In 1922 the British colonial government in Uganda founded a small vocational school, which would eventually become Uganda’s lone institution of higher education, Makerere University. The British Governor of Uganda, Robert Coryndon (1918-1922), proposed building a technical school for Africans. The Colonial Office and the … Read MoreMakerere University (1922– )
The city of Entebbe, Uganda, is located on the shores of Lake Victoria about 22 miles south of Kampala, the nation’s capital. In addition to being the official residence of the president of Uganda, Entebbe is the site of the nation’s only international airport. On … Read MoreEntebbe Raid (June 28, 1976)
Akinwande Ouwole “Wole” Soyinka, the first African writer to win a Nobel Prize in Literature (1986) was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria on July 13, 1934. His father, Canon S.A. Soyinka, was an Anglican minister and his mother, Grace Eniola, was the daughter of an Anglican … Read MoreWole Soyinka (1934- )
Milton Apollo Obote was the first Prime Minister of Uganda from the time of its independence in 1962 until 1966 when he became President of the Republic of Uganda. In 1967 Obote gave a speech on language and nation building at a conference on national … Read More(1967) Milton Obote, “Language and National Identification”
The Uganda Agreement of 1900 We, the undersigned, to wit, Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston, K.C.B., Her Majesty’s Special Commissioner, Commander-in-Chief and Consul-General for the Uganda Protectorate and the adjoining Territories, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, … Read More(1900) The Uganda Agreement
Mytela Kasanda, or Mirambo, was a Nyamwezi warlord who gained control of much of east central Africa. He was born into the royal family of the small chiefdom of Uyowa, and likely became chief after the death of his father around 1860. He became a … Read MoreMirambo (ca. 1840-1884)
Buganda, the largest of the medieval kingdoms in present-day Uganda, became an important and powerful state during the 19th century. Established in the late 14th century along the shore of Lake Victoria, it evolved around its founding kabaka (king) Kintu, who came to the region … Read MoreBuganda (ca. 1375-1900)
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the first prime minister of independent Tanganyika and one of the founders of Tanzania, was born April 13, 1922, in Butiama, Tanganyika. He was the son of Zanaki chief, Nyerere Burito. Julius Nyerere began his education at age 12. Nyerere eventually gained … Read MoreJulius K. Nyerere (1922-1999)
The Organization of African Unity (OAU, 1963-2002) was an alliance of independent African nations working to enhance cooperation between the newly decolonized African governments. The alliance had its basis in the Pan-Africanist philosophy encouraging the unity of all peoples of African ancestry, but it also … Read MoreOrganization of African Unity (1963-2002)
Idi Amin was the Ugandan military dictator and President from 1971 to 1979. During his reign Amin’s military forces are estimated to have killed 500,000 people and exiled roughly 70,000 non-Ugandan nationals (mostly Indians) from Uganda. Idi Amin Dada was born in 1925 in the … Read MoreIdi Amin (1925-2003)
