Kampala Profile

Before independence from the UK in 1962, Uganda was not a country, rather a loose grouping of ethnic tribes with an equally large number of systems of governance. The largest such grouping is in Buganda, a sub kingdom within Uganda which has its own monarch, the Kabaka.

Buganda occupies the central region of Uganda including its capital, Kampala. Kampala was chosen by the king of Buganda as his capital as he was a keen hunter and the area had an abundance of wildlife.

Kampala still has many vestiges of the Buganda period including the Buganda Court of Justice and Parliament buildings as well as the Lubiri palace and Kasubi Tombs, the final resting place of four of the kings of Buganda (left).

Other places of interest if visiting Kampala include the Uganda Museum founded in 1908 with its displays of Uganda's cultural heritage; the bustling New St. Balikuddembe Market, known locally as Owino market, where you can find just about everything; the Nommo Art Gallery, the home of Uganda's developing visual arts and the craft shops around Buganda Road close to the National Theatre.

Today Kampala is home to around 3.3m residents, a steep rise from 330,700 in 1969 and is mostly Anglican in nature with a Muslim population of around 10%. The city infrastructure reflected the state of the Ugandan economy by the 1980s, run down and dilapidated and few repairs had been undertaken in Kampala after it was invaded and seized by Tanzanian troops in the Uganda-Tanzania War of 1978-1979 which saw the overthrow of the dictator Idi Amin.

Despite this it is known as a safe, friendly city and, unlike other African cities, not yet overrun with vehicles!

Since the installation of Yoweri Museveni as president in 1986, much of the city has been rebuilt and is widely hailed as a confident city at the heart of academic excellence in Uganda. Nevertheless, Kampala was the scene of serious rioting in April 2011, in response to concerns about the treatment of opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye who was arrested and blinded by pepper spray and his family were refused permission to take him abroad for treatment.

The riots saw 84 shot including women and children. Some believed the riots that swept the city were motivated by similar scenes across northern Africa that saw regime changes in countries with similar autocratic presidents.