Mengo is a hill in

Rubaga Division Rubaga Division, also Lubaga Division, is one of the divisions that makes up the city of Kampala, Uganda. The division takes its name from Rubaga, where the division headquarters are located. Location Rubaga Division lies in the western part of ...

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It 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 ...

's capital and largest city. The name also applies to the neighborhood on that hill.

Location

Mengo is bordered by

Old Kampala Kampala Hill, commonly referred to as Old Kampala, is a hill in the centre of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. Location Kampala Hill is bordered by Makerere to the north, Nakasero to the east, Mengo, Uganda, Mengo to the south and ...

to the north, Nsambya Hill to the east, Kibuye to the south-east,

Ndeeba Ndeeba is a neighborhood in the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital. Location Ndeeba is located in Lubaga Division, one of the five administrative divisions of Kampala. It lies on the southern edge of the city. It is bordered by Mengo to the north ...

to the south, Lubaga Hill to the west, and Namirembe Hill to the north-west. This location is approximately , by road, directly south of the central business district of Kampala. The coordinates of Mengo Hill are 0°18'06.0"N, 32°33'58.0"E (Latitude:0.301667; Longitude:32.566111). The peak of the hill is 4000ft above sea level.

Overview

Mengo Hill is the location of the main palace (known as Lubiri or

Mengo Palace Lubiri (or Mengo Palace) is the royal compound of the Kabaka of Buganda, Kabaka of Buganda, located in Mengo, Uganda, Mengo, a suburb of Kampala, the Ugandan capital. The original Lubiri was destroyed by the Uganda Army in the May 1966 Battle of M ...

) of the

Kabaka 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 and the other secular. The s ...

(King) of the

Kingdom of Buganda 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 Uganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 ...

, a monarchy that dates back almost 800 years. Mengo has been the main palace since it was first constructed in 1885 by

Mwanga II of Buganda Danieri Basammula-Ekkere Mwanga II Mukasa (3 June 1868 – 8 May 1903)D. A. Low''Fabrication of Empire: The British and the Uganda Kingdoms, 1890-1902'' Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 210, note 196. was the 31st Kabaka of Buganda, Kabaka of ...

, the 31st Kabaka of Buganda. Measuring , the palace is ringed by a six-foot brick fence and has a small

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

within its walls. Mengo Hill has played an important role in Ugandan political and religious history. "Mengo" is a

Luganda Ganda or Luganda ( ; ) is a Bantu language spoken in the African Great Lakes region. It is one of the major languages in Uganda and is spoken by more than 5.56 million Ganda people, Baganda and other people principally in central Uganda, includ ...

word for grinding stones. According to legend, ancient migrant communities from the

Ssese Islands The Ssese Islands are an archipelago of eighty-four islands in the northwestern part of Lake Nalubaale in Uganda. The islands are coterminous with the Kalangala District in southern Central Region, Uganda, Central Uganda, which does not have any ...

who settled on the hill used these stones to grind their food. It is here that the Buganda Agreement of 1900 was signed between the Kabaka of Buganda and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colonial officials establishing the

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 Br ...

. The history of Mengo Hill is also entwined with that of adjacent Namirembe Hill, the seat of the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Church of Uganda The Church of Uganda (C/U) is a member province of the Anglican Communion. Currently, there are 37 dioceses that make up the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop. Each diocese is divided into archdeaconries, each headed by a senior priest k ...

, because of the monarchy's close association with the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. The Bulange, which houses offices for the Kabaka and the Lukiiko (Buganda Parliament), is at the base of Namirembe Hill. The building was constructed between 1953 and 1958 by

Muteesa II of Buganda Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II (19 November 1924 – 21 November 1969) was a Ugandan royal and statesman who served as the first president of Uganda from 1962 to 1966, when he was overthrown by Milton O ...

at a cost of US$5 million, which was a colossal sum at that time. Also located on Namirembe Hill is

Mengo Hospital Mengo Hospital, also known as Namirembe Hospital, is a private, faith-based, community, teaching hospital in Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. Location The hospital is located on Namirembe Hill in Rubaga Division in northwestern ...

, a private, non-profit

community hospital A community hospital can be purely a nominal designation or have a more specific meaning. When specific, it refers to a hospital that is accessible to the general public and provides a general or specific medical care which is usually short-term, i ...

administered by the Anglican Church in Uganda.

Landmarks

Landmarks on Mengo Hill or near the hill include: * The main palace of the

King of Buganda King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by fi ...

, the '' Lubiri''. * ''

Bulange The Bulange (''boo-lah-ngeh'') is a building in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. It houses the '' Lukiiko'' (Parliament) of the Kingdom of Buganda and is the Royal Seat of the Buganda Kingdom. The Kabaka of Buganda and the '' Katikkiro'' (Prime M ...

'', the Parliament Building of the Buganda Parliament (the ''Lukiiko''). Moved outside of the palace to the adjacent Namirembe Hill, to accommodate the size of a modern building in 1958, the building also houses the offices of the

Kabaka of Buganda Kabaka is the title of the monarch, king of the Buganda, 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 and the othe ...

* The ''Kabaka's Lake'', a man-made lake approximately , for the personal use and enjoyment of the Kabaka; located just outside the main palace entrance. *

- A 300-bed private hospital, affiliated with the

; located at the adjacent Namirembe Hill. * The ''Joint Clinical Research Center'' - Located adjacent to the palace, the medical research center is housed in the ''Butikkiro'', the former official residence of the Prime Minister of Buganda (''Katikkiro''). This building is one of Buganda's assets that have yet to be returned to the Kingdom. * The main campus of St. Lawrence University (Uganda) - Located close to the Kabaka's Lake. * The buildings of the Uganda Supreme Court * Namirembe Hill - Adjacent to and immediately northwest of Mengo Hill. It is the location of

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

, the most prominent

place of worship in

Buganda Buganda is a Bantu peoples, Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda, Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the List of current non-sovereign African monarchs, traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Ug ...

* Lubaga Hill - Immediately west of Mengo. The seat of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala The Archdiocese of Kampala is the Metropolitan See for the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical province of Kampala in Uganda. History The present Kampala Archdiocese is the result of territorial changes: * Victoria Nyanza Vicariate (1883): It was ...

. Location of St. Mary's Cathedral Rubaga, built between 1912 and 1925.

Photos

Photo of the Buganda Parliament Building (Bulange)Photo of the "Twekobe", the Kabaka's Residence Within Mengo PalacePhoto of the Newly Reconstructed "Kabaka Anjagala Road", Fitted With Solar Lights. The Bulange Building Is In the Background

References

External links