The Songora or Shongora (''pl.'' Basongora, ''sing.'' Musongora) also known as "Bacwezi", "Chwezi", ''Huma'' or "Bahuma") are a traditionally
pastoralist people of the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
region of
Central Africa
Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...
located in
Western Region, Uganda
The Western Region of Uganda is one of four regions in the country of Uganda. As of Uganda's 2014 census, the Western region's population was .
Districts
As of 2010, the Western Region contained 26 districts:
Geography
The Western Region ...
and Eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
. They have distinctive customs and speak
Rusongora, a
Bantu language
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The t ...
that is similar to
Runyankole
Nkore (also called Nkole, Nyankore, Nyankole, Orunyankore, Orunyankole, Runyankore and Runyankole) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken by the Nkole people, Nkore ("Banyankore") of south-western Uganda in the former province of Ankole, as ...
and
Runyoro
The Nyoro language (autonym: ''Runyoro'') is a Bantu language spoken by the Nyoro people 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 th ...
. The Basongora population has reported as numbering 25,000 in 2015 in Uganda. Some Basongora also live in Eastern Congo.
The colonial and neo-colonial governments in
Central Africa
Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...
instituted programs to encourage the Basongora to abandon their traditional lifestyle, and most of the territory traditionally owned by the Songora community has been appropriated for use as national parks or has been settled and occupied by other communities, notably the
Batoro and
Bakonzo
The BaKonzo (pl. ''Bakonzo'', sing. ''Mukonzo''), or Konzo, are a Bantu ethnic group located in the Rwenzori region of Southwest Uganda. Numbering 850,646 in the 2014 census, they live on the plains, hills and mountain sloping up to an altitude o ...
. Also Songora territory has been partitioned into several districts and is distributed across Uganda and Congo.
The traditional lifestyle of the Basongora is notable for its adaptation to dry
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
and
scrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...
s, as well as mountainous terrain.
[
]
Overview
The Basongora are a mixed Nilotic
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
/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 ...
group in East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
and Central Africa
Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...
, traditionally residing in the foothills and plains at the floor of the western arm of the Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it i ...
and the hills around the base of the Rwenzori Mountain Range. The Songora traditional economy was largely based on cattle-rearing, as well as salt-manufacture and trade in iron. The political organization of the Songora was a form confederacy of several states united by a parliament called Muhabuzi,[ and a ]constitutional monarchy
A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
led by a trimviate that consisted of an empress dowager (Omu'Gabe'kati), a female ruler (Omu'Go), and a male ruler (Omu'Kama). The confederacy emerged from a single Songora state that dates back to the 12th century consisted of several provinces including Kisaka-Makara, Kitagwenda, Bugaya, Bunyaruguru and Kiyanja.[
]
History
According to their own oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
, the Basongora emerged from the ancient empires of Shenzi/Chwezi
The Kingdom of the Banyakitara, also known as Union of Kitara (Union of Chwezi) or Chwezi Union, and better known as the Kitara Empire, was an empire in East Africa. It existed in the region from around the early bronze age to about 500 C.E. ...
. The traditional homeland of the Basongora is the region centred in the foothills and plains that surround the Rutshuru
Rutshuru is a town located in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is headquarters of an administrative district, the Rutshuru Territory. The town lies in the western branch of the Albertine Rift between Lak ...
and Rwenzori
The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches , and the range' ...
mountain ranges.[
Some of the most notable Songora monarchs include Kyomya Bwachali who died around 1850, and was the maternal grandfather of King Ntare V of ]Nkore
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-Wester ...
kingdom. The last precolonial King of Busongora was King Kasigano. He was deposed in 1906 by the British, ostensively for his having sought to ally himself with the Belgians in the Congo. Busongora was then partitioned and divided between the Congo and Uganda Protectorate
The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the Brit ...
, and the portions that fell within Uganda were further sub-divided into several districts, all of which were then annexed to the kingdoms of Toro and Nkore. The Kingdom of Rwenzururu
Rwenzururu is a Administrative division, subnational kingdom in western Uganda, located in the Rwenzori Mountains on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The kingdom includes the districts of Bundibugyo District, Bundibugyo, Kas ...
formed in the later part of the 20th century on the territory of Busongora.
In 1931 there was an outbreak of rinderpest
Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wildebeests, and warthogs ...
that decimated the cattle populations of the Nyakatonzi Basongora, forcing them to disperse to other areas of Uganda and the eastern Congo. Basongora believe the outbreak began as a result of a virulent drugs vaccination program started by the colonial government. The biggest group that fled to the Congo did not return to the area until 1964 due to the strife caused by the Mulele rebellion there.[
In 1925, Parc Nationale des Virunga was created by the Belgian colonial authorities encompassing areas of the chiefdom of Kiyanja (of the Bamooli clan), Kakunda (now called Kyavinyonge), Rwemango, Makara, Kashansha and Bugaya among others and pressure to protect the adjoining ecosystem in Uganda led to the establishment of game reserves around Lake George (Known as Rweishamba by Basongora) and Lake Edward (locally known as Rweru) between 1906 and 1950. Several name changes followed and Kazinga National Park was gazetted in 1952 and in 1954 it was renamed Queen Elizabeth National Park by the colonial administration. This left only limited land for the pastoral Basongora. In 1940s the colonial government introduced cotton growing in Busongora. By coincidence, the best soil and suitable climate for cotton growing was in the Bwengo area and other plains of the Busongora County in Kasese. Although some remained in the park – albeit illegally, thousands of others moved across the border with their herds into the Virunga National Park in the Congo.][
Between the 1940s and 1950s,the cotton growing enterprise lured particularly the Bakonjo from the highlands to the lowlands. By 1962, the Rwenzururu Freedom Movement had also displaced some Bakonjo from the mountains, forcing them to settle in parts of Busongora that had not been gazetted as protected areas. In 1962 Basongora started returning to their original areas only to find that the Toro Development Company (TDC) that wound up in 1970, had leased some of their land, and was running projects such as the Mubuku Irrigation Scheme.][
When the cotton industry plummeted in the 1970s, the general Ugandan public lost interest in cotton, thus giving the Basongora pastoralists a chance to resettle in vast plains of Nyakatonzi.][ When the NRM government introduced the decentralization policy, it was hijacked by the extremist fringe of the Bakonjo and was seen as an opportunity to displace and subjugate the Basongora.][ This coincided with peak cotton production between 1987 and 1989 and it is in the same period that Basongora were displaced from their ancestral lands of Bukangara and Rweihingo.][
]
Monarchy
On 12 May 2012 Basongora revived their ancient kingdom that had been dismembered and abolished during the colonial occupation one hundred years prior. On 1 July 2012, the Songora installed Bwebale Ivan Rutakirwa Rwigi IV as the king of "BuSongora Kingdom", and claimed twenty sub-counties of Uganda as their territory. The sub-counties include: Muhokya, Bugoye, Nyakatonzi, Katwe, Karusandara, Mubuku, Ibuga, Hamukungu, Kasenyi, Busunga, and Katunguru, among others.[ The kingdom also claimed their ancestral areas of Shema, Bunyaruguru and Kitagwenda in Uganda, as well as Virunga National Park in the Congo, as part of the kingdom. King Rwigi IV died on 28 April 2015.
]
List of Monarchs
NB: The dates are approximate for most of the early rulers.
1 Kogyere I Rusija-Miryango mpress 090-1120
2 Kogyere II mpress 120-1130
3 Kyomya I kya Isiimbwa 130-1140
4 Mugarra I 140-1150
5 Ndahura I kya Rubumbo 150-1160
6 Mulindwa 160-1170
7 Wamara Bbala Bwigunda 170-1200
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
*Seventeen (American magazine), ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazi ...
8 Kyomya II Rurema 200-1210
9 Kagoro 210-1220
10 Kakara-ka-Shagama 220-1250
11 Njunaki Kamaranga mpress 250-1280
12 Shagama-rwa-Njunaki 280-1300
13 Wahaiguru Rukuba-Ntondo 300-1310
14 Kateboha 310-1330
15 Nyakahuma ueen Regnant 330-1375
16 Kirobozi 375-1400
17 Mugarra II wa Kirobozi 400-1420
18 Buyonga bwa Kirobozi 420-1430
19 Kyomya III 430-1460
20 Nkome 460-1485
21 Ihiingo 485-1500
22 Goro 500-1525
23 Kasheshe 525-1550
24 Kazoba 550-1575
25 Nyabongo I 575-1600
26 Makora 600-1625
27 Nyabongo II Kikundi Nyakwirigita 625-1655
28 Mugonga Rutegwankondo 655-1685
29 Kitami kya Nyawera ueen Regnant 685-1725
30 Rwigi I Wakoli 725-1730
31 Buremu I Rushoita 730-1740
32 Kantunguru ueen Regnant 740-1750
33 Kyokoora 750-1775
34 Mairanga ga Kyokoora 775-1800
35 Kyomya IV Bwachali bwa Mairanga 825-1850
36 Kikamba 850-1860
37 Rwigi II Kyeramaino Rweshakaramyambi 860-1880
38 Bulemu II Kigwamabere 880-1886
39 Kogyere III Ikamiro ueen Regnant 886-1889
40 Rwigi III Mugasa Kakintule 889-1891
41 Rutairuka 891
42 Njugangya Katurumba 891
43 Kuriafire 891-1894
44 Kaihura 894-1901
45 Kasigano 901-1907
46 Rwigi IV Bwebale Rutakirwa 012-2015
47 Ndahura II Imara Kashagama 016 to date
Personalities
Other notable figures in ancient Songora history include at least two empresses; Nyakahuma, and Kitami rwa Nyawera. The Queen Kiboga of Nkore was a Songora. She was also mother to Nkore's King Ntare V
Ntare V of Burundi (born Charles Ndizeye; 2 December 1947 – 29 April 1972) was the last king of Burundi (or ''mwami''), reigning from July to November 1966. Until his accession, he was known as Crown Prince Charles Ndizeye.
Early life
Charle ...
, and sister to King Kaihura of the Songora.[ Princess Kantunguru of Nkore was also a Songora and has a town named after her in western Uganda. Many of the rulers of states of ]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 ...
, Mpororo, Bunyoro
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 current ...
, Toro and Nkore chose their wives from among the Songora. Other notable Songora kings in the pre-colonial era include: Kyomya III father of the founder of Bunyoro - Rukidi Mpuga; Bulemu I Rushoita, Rwigi II Kyeramaino Rweshakaramyambi, Nyabongo II Kikundi Nyakwirigita, Ihiingo, Goro, Nyabongo I, Kasheshe (for whom the municipality/city of Kasese
Kasese is a town north of Lake George in the Western Region of Uganda. It originally grew around the copper mine at Kilembe, while attention later turned to cobalt mining. It is the chief town of Kasese District, and the district headquarters ...
is named), Rutairuka, Makora, and Kaihura.
During the post colonial era, beginning in the early 1960s, the Songora didn't formally have rulers recognized by the central governments in Uganda and Congo/Zaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
. However, there are several notable Songora personalities in various fields that have played a key role in maintaining the presence of the community. Among them are Timothy Bazarrabusa-an educationalist who served as Uganda's first High Commissioner to London, Amon Bazira Amon Bazira (sometimes referred to as Amon Kabunga Bazira; 1944–1993) was a Pan-Africanist leader and organiser who created an extensive intelligence network that was a clandestine component of the struggle to end the regime of Ugandan military d ...
, who served as Director of Intelligence, as Chair of the Security & Defence Parliamentary Committee, and as State Minister of Lands, Waters and Mineral resources in Uganda from 1981 to 1985, General James Kazini
Major General James Kazini (1957–2009) was a Ugandan army officer who served as commander of the Uganda People's Defense Force from 2001 to 2003.
History
He was born in 1957 in the Basongora ethnic group, in Kasese District, in Western Reg ...
was commander of the Uganda People's Defence Force, Lt. Col. Jet Mwebaze a commander within the UPDF. Other notable Basongora include the Noble Sirasi Kisankara, the prophet Yombo Yowasi, the Rwabukurukuru family, Baguma Sam Twebaze, Wilson Isingoma, Boaz Kafuda, Prof. Mbabi-Katana, Enoch Rukidi, Kosia Mpazi, the Rwamashonje family, the Rubuubi family, the Rwakashamba family, Yefesi Saiba, and Ananais Mulumba, Isimbwa Kiiza Kagoro Mayor Katwe-Kabatoro Town Council 2006 to 2016.
Culture
Songora society is strongly pastoral. Cattle motifs form an important part of the language. Cattle have an important place in the imagination, poetry and art of the community. The disciplines required in the management of cattle have a great import impact on the diet, health and appearance of the Songora. Age determines seniority in social relations, and men and women are considered equal. The Songora are generally monogamous. Traditionally the Songora were monotheistic.[
The Songora reacted to a tetanus epidermic in the 1880s by requiring everyone in the community to remove the four front lower teeth, as a means to force-feed medication to victims of the disease. When the epidermic ended, many Songora continued with the teeth removal even though it was no longer necessary in the era of syringes and other means of treatment.][
In recent decades the traditional Songora territory has yielded interesting artefacts that are of great value to general human history. The ]Ishango Bone
The Ishango bone, discovered at the "Fisherman Settlement" of Ishango in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a bone tool and possible mathematical device that dates to the Upper Paleolithic era. The curved bone is dark brown in color, about 10 ce ...
is one of the items that was found in Songora territory. While the Eastern Arm of the Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it i ...
located in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania has yielded the greatest amount of ancient human fossils, the northern portion of the Western Arm of the Rift Valley - home of the Songora - remains largely unexplored, although it appears to contain important fossils. The lack of exploration has been caused by the high level of war and civil conflict in the region.
Notes
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Songora People
Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ethnic groups in Uganda
Pastoralists