintained its headquarters in an office complex on
Kololo Hill in Kampala. Crown Beverages Limited, the sole
Pepsi-Cola
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi wa ...
franchise bottler in the country, is situated in
Nakawa
Nakawa is an area in the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital. It is also the location of the headquarters of Nakawa Division, one of the five administrative divisions of Kampala.
Location
Nakawa is located on the eastern edge of the city of K ...
, a division of Kampala, about east of the city centre.
The informal sector is a large contributor to Kampala's GDP. Citizens who work in the formal sector also participate in informal activities to earn more income for their families. A public servant in Kampala, for example, may engage in agriculture in addition to working in the formal sector. Other informal fields include owning taxis and urban agriculture. The use of Kampala's wetlands for urban farming has increased over the past few decades. It connects the informal rural settlements with the more industrialized parts of the city. The produce grown in the wetlands is sold in markets in the urban areas.
In December 2015, Google launched its first
Wi-Fi network in Kampala.
While more than 30 percent of Kampala's inhabitants practice
urban agriculture, the city of Kampala donated to promote urban agriculture in the northeastern parish of Kyanja, in
Nakawa Division Nakawa Division is one of the five administrative divisions of the city of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The town of Nakawa is the site of the division headquarters.
Location
Nakawa Division lies in the eastern part of the cit ...
.
Transport
Kampala is served by
Entebbe International Airport
Entebbe International Airport is the only international airport in Uganda. It is located about southwest of the town of Entebbe, on the northern shores of Lake Victoria. This is approximately by road south-west of the central business dist ...
, which is the largest airport in Uganda.
Boda-bodas (local motorbike transport) are a popular mode of transport that gives access to many areas within and outside the city. Standard fees for these range from USh:1,000 to 2,000 or more. Boda-bodas are useful for passing through rush-hour traffic, although many are poorly maintained and dangerous.
In early 2007, it was announced that Kampala would remove commuter taxis from its streets and replace them with a comprehensive city bus service. (In Kampala, the term "taxi" refers to a 15-seater minibus used as public transport.) The bus service was expected to cover the greater Kampala metropolitan area including
Mukono,
Mpigi,
Bombo,
Entebbe
Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. Th ...
,
Wakiso
Wakiso is a city in the Central Region of Uganda. It is the headquarters of Wakiso District.
Location
Wakiso is located on the Kampala–Hoima Highway, approximately north-west of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. The coordinates ...
and
Gayaza. the service had not yet started. Having successfully completed the Northern Bypass, the government, in collaboration with its stakeholders, now plans to introduce the
bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Kampala by 2014. On 12 March 2012, Pioneer Easy Bus Company, a private transport company, started public bus service in Kampala with an estimated 100 buses each with a 60-passenger capacity (30 seated and 30 standing), acquired from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. Another 422 buses were expected in the country in 2012. The buses operate 24 hours daily. The company has a concession to provide public transport in the city for the next five years. The buses were impounded for back taxes in December 2013. The company expected to resume operation in February 2015.
In 2014, Uganda's President
Yoweri Museveni and a Chinese transportation company signed a Memorandum of Understanding, to embark at some point on building a light rail system in Kampala, similar to the one in
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
.
On 11 April 2011, the pressure group Activists for Change (A4C) held its first
Walk to Work protest near Kampala, in response to a comment by President
Museveni on the increased cost of fuel, which had risen by 50 percent between January and April 2011. He said: "What I call on the public to do is to use fuel sparingly. Don't drive to bars."
The protest, which called on workers to walk to work to highlight the increased cost of transport in Uganda,
was disrupted by police, who fired
tear gas and arrested three-time presidential candidate
Kizza Besigye and
Democratic Party leader
Norbert Mao. In the course of the protest, Besigye was shot in the right arm by a rubber bullet. The government blamed the violence on protesters.
In 2016, the
Rift Valley Railways Consortium
Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya and Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2005. The Kenya-Uganda railway had previously b ...
(RVR) and
Kampala Capital City Authority
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is the legal entity, established by the Ugandan Parliament, that is responsible for the operations of the capital city of Kampala in Uganda. It replaced the Kampala City Council (KCC).
Location
The hea ...
established passenger rail service between
Namanve and Kampala and between Kampala and
Kyengera. Those services were temporarily discontinued after RVR lost its concession in Uganda in October 2017.
However, when
Uganda Railways Corporation
The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) is the parastatal railway of Uganda. It was formed after the breakup of the East African Railways Corporation (EARC) in 1977 when it took over the Ugandan part of the East African railways.
URC's system ...
took over the operations of the
metre gauge railway system in Uganda in 2018, the service was restored in February that year. A new Kampala to
Port Bell route is being planned to be added in the 2018/2019 financial year.
Places of worship
File:Baha'i House of Worship, Kampala, Uganda.jpg, Baha'i House of Worship in Kampala
File:NAMIREMBE CATHEDRAL. side view.jpg , St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral located on Namirembe Hill
File:Rubaga Cthedral.jpg, Rubaga Cathedral, the seat for the Roman Catholic Church
File:Outer view Kampala National mosque.jpg , Uganda National Mosque (Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
)
Among the
places of worship are predominantly
Christian churches and temples:
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala (
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
),
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),
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 pasto ...
(
World Communion of Reformed Churches),
Baptist Union of Uganda
The Baptist Union of Uganda is a Baptist Christian denomination in Uganda. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. The headquarters is in Kampala.
History
The Baptist Union of Uganda has its origins in an American mission of the Intern ...
(
Baptist World Alliance), and
Assemblies of God. There are also
Muslim mosques.
Kampala hosts a
Bahá'í House of Worship known as the Mother Temple of Africa which is situated on Kikaya Hill in the outskirts of the city. The temple was inaugurated in January 1961.
Gallery
File:Mengo Palace.jpg, Mengo Palace
File:KampalaSkyline.jpg, Kampala skyline
File:Parliament-Of-Uganda.JPG, Entrance to the Parliament building
File:Stride monument (Kampala) 04.JPG, Stride monument
File:KAMPALA CITY.jpg, Kampala City by night
File:Mandela National Stadium Uganda.jpg, Nelson Mandela National Stadium
The Mandela National Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Uganda. It is named after the South African then-President and anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela. The stadium's record attendance of 50,000 was set in 2004, in a football match betwee ...
, the home of the national football team, the Uganda Cranes
File:Independence Monument (Kampala) 02.JPG, Independence Monument
File:Church Namugongo Uganda.jpg, Namugongo Martyrs Shrine
File:The Uganda Museum Main Entrance.JPG, Uganda Museum
File:Monument at Uganda Museum.jpg, National Theatre
File:KampalaRd Uganda house Kampala.JPG, Uganda House – Kampala / Jinja Road
See also
*
List of banks in Uganda
*
List of tallest buildings in Kampala
*
Timeline of Kampala#Bibliography
*
Wakaliwood
Wakaliwood, also known as Ramon Film Productions, is a film studio based in Wakaliga, a slum in Uganda's capital of Kampala. Its founder and director is Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana, a.k.a. Nabwana I.G.G., who has been called Uganda's Quentin ...
– A film studio based in Kampala
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Capitals in Africa
Cities in the Great Rift Valley
Populated places in Central Region, Uganda
Populated places on Lake Victoria