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The Great Lakes States of Eastern Africa (African Studies)

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  1. ntroduction
  2. The states of the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa spread across modern southern Uganda, western Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern Congo and have long and diverse, but overlapping and interrelated, histories. From the 9th century, communities pursued economic specializations broadly divided between banana farming on the one hand and cattle herding and cereal farming on the other. Political centralization into chiefdoms was well underway by the 14th century. One chiefdom, Kitara, became dominant, if only by exporting its political ideology. In the 16th century, the Babito dynasty took advantage of a drought to take control of Kitara, creating the Bunyoro kingdom, which became the major power in the region. Buganda, a small tributary kingdom to Bunyoro, began expanding in the mid-17th century and by the late eighteenth displaced Bunyoro as the dominant regional power. Rwanda was unstable and marginal until the mid-17th century. It became a powerful state in the 18th century, albeit continually riven by factionalism between royal lineages. Burundi was well established in the late 17th century, becoming increasingly assertive over the course of the eighteenth. Other kingdoms include Nkore, which was tributary to Bunyoro until the 18th century, when it asserted greater autonomy. Toro was founded in the early 19th century by a prince from Bunyoro, and Karagwe, while having a longer history in the traditions, only emerged as a substantial power in the 19th century. That century saw dramatic change and ended with colonial conquest by Britain and Germany. The historiography has been dominated by the twin concerns of political centralization and the relationship between pastoralists and agriculturalists. These have run alongside each other from the earliest commentaries by Europeans in the 19th century, who explained state structures by reference to a supposed immigration by “Hamitic” pastoralists. This explanation endured into the late 20th century, despite a pronounced lack of evidence in support and much to refute it. It was even applied to Buganda, where the categories of Hutu/Iru and Tutsi/Hima are absent. The vast majority of the historical literature has, however, demonstrated the inaccuracy of this simplistic approach. There is now a new emphasis on the role of gender in state formation, the importance of religious and healing practices inside and outside of states, the fluidity of various kinds of identity and specializations, the role of human interaction with the environment and climate change, and multiple forms of social complexity, all of which work to move away from racialized models of historical change.
  3.  
  4. General Overviews
  5. The Great Lakes region has a long history of settlement, agricultural innovation, and interaction between diverse populations, both prior to state formation and since. The earlier essays offer short overviews: Ogot 1984 and Oliver 1977 on the early period of state formation, and Alpers and Ehret 1975 and Webster, et al. 1992 on the main period of state expansion and consolidation of power. These tend to reflect the academic emphasis, from the 1960s to the 1980s, on migration. More recent work focuses on internal dynamics to explain historical processes. Schoenbrun 1998 traces the history of the region from the first settlements of Bantu-speaking farmers some 3,000 years ago through the 15th century. Chrétien 2003 discusses the earlier history but focuses heavily on the monarchical states from the 18th century on, with an interest in unpacking the racialization of ethnic groups.
  6.  
  7. Alpers, Edward A., and Christopher Ehret. “Eastern Africa.” In The Cambridge History of Africa. Vol. 4, From c. 1600 to c. 1790. Edited by Richard Gray, 469–536. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
  8.  
  9. DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521204132Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  10.  
  11. Overview of the wider region in the 17th and 18th centuries, with specific sections on the northern and southern Great Lakes region. Highlights political developments and includes useful discussion of Luo societies and their political formations. Available online for purchase.
  12.  
  13. Find this resource:
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  15.  
  16. Chrétien, Jean-Pierre. The Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History. Translated by Scott Strauss. New York: Zone Books, 2003.
  17.  
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  19.  
  20. English translation of L’Afrique des grands lacs: Deux mille ans d’histoire, first published in 2000. Survey of entire Great Lakes region, from earliest known human settlement to the late 1990s. Explores how racial theory shaped historical thought in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most thorough for period from 18th century onward.
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  22. Find this resource:
  23.  
  24.  
  25. Ogot, B. A. “The Great Lakes Region.” In UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. 4, Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Edited by D. T. Niane, 498–524. London: Heinemann, 1984.
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  28.  
  29. Brief but useful overview of important period of early political centralization in region. Emphasis on migration as a key factor, especially with reference to Hima/Tutsi and Luo, but acknowledges shift in academic thinking on this question.
  30.  
  31. Find this resource:
  32.  
  33.  
  34. Oliver, Roland. “The East African Interior.” In The Cambridge History of Africa. Vol. 3, From c. 1050 to c. 1600. Edited by Roland Oliver, 621–699. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
  35.  
  36. DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521209816.011Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  37.  
  38. Offers general overview of region, including population change and economic history, with particular attention to early state formation. Emphasis on migration and “intrusion” reflects historiography at time of publication, but useful overview nonetheless. Available online for purchase.
  39.  
  40. Find this resource:
  41.  
  42.  
  43. Schoenbrun, David Lee. A Green Place, A Good Place: Agrarian Change, Gender, and Social Identity in the Great Lakes Region to the 15th Century. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.
  44.  
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  46.  
  47. Detailed history of region before 1500 that draws on sources from wide range of disciplines. Offers methodological overviews in addition to historical analysis of human society in the Great Lakes area. Explores origins of centralization of political power, with discussion of tension between creative and instrumental power.
  48.  
  49. Find this resource:
  50.  
  51.  
  52. Webster, J. B., B. A. Ogot, and J. P. Chrétien. “The Great Lakes Region, 1500–1800.” In UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. 5, Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Edited by B. A. Ogot, 776–827. Oxford: Heinemann, 1992.
  53.  
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  55.  
  56. Useful overview of main era of state formation in the Great Lakes region. Particularly interesting due to space given to Nilotic societies and their political and cultural influence in the Great Lakes Bantu-speaking area.
  57.  
  58. Find this resource:
  59.  
  60.  
  61. Bibliographies
  62. Although written sources are only available from the mid-19th century on, there is a wealth of published literature, especially for the 20th century. Chrétien 1983 offers a regional bibliography on rural history. Rodegem with Bakara 1978 and Badogombwa with Gahama 1991 list works on Burundi; d’Hertefelt and de Lame 1987 is a rich and comprehensive list of sources on Rwanda; while Ofcansky 1985, Gertzel 1991, and Nyeko 1996 together provide good coverage of Uganda. Sources on languages in Tanzania are described in Maho and Sands 2002.
  63.  
  64. Badogombwa, Marie, with Joseph Gahama. Bibliographie signalétique spécialisée sur l’histoire du Burundi. Bujumbura: Université du Burundi, 1991.
  65.  
  66. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  67.  
  68. Bibliography of Burundian history in French. Particularly useful as continuation of Rodegem with Bakara 1978, covering the 1980s. Organized thematically, with index of authors, but entries are not annotated.
  69.  
  70. Find this resource:
  71.  
  72.  
  73. Chrétien, Jean-Pierre, comp. Histoire rurale de l’Afrique des Grands Lacs: Guide de recherches. Paris: Karthala for Afera, 1983.
  74.  
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  76.  
  77. A partially annotated bibliography in French on rural history in the Great Lakes region, with helpful introductory overviews for each section. Sections cover natural and historical landscapes, technical and economic aspects of rural labor, and the social, political, and cultural aspects of rural life.
  78.  
  79. Find this resource:
  80.  
  81.  
  82. d’Hertefelt, Marcel, and Danielle de Lame. Société, culture et histoire du Rwanda: Encyclopédie bibliographique, 1863–1980/87. 2 vols. Tervuren, Belgium: Musée royale de l’Afrique centrale, 1987.
  83.  
  84. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  85.  
  86. Comprehensive bibliography in French of 5,500 published works on Rwandan society, culture, and history between 1863 and the 1980s. Includes detailed descriptions of each text and an index.
  87.  
  88. Find this resource:
  89.  
  90.  
  91. Gertzel, Cherry. Uganda: An Annotated Bibliography of Source Materials (with Particular Reference to the Period since 1971 and up to 1988). London: Hans Zell, 1991.
  92.  
  93. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  94.  
  95. Guide to material on Uganda for the 1970s and 1980s, although it also includes references to the colonial era. Covers government documents and those of international organizations and political parties as well as published books and articles.
  96.  
  97. Find this resource:
  98.  
  99.  
  100. Maho, J. F., and Bonny Sands. The Languages of Tanzania: A Bibliography. Gothenburg, Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 2002.
  101.  
  102. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  103.  
  104. Useful guide to material available on individual languages in Tanzania. See especially entries on Ha, Hangaza, Haya, Kara, Kerebe, Nyambo, and Zinza.
  105.  
  106. Find this resource:
  107.  
  108.  
  109. Nyeko, Balam. Uganda. World Bibliographic Series 11. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clio, 1996.
  110.  
  111. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  112.  
  113. Detailed bibliography of Uganda, including entries on precolonial history.
  114.  
  115. Find this resource:
  116.  
  117.  
  118. Ofcansky, Thomas P. British East Africa, 1856–1963: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1985.
  119.  
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  121.  
  122. Useful companion for Uganda to Gertzel 1991, which focuses on later period. Also has helpful references for Tanzanian part of Great Lakes region.
  123.  
  124. Find this resource:
  125.  
  126.  
  127. Rodegem, Firmin, with C. Bakara. Documentation bibliographique sur le Burundi. Bologna, Italy: Editrice Missionaria Italiana, 1978.
  128.  
  129. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  130.  
  131. Listing in French of published work on Burundi up to the 1970s. Includes 5,300 entries arranged thematically, but not annotated. Also has index of authors and subjects.
  132.  
  133. Find this resource:
  134.  
  135.  
  136. Reference Works
  137. There is no atlas that covers the Great Lakes region as a whole. Atlas du Rwanda is a useful snapshot of Rwanda, although Atlas of Uganda has higher quality maps despite being older. Two general encyclopedias of African history have useful entries on the region: Vogel 1997 and Middleton and Miller 2008, with the latter having rather more relevant entries.
  138.  
  139. Atlas du Rwanda. Nantes, France: Association pour l’Atlas des Pays de Loire, 1981.
  140.  
  141. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  142.  
  143. General atlas of Rwanda in French, produced in collaboration between the National University of Rwanda (Kigali) and the French Ministry of Cooperation. Covers physical, human, and economic geography.
  144.  
  145. Find this resource:
  146.  
  147.  
  148. Atlas of Uganda. 2d ed. Entebbe, Uganda: Department of Lands and Surveys, 1967.
  149.  
  150. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  151.  
  152. Revision of first edition issued at Uganda’s independence. Covers physical, human, and economic geography, with particular attention to crops and development.
  153.  
  154. Find this resource:
  155.  
  156.  
  157. Middleton, John, and Joseph C. Miller, eds. New Encyclopedia of Africa. 5 vols. Farmington Hill, MI: Scriber, 2008.
  158.  
  159. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  160.  
  161. General encyclopedia of Africa, with useful entries by respected historians for the Great Lakes region. See especially entries for Bantu, Eastern, Southern, and Western History of (1000 BCE to 1500 CE) I: 217–221, Burundi I: 280–289, Interlacustrine Region, History of (1000 BCE to 1500 CE) III: 31–35, Interlacustrine Region, History of (1500–1900) III: 35–37, Prehistory: Eastern Africa IV: 209–212, Rwanda IV: 346–354, and Uganda V: 119–127.
  162.  
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  164.  
  165.  
  166. Vogel, Joseph O., ed. Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa: Archaeology, History, Languages, Cultures, and Environments. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 1997.
  167.  
  168. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  169.  
  170. Focuses predominantly on methodological questions, with a large number of entries by archaeologists. Provides useful outlines on African prehistory and early history. See especially entry for Lacustrine States, pp. 501–506.
  171.  
  172. Find this resource:
  173.  
  174.  
  175. Journals
  176. A range of journals publish articles on the Great Lakes states, both general journals for Africa and regional ones focused on East Africa. Tanzania Notes and Records and the Uganda Journal, both founded in the colonial period, contain useful historical and ethnographic articles by African writers as well as colonial officials and other expatriates. The Journal of Eastern African Studies is the only journal with a regional scope, although the older issues of Azania (pre-2009) are also East Africa–oriented. The former is a multidisciplinary journal with a more contemporary focus; the latter publishes primarily archaeological research. Other African history and African studies journals contain research and review articles on the Great Lakes region, the most notable of these being Cahiers d’Études Africaines, the Journal of African History, and the International Journal of African Historical Studies. History in Africa, again with a continent-wide scope, contains useful discussions of methodology and chronology, as well as notes on archives in the region.
  177.  
  178. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 2009–.
  179.  
  180. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  181.  
  182. Published by the British Institute in Eastern Africa; covers archaeological research across the continent. Preceded by Azania: The Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (1966–2009), which included historical research and was focused on East Africa.
  183.  
  184. Find this resource:
  185.  
  186.  
  187. Cahiers d’Études Africaines. 1960–.
  188.  
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  190.  
  191. Interdisciplinary journal with particular focus on anthropology and history; includes several important articles on Rwanda and Burundi in particular.
  192.  
  193. Find this resource:
  194.  
  195.  
  196. History in Africa. 1974–.
  197.  
  198. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  199.  
  200. Journal focused on questions of methodology and chronology in African history, but also includes helpful notes on archives and conducting research in Great Lakes region.
  201.  
  202. Find this resource:
  203.  
  204.  
  205. International Journal of African Historical Studies. 1972–.
  206.  
  207. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  208.  
  209. Journal covering African history with broad coverage in terms of period, region, and disciplinary approach. Preceded by African Historical Studies (1968–1971).
  210.  
  211. Find this resource:
  212.  
  213.  
  214. Journal of African History. 1960–.
  215.  
  216. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  217.  
  218. Leading journal of African history, with wide-ranging coverage, including early African history.
  219.  
  220. Find this resource:
  221.  
  222.  
  223. Journal of Eastern African Studies: The Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa. 2007–.
  224.  
  225. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  226.  
  227. New interdisciplinary journal published by the British Institute in Eastern Africa and focused on East Africa, especially from the 20th century onward.
  228.  
  229. Find this resource:
  230.  
  231.  
  232. Tanzania Notes and Records. 1936–1985.
  233.  
  234. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  235.  
  236. Journal of the Tanzania Society (formerly the Tanganyika Society, 1936–1965, with the journal originally called Tanganyika Notes and Records). Includes much ethnographic and historical material, mostly by Tanzanians and colonial officials (until independence). Published somewhat irregularly from 1970 and ceased publication in 1985.
  237.  
  238. Find this resource:
  239.  
  240.  
  241. Uganda Journal. 1934–.
  242.  
  243. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  244.  
  245. Journal of the Uganda Society. Includes much ethnographic and historical material, mostly by Ugandans and colonial officials until 1962. Suspended 1942–1946, 1974–1975, 1983–1994, with irregular publications since. Vols. 1–38 are available online.
  246.  
  247. Find this resource:
  248.  
  249.  
  250. Primary Sources
  251. This section is divided by source type. Collections includes published transcriptions of oral traditions. Early Historical Accounts by Africans of the Great Lakes Region includes publications by people prominent in the region’s states in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are three sections of ethnographies arranged geographically—one on Ethnographies of Uganda, another on Ethnographies of Rwanda and Burundi, and one for northwestern Ethnographies of Tanzania. Narrative Accounts are descriptions by Europeans from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Finally, Linguistic Reconstructions covers dictionaries of reconstructed historical vocabulary.
  252.  
  253. Collections
  254. There are a number of publications of oral traditions, although they are predominantly from Buganda and Rwanda. Kagwa 1971 is the best translation of texts from Buganda, although the author’s position as prime minister means that he has been criticized for presenting versions of the texts that supported his political ambitions. Fisher 1911 has texts from Bunyoro, and Cohen 1986 covers Busoga. Kagame 1969 and Smith 1975 are collections of lyric poetry and various traditions from Rwanda with French translations, and Vansina 1972 contains traditions from Burundi, again in French.
  255.  
  256. Cohen, David William. Towards a Reconstructed Past: Historical Texts from Busoga, Uganda. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
  257.  
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  259.  
  260. A collection of sixteen historical texts from Busoga, both written and oral, with the latter collected by the author in the 1960s. Each is presented in English and in the original Lusoga or Luganda. Includes useful introduction and commentary.
  261.  
  262. Find this resource:
  263.  
  264.  
  265. Fisher, Mrs. A. B. (née Ruth Hurditch). Twilight Tales of the Black Baganda. London: Marshall Brothers, 1911.
  266.  
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  268.  
  269. Consists of a brief ethnography followed by translations of the oral traditions of the rulers of Bunyoro (despite the title) from the Cwezi period through the reign of Kabarega and his final defeat by the colonial army of the British. Text available online.
  270.  
  271. Find this resource:
  272.  
  273.  
  274. Kagame, Alexis. Introduction aux grands genres lyriques de l’ancien Rwanda. Butare, Rwanda: Editions Universitaires du Rwanda, 1969.
  275.  
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  277.  
  278. Includes transcriptions in Kinyarwanda, with French translations, of lyric poetry learned by rote in the Rwandan kingdom from three traditions: war poetry, pastoralist poetry, and dynastic poems. Kagame’s position in the royal court and his negative attitude toward Hutu Rwandans needs to be noted, but this remains an important source.
  279.  
  280. Find this resource:
  281.  
  282.  
  283. Kagwa, Apolo. The Kings of Buganda. Translated and edited by M. S. M. Kiwanuka. Nairobi, Kenya: East African Publishing House, 1971.
  284.  
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  286.  
  287. This now forms the basis of the standard traditions of the Buganda kingdom, although Kagwa’s personal and political interests must be considered when reading the text and it is not without its critics. Kiwanuka’s annotations are a useful guide, especially for students. See also Kagwa’s original version (Kagwa 1971, first published in 1901, listed in Early Historical Accounts by Africans of the Great Lakes Region), which includes some traditions from other kingdoms.
  288.  
  289. Find this resource:
  290.  
  291.  
  292. Smith, Pierre. Le récit populaire au Rwanda. Paris: Armand Colin, 1975.
  293.  
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  295.  
  296. Collection of oral literature from Rwanda in Kinyarwanda with French translation on facing page. Includes fantastical, religious, and historical legends and a collection of tales.
  297.  
  298. Find this resource:
  299.  
  300.  
  301. Vansina, Jan. La légende du passé: Traditions orales du Burundi. Archives d’Anthropologie 16. Tervuren, Belgium: Musée royale de l’Afrique centrale, 1972.
  302.  
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  304.  
  305. Contains French translations of oral traditions from Burundi collected by the author in the late 1950s. The traditions range from accounts of origin to narratives of the reigns of kings, but there are also collections of proverbs, songs, and genealogies. Includes a helpful introduction and analysis of the texts.
  306.  
  307. Find this resource:
  308.  
  309.  
  310. Early Historical Accounts by Africans of the Great Lakes Region
  311. Politicians in the Great Lakes region took to writing histories of their kingdoms early in the colonial period, in part at least to bolster their claims to power and legitimacy in the face of colonial rule. This was particularly the case in Buganda, Bunyoro, and Rwanda, but there are examples from other kingdoms also. Bikunya 1927, K. W. 1935, and Nyakatura 1973 are about Bunyoro. Kagwa 1971 and Kagwa 1972 are among the earliest histories of Buganda and its neighboring kingdoms. Katate and Kamugungunu 2011 is a relatively late example from Ankole, and Lwamgira 1969 is also a relatively late example from Kiziba.
  312.  
  313. Bikunya, Petero. Ky’abakama ba Bunyoro. London: Sheldon, 1927.
  314.  
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  316.  
  317. First history of Bunyoro in Lunyoro, written by its then prime minister. Very difficult to find, and most people rely instead on the later works by Tito Winyi [K. W.] and John Nyakatura.
  318.  
  319. Find this resource:
  320.  
  321.  
  322. K. W. [Tito Winyi]. “Abakama ba Bunyoro Kitara.” Part 1. Uganda Journal 3.2 (1935): 149–160.
  323.  
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  325.  
  326. Article continues in Uganda Journal 4.1 (1936): 65–83; 5.2 (1937): 53–84. History of the kings of Bunyoro in three parts, written in Lunyoro with English translation. Published under pseudonym K. W., but widely known and acknowledged to be written by the king (mukama) of Bunyoro, Tito Winyi. Entire issue available online.
  327.  
  328. Find this resource:
  329.  
  330.  
  331. Kagwa, Apolo. Ekitabo kya basekabaka be Buganda na be Bunyoro, na be Koki, na be Toro, na be Nkole. Kampala: Uganda Bookshop, 1971.
  332.  
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  334.  
  335. Originally published in 1901, this is Kagwa’s first written history of Buganda and neighboring kingdoms, although with a strong emphasis on Buganda. His role as a prominent chief and politician shaped the text, but it remains a crucial primary source. Written in Luganda; see Kagwa 1971 in Primary Sources: Collections for English translation by Kiwanuka.
  336.  
  337. Find this resource:
  338.  
  339.  
  340. Kagwa, Apolo. The Clans of Buganda. Translated by James D. Wamala. Kampala: Uganda Bookshop, 1972.
  341.  
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  343.  
  344. English translation of Ekitabo kye bika bya Baganda, first published in 1912. Brief history, written originally in Luganda, of each of the clans in Buganda.
  345.  
  346. Find this resource:
  347.  
  348.  
  349. Katate, A. G., and L. Kamugungunu. Abagabe b’Ankole. 2 vols. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, 2011.
  350.  
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  352.  
  353. History of the rulers of the kingdom of Ankole from Cwezi traditions through the Abahinda dynasty (in Volume 1) and colonial conquest and rule (in Volume 2). Written in Runyankore. First published in 1955.
  354.  
  355. Find this resource:
  356.  
  357.  
  358. Lwamgira, F. X. The History of Kiziba and Its Kings. Translated by E. R. Kamuhangire. Kampala, Uganda: Department of History, Makerere University, 1969.
  359.  
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  361.  
  362. English translation of Amakuru ga Kiziba na abakama bamu, first published in 1949. A history of Kiziba from earliest times to the 1930s. Written in Kiziba dialect of Kihaya. Rather difficult to find.
  363.  
  364. Find this resource:
  365.  
  366.  
  367. Nyakatura, J. W. Anatomy of an African Kingdom: A History of Bunyoro-Kitara. Translated by Teopista Muganwa and edited by Godfrey N. Uzoigwe. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1973.
  368.  
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  370.  
  371. English translation of Abakama ba Bunyoro Kitara, first published in 1947. Influential work by Nyakatura that draws largely on the earlier published texts of Bikunya and Tito Winyi. Includes useful biographical detail on Nyakatura in the introduction by Godfrey Uzoigwe.
  372.  
  373. Find this resource:
  374.  
  375.  
  376. Ethnographies of Uganda
  377. There is a wealth of ethnographic material on the parts of Uganda that fall in the Great Lakes region from the early to mid-20th century. Many of those written by Europeans in the early part of the century reflect their racial and gender prejudices, but are essential sources nonetheless. Johnston 1902, Cunningham 1905, and Gorju 1920 cover several societies. Kagwa 1969 and Roscoe 1911 focus on Buganda, and Roscoe 1923a and Roscoe 1923b focus on Bunyoro and Ankole respectively. Mair 1965 is the only work by a trained anthropologist and based on extensive fieldwork.
  378.  
  379. Cunningham, J. F. Uganda and Its Peoples: Notes on the Protectorate of Uganda Especially the Anthropology of its Indigenous Races. London: Hutchinson, 1905.
  380.  
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  382.  
  383. Contains brief ethnographic sketches of different groups in Uganda. Particularly useful as early description of people outside of Buganda such as Baziba, Basoga, and Bavuma, although less detail than for Baganda and Banyoro. Contains large number of photographic illustrations. Text available online.
  384.  
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  386.  
  387.  
  388. Gorju, J. L. Entre le Victoria, lʼAlbert et lʼEdouard: Ethnographie de la partie anglaise du vicariat de lʼUganda: Origines, histoire, religion, coutumes. Rennes, France: Oberthür, 1920.
  389.  
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391.  
  392. A relatively early ethnography in French by a Catholic White Fathers missionary who went on to be Vicar Apostolic of Urundi [Burundi]. Sections divided between Buganda, Bunyoro, and Nkore, although more attention is paid to the first two. Includes several images and a map of the lubiri (palace) of Buganda.
  393.  
  394. Find this resource:
  395.  
  396.  
  397. Johnston, Harry H. The Uganda Protectorate: An Attempt to Give Some Description of the Physical Geography, Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, Languages and History of the Territories under British Protection in East Central Africa, Between the Congo Free State and the Rift Valley and Between the First Degree of South Latitude and the Fifth Degree of North Latitude. London: Hutchinson, 1902.
  398.  
  399. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  400.  
  401. Detailed work by a special commissioner of the Uganda Protectorate. Volume one focuses on physical geography, botany, and zoology, Volume two on physical anthropology, reflecting colonial attitudes of the time. Includes useful ethnographic information and vocabulary list for several languages, including some now spoken in Kenya. Text available online.
  402.  
  403. Find this resource:
  404.  
  405.  
  406. Kagwa, Apolo. The Customs of the Baganda. Translated by Ernest B. Kalibala and edited by May Mandelbaum (Edel). New York: AMS Press, 1969.
  407.  
  408. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  409.  
  410. Translation of Ekitabo kye mpisa za Baganda, first published in 1905. Skips sections of original which significantly overlap with Roscoe 1911. Includes useful annotations noting divergences between the two texts.
  411.  
  412. Find this resource:
  413.  
  414.  
  415. Mair, L. P. An African People in the Twentieth Century. New York: Russell & Russell, 1965.
  416.  
  417. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  418.  
  419. An important ethnography of Buganda, first published in 1934 and based on fieldwork, that offers a rather different portrait than either Kagwa or Roscoe. Mair sought to reconstruct Ganda culture and paid attention to the dynamics of cultural and social change in the early 20th century.
  420.  
  421. Find this resource:
  422.  
  423.  
  424. Roscoe, John. The Baganda: An Account of their Native Customs and Beliefs. London: Macmillan, 1911.
  425.  
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427.  
  428. Classic text with detailed ethnographic descriptions covering domestic and economic life and political and military systems. Kagwa was a primary contributor during the research, and the text is in many ways close to Kagwa 1969. Roscoe was influenced by Frazer’s theory of divine kingship, and the text reflects this. Text available online.
  429.  
  430. Find this resource:
  431.  
  432.  
  433. Roscoe, John. The Bakitara or Banyoro: The First Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1923a.
  434.  
  435. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  436.  
  437. First of series written by Roscoe following on from The Baganda. Somewhat shorter, but still rich in ethnographic detail; includes several photographs and a diagram of the royal palace.
  438.  
  439. Find this resource:
  440.  
  441.  
  442. Roscoe, John. The Banyankole: The Second Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1923b.
  443.  
  444. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  445.  
  446. Second in the series by Roscoe. Rather briefer than the books on the Baganda and Banyoro, but includes useful detail on economic and domestic life in addition to politics and religion. Also includes several photographs.
  447.  
  448. Find this resource:
  449.  
  450.  
  451. Ethnographies of Rwanda and Burundi
  452. Rwanda and Burundi are also well documented ethnographically, with a number of early studies. Again the racial ideas of the time are prevalent in the texts, especially with regard to Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa Rwandans and Burundians. Bourgeois 1954–1957 covers both Rwanda and Burundi, and Gorju 1938, though primarily on Burundi, includes comparative material on Rwanda. Kagame 1954 is an important text by someone close to the Rwandan royal court that reflects the attitudes of the ruling elite at the time. Van der Burgt 1903 and Meyer 1959 on Burundi are especially important for being among the earliest ethnographies available for either country. Lestrade 1972 covers healing and religion in Rwanda, and Zuure 1929 does the same for Burundi.
  453.  
  454. Bourgeois, R. Banyarwanda et Barundi. 3 vols. Brussels: Institut royal colonial Belge, 1954–1957.
  455.  
  456. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  457.  
  458. Detailed ethnography of Rwanda and Burundi by a Belgian colonial official. Volume 1 is a general ethnography, Volume 2 covers customs, and Volume 3 covers religion and magic.
  459.  
  460. Find this resource:
  461.  
  462.  
  463. Gorju, J. L. Face au royaume hamite de Ruanda: Le royaume frère de l’Urundi. Brussels: Vromant, 1938.
  464.  
  465. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  466.  
  467. Description of the political system of Burundi in the early 20th century. Reproduces the problematic Hamitic hypothesis, but its discussion of connections between Burundi, Rwanda, and neighboring kingdoms is valuable.
  468.  
  469. Find this resource:
  470.  
  471.  
  472. Kagame, Alexis. Les organisations socio-familiales de l’ancien Rwanda. Mémoires in-80, 38.3. Brussels: Académie royale des sciences d’outre-mer, 1954.
  473.  
  474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475.  
  476. Ethnography in French of social and family life in “ancient” Rwanda. Contains some of the expected racial discourse regarding Hutu and Tutsi origins, but includes useful descriptions, especially of life cycle events.
  477.  
  478. Find this resource:
  479.  
  480.  
  481. Lestrade, Arthur. Notes d’ethnographie du Rwanda: Imigenzereze mu Rwanda rwo hambere. Archives d’Anthropologie, no. 17. Tervuren, Belgium: Musée royale de l’Afrique centrale, 1972.
  482.  
  483. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  484.  
  485. Ethnography of Rwanda in French by a Belgian Protestant missionary and later colonial official. Emphasis on healing and religious practices. Usefully includes material in Kinyarwanda with French translations.
  486.  
  487. Find this resource:
  488.  
  489.  
  490. Meyer, Hans. The Barundi: An Ethnological Study of German East Africa. Translated by Helmut Handzik. New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files, 1959.
  491.  
  492. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  493.  
  494. English translation of Die Barundi: Eine völkerkundliche studie aus Deutsch-Ostafrika, first published in 1916. Ethnography based on Meyer’s travels in Burundi in 1911. Contains expected racial descriptions for works by Europeans at the time, but covers wide range of social and cultural practices as well as political organization and religion.
  495.  
  496. Find this resource:
  497.  
  498.  
  499. Van der Burgt, J. M. M. Un grand peuple de l’Afrique equatoriale: Éléments d’une monographie sur l’Urundi et les Warundi. Bois-le-Duc, The Netherlands: Société “l’Illustration catholique,” 1903.
  500.  
  501. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  502.  
  503. Ethnographic notes culled from van der Burgt’s dictionary of Kirundi and organized as encyclopedia entries. Introductory chapter on “Africa” contains some of the more fanciful racial prejudices, but the ethnographic section is rich and includes much Kirundi vocabulary. Text available online.
  504.  
  505. Find this resource:
  506.  
  507.  
  508. Zuure, Bernard. Croyances et pratiques religieuses des Barundi. Brussels: Bibliothèque Congo, 1929.
  509.  
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511.  
  512. Description in French of religion in Burundi, divided into “religion” and “magic,” with the latter including rainmaking and “popular magic” as well as witchcraft. Includes lists of vocabulary exclusive to religious practitioners for Kirundi and Kinyarwanda, as well as songs in Kirundi with French translations.
  513.  
  514. Find this resource:
  515.  
  516.  
  517. Ethnographies of Tanzania
  518. While there is less early ethnographic material for the Tanzanian part of the Great Lakes region than for its neighbors, there is still a significant amount. Kollmann 1899 covers several parts of the area, including Karagwe, Kiziba, and Kerewe. Rehse 1910 is a study of Kiziba, Césard 1935 and Cory and Hartnoll 1945 focus on Buhaya more generally, and Grant 1925 and Van Sambeek 1950 focus on Buha.
  519.  
  520. Césard, Edmond. “Le Muhaya (L’Afrique Orientale).” Part 1. Anthropos 30.1–2 (1935): 75–106.
  521.  
  522. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  523.  
  524. Article continues in Anthropos 30.3-4 (1935): 451–462; 31.1-2 (1936): 97–114; 31.5-6 (1936): 821–849; and 32.1-2 (1937): 15–60. Ethnography of the Bahaya in French published in five parts, covering the various kingdoms, social and domestic life, religion, and economy. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  525.  
  526. Find this resource:
  527.  
  528.  
  529. Cory, Hans, and M. M. Hartnoll. Customary Law of the Haya Tribe, Tanganyika Territory. London: Percy Lund, Humphries for the International African Institute, 1945.
  530.  
  531. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  532.  
  533. An attempt to transcribe the legal system of the Bahaya that includes much ethnographic detail. Because its primary function was to codify “customary law,” it must be read with a critical and careful eye.
  534.  
  535. Find this resource:
  536.  
  537.  
  538. Grant, C. H. B. “Uha in Tanganyika Territory.” Geographical Journal 66.5 (1925): 411–422.
  539.  
  540. DOI: 10.2307/1782662Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  541.  
  542. Brief description of Uha in terms of physical geography, political organization, and ethnography. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  543.  
  544. Find this resource:
  545.  
  546.  
  547. Kollmann, Paul. The Victoria Nyanza: The Land, the Races and Their Customs, with Specimens of Some of the Dialects. Translated by H. A. Nesbitt. London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1899.
  548.  
  549. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  550.  
  551. Ethnographic description, by a German military officer, of lands on the shores of Lake Victoria Nyanza from Busoga in the north through Buganda, Karagwe, Kiziba, and around to Kerewe. Largely focused on economic activities, but contains some description of social and religious practices, and includes brief notes on language. Text available online.
  552.  
  553. Find this resource:
  554.  
  555.  
  556. Rehse, Hermann. Kiziba: Land und Leute. Eine Monographie. Stuttgart: Strecker and Schröder, 1910.
  557.  
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559.  
  560. An ethnography in German of Kiziba by a German colonial official that includes transcriptions of oral traditions with German translations.
  561.  
  562. Find this resource:
  563.  
  564.  
  565. Van Sambeek, J. Croyances et coutumes des Baha. 2 vols. Kabanga, Tanzania: Service d’Information, Pères Blancs, 1950.
  566.  
  567. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  568.  
  569. Ethnographic description in French of the Baha by a Catholic Missionary. Volume I discusses beliefs and religious practices; Volume II covers social customs.
  570.  
  571. Find this resource:
  572.  
  573.  
  574. Narrative Accounts
  575. As the site of the source of the Nile, the Great Lakes region was the focus of significant, if rather late, attention by European travelers, who published their accounts of their travels for audiences back in Europe and the United States. These reflect the racial, imperial, and gender prejudices of their authors, but nonetheless offer important evidence about the places and people described. The accounts are predominantly about Tanzania and Uganda. Baker 1867 describes Bunyoro from the north, while Speke 1969 and Stanley 1878 traveled from the south through Buhaya to Buganda and Bunyoro. Gorju 1928 is a later travel narrative about Burundi by a Catholic missionary.
  576.  
  577. Baker, Samuel W. The Albert N’yanza: Great Basin of the Nile and Explorations of The Nile Sources. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1867.
  578.  
  579. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  580.  
  581. Account of Baker’s travels with his wife in 1861–1865 to Lake Albert and Bunyoro via Sudan, first published in 1866. Description of Bunyoro portion of trip in Volume 2. Text available online.
  582.  
  583. Find this resource:
  584.  
  585.  
  586. Gorju, J. L. En zigzags à travers l’Urundi. Namur, Belgium: Missionnaires d’Afrique (Pères Blancs), 1928.
  587.  
  588. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  589.  
  590. Narrative of Bishop Gorju’s travels around Burundi in 1922–1923. Mix of landscape description, ethnography, and history. Gorju subscribed to the Hamitic hypothesis, and the text strongly reflects this.
  591.  
  592. Find this resource:
  593.  
  594.  
  595. Speke, John Hanning. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. New York: Greenwood, 1969.
  596.  
  597. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  598.  
  599. Speke’s description of his journey to the source of the White Nile on Lake Victoria in 1859–1863, first published in 1863. Particularly valuable for description of palace life in Karagwe and Buganda, but also for Bunyoro. Speke also sets out his interpretation of the Hamitic hypothesis in some detail. Text available online.
  600.  
  601. Find this resource:
  602.  
  603.  
  604. Stanley, Henry M. Through the Dark Continent: Or the Sources of the Nile around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa and Down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean. 2 vols. New York: Harper, 1878.
  605.  
  606. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  607.  
  608. Financed by the Daily Telegraph of London and the New York Herald, Stanley traveled to Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika via Zanzibar. Volume 1 includes descriptions of Ukerewe and Lake Victoria, Buganda, Karagwe, and Buha. Text available online.
  609.  
  610. Find this resource:
  611.  
  612.  
  613. Linguistic Reconstructions
  614. In the absence of a written record before the mid-19th century, historians have turned to comparative historical linguistics as a means of creating an archive from the languages spoken by the people of the Great Lakes region. Schoenbrun 1997 does this for Great Lakes Bantu and its descendant languages. Ehret 2001 does the same for the Nilo-Saharan languages, which have contributed significantly to the vocabulary of Great Lakes Bantu languages.
  615.  
  616. Ehret, Christopher. A Historical-Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe, 2001.
  617.  
  618. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619.  
  620. Overview of classification and phonological system of Nilo-Saharan precedes dictionary of reconstructed vocabulary. Very useful for tracing loanwords in Great Lakes Bantu languages.
  621.  
  622. Find this resource:
  623.  
  624.  
  625. Schoenbrun, David L. The Historical Reconstruction of Great Lakes Bantu Cultural Vocabulary: Etymologies and Distributions. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe, 1997.
  626.  
  627. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  628.  
  629. Detailed dictionary of reconstructed vocabulary for the Great Lakes Bantu languages, arranged thematically and with extensive references for the distributions of vocabulary items. Includes introductory section addressing the genetic classification of Great Lakes Bantu.
  630.  
  631. Find this resource:
  632.  
  633.  
  634. Early Peoples of the Great Lakes Region
  635. A growing body of archaeological and historical linguistic work has recently significantly increased our knowledge of life in the Great Lakes region from c. 500 BCE in particular. Schmidt 1997 and Van Grunderbeek, et al. 1983 discuss their findings that iron-smelting was practiced as early as the 7th century BCE in Rwanda and Burundi and just a few centuries later in northwestern Tanzania. Reid 1994–1995 offers a useful overview of the state of knowledge of life in the region before c. 1000 CE, while Giblin, et al. 2010 presents a case study of a human burial in Rwanda from c. 400 CE. Ashley 2010 demonstrates the potential of ceramics in charting shifts in social scale from the domestic to the communal, reflecting broader social and political change. Among the historians, Ehret 1998 sets out the social, economic, and cultural history of the earliest Bantu speakers in the region; Schoenbrun 1998 is a rich and detailed study of the Great Lakes Bantu speakers and their descendants from c. 500 BCE to the 15th century; and Stephens 2009 focuses on North Nyanza speakers from the mid-first millennium.
  636.  
  637. Ashley, Ceri Z. “Towards a Socialised Archaeology of Ceramics in Great Lakes Africa.” African Archaeological Review 27.2 (2010): 135–163.
  638.  
  639. DOI: 10.1007/s10437-010-9074-0Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  640.  
  641. Based on a review of the large collection of ceramics from the north Lake Victoria littoral held at the Uganda Museum, Ashley challenges the notion that changes in ceramic style reflected population migrations. She finds a transitional ceramic style that reflects use changes, most likely as a result of shifting scales of social focus. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  642.  
  643. Find this resource:
  644.  
  645.  
  646. Ehret, Christopher. An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 BC to AD 400. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998.
  647.  
  648. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  649.  
  650. Ehret, drawing primarily on linguistic evidence along with archaeology, traces the early populations in the Great Lakes region from proto-Mashariki Bantu speakers through the descendant languages of Great Lakes Bantu. He places particular emphasis on interactions between Bantu-speaking communities and those speaking Nilo-Saharan and Cushitic languages.
  651.  
  652. Find this resource:
  653.  
  654.  
  655. Giblin, John, Anna Clement, and Jane Humphris. “An Urewe Burial in Rwanda: Exchange, Health, Wealth and Violence, c. AD 400.” Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45.3 (2010): 276–297.
  656.  
  657. DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2010.521677Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  658.  
  659. Discussion of rare finding of early human burial in Great Lakes Region that reflects accumulation of wealth and economic differentiation by c. 400 CE. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  660.  
  661. Find this resource:
  662.  
  663.  
  664. Reid, Andrew. “Early Settlement and Social Organization in the Interlacustrine Region.” Azania: Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 29–30 (1994–1995): 303–313.
  665.  
  666. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  667.  
  668. Survey of (then) current state of knowledge about settlements in the Great Lakes region before 1000 CE of people using Urewe ware. Emphasizes need for much more research, but notes continuities in settlement locations with earlier non–iron-working inhabitants. Argues that this reflects continued reliance by early farmers on wild resources, undermining narrative of Bantu migration. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  669.  
  670. Find this resource:
  671.  
  672.  
  673. Schmidt, Peter R. Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.
  674.  
  675. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  676.  
  677. Text that discusses archaeological findings on iron smelting in Buhaya from the mid-first millennium BCE on and uses ethno-archaeological research, including recreating an iron-smelt to develop our understanding of the processes and meanings of smelting in the region.
  678.  
  679. Find this resource:
  680.  
  681.  
  682. Schoenbrun, David Lee. A Green Place, A Good Place: Agrarian Change, Gender, and Social Identity in the Great Lakes Region to the 15th Century. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.
  683.  
  684. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  685.  
  686. Sets out in detail the early history of Great Lakes Bantu-speaking people and their descendants in the region from c. 500 BCE. Traces in particular economic developments and their interaction with evolving gender and social identities. Explores origins of centralization of political power, with discussion of tension between creative and instrumental power.
  687.  
  688. Find this resource:
  689.  
  690.  
  691. Stephens, Rhiannon. “Lineage and Society in Precolonial Uganda.” Journal of African History 50.2 (2009): 203–221.
  692.  
  693. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853709004435Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  694.  
  695. Explores the dynamic ways in which people in Buganda, Busoga, and Bugwere, and their ancestral speech communities from the mid-first millennium, adapted and used patrilineality in constituting their communities and managing economic and political relations. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  696.  
  697. Find this resource:
  698.  
  699.  
  700. Van Grunderbeek, Marie-Claude, Emile Roche, and Hugues Doutrelepont. Le premier âge du fer au Rwanda et au Burundi: Archéologie et environnement. Butare, Rwanda: Institut national de recherche scientifique, 1983.
  701.  
  702. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  703.  
  704. Presentation of archaeological research on iron-smelting sites in Rwanda and Burundi dating from the 7th century BCE, showing the sophistication of the furnaces used. Early smelting sites in both countries clustered on the hills of the central plateau and were related to an agro-pastoral economy complemented by hunting and gathering.
  705.  
  706. Find this resource:
  707.  
  708.  
  709. Emergence of Political Centralization
  710. Analysis of the origins of political centralization in the Great Lakes region has changed significantly from early interpretations based on migration and diffusion to more recent ones that emphasize a range of factors including gender, multiple forms of social complexity, religious and healing practices, and climate change. Chrétien 2003 has a useful overview of the debates. Oliver 1955 offers an example of early historical thinking on the emergence of Bunyoro, Buganda, and Nkole. Berger 1981 and Tantala 1989 emphasize Cwezi religious practices in their analyses of the oral traditions about the earliest states. Among the archaeologists, Reid 1996 examines the importance of indigenous chiefdoms in the development of social complexity in eleventh–15th-century southern Uganda. Robertshaw 1994 focuses on western Uganda and the earliest political centralization apparent in the archaeological record. Robertshaw 1999 and Robertshaw and Taylor 2000 explore explanatory models: gender and climate change, respectively.
  711.  
  712. Berger, Iris. Religion and Resistance: East African Kingdoms in the Precolonial Period. Annales Serie in-80 Sciences Humaines, no. 105. Tervuren, Belgium: Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale, 1981.
  713.  
  714. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  715.  
  716. A history of the early period of state formation, c. 1000–1500, based primarily on analysis of oral traditions that make reference to the Cwezi. Berger notes that despite incorporation of kubandwa religious practices into kingdoms, kubandwa remained diverse enough to also foster female opposition to the male-dominated state system.
  717.  
  718. Find this resource:
  719.  
  720.  
  721. Chrétien, Jean-Pierre. The Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History. Translated by Scott Strauss. New York: Zone Books, 2003.
  722.  
  723. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  724.  
  725. English translation of L’Afrique des grands lacs: Deux milles ans d’histoire, first published in 2000. Chapter on “The Emergence of Kingship” offers a very useful survey of the literature and debates about early states in the region, focusing especially on the Cwezi traditions.
  726.  
  727. Find this resource:
  728.  
  729.  
  730. Oliver, R. “The Traditional Histories of Buganda, Bunyoro, and Nkole.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 85.1–2 (1955): 111–117.
  731.  
  732. DOI: 10.2307/2844185Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  733.  
  734. An early comparative study of the origins of the three kingdoms based on transcribed oral traditions. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  735.  
  736. Find this resource:
  737.  
  738.  
  739. Reid, Andrew. “Ntusi and the Development of Social Complexity in Southern Uganda.” In Aspects of African Archaeology: Papers from the 10th Congress of the PanAfrican Association for Prehistory and Related Studies. Edited by Gilbert Pwiti and Robert Soper, 621–628. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Press, 1996.
  740.  
  741. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  742.  
  743. Presents evidence to refute hypothesis that kingdoms in southern Uganda and further south were result of external imposition. Archaeology of Ntusi suggests complicated history of social complexity based around economic specialization and indicates it was a chiefdom, one of several in the region by the 14th century.
  744.  
  745. Find this resource:
  746.  
  747.  
  748. Robertshaw, Peter. “Archaeological Survey, Ceramic Analysis, and State Formation in Western Uganda.” African Archaeological Review 12.1 (1994): 105–131.
  749.  
  750. DOI: 10.1007/BF01953040Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  751.  
  752. Discussion of archaeological findings from western Uganda contextualized with historical research. Analysis argues for small settlements with little or no political hierarchy until the end of the 13th century, followed by differentiation in settlement size accompanying increased political stratification from the 14th century onwards. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  753.  
  754. Find this resource:
  755.  
  756.  
  757. Robertshaw, Peter. “Women, Labor, and State Formation in Western Uganda.” Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 9.1 (1999): 51–65.
  758.  
  759. DOI: 10.1525/ap3a.1999.9.1.51Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  760.  
  761. Discussion of the role of gender dynamics in state formation, paying particular attention to the need for women as both economic actors and reproducers of the community as would-be leaders sought followers. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  762.  
  763. Find this resource:
  764.  
  765.  
  766. Robertshaw, Peter, and David Taylor. “Climate Change and the Rise of Political Complexity in Western Uganda.” Journal of African History 41.1 (2000): 1–28.
  767.  
  768. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853799007653Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  769.  
  770. Article that brings paleoenvironmental evidence into conversation with archaeological evidence to assess the role of climatic variation, especially from the 12th to 19th centuries, in the lifecycles of states in the region. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  771.  
  772. Find this resource:
  773.  
  774.  
  775. Tantala, Renée Louise. “The Early History of Kitara in Western Uganda: Process Models of Religious and Political Change.” PhD diss., University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1989.
  776.  
  777. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  778.  
  779. This unpublished thesis by Tantala remains one of few historical approaches to early state formation in the region. Draws on new analysis of Kitara epic, along with linguistic and ethnographic data, to reconstruct the Cwezi period.
  780.  
  781. Find this resource:
  782.  
  783.  
  784. Bunyoro
  785. Despite being older and for a long time larger than Buganda, Bunyoro has not received the same attention from scholars, in part at least due to the violence of colonial conquest and its marginalization during British colonial rule. Steinhart 1981 offers a brief but useful overview of its history from the foundation of the kingdom. Beattie 1960 and Beattie 1971 provide some historical discussion along with ethnographic study of the political and social systems of Bunyoro. Schoenbrun 2013 moves in a new direction in paying attention to emotion in oral traditions about the founding of Bunyoro and the Babito dynasty. Doyle 2006 has a good introduction to Bunyoro’s history in the 19th century and a little earlier, before moving into colonial conquest and its devastating consequences. Connah 1996 addresses the important role of the salt trade in the kingdom.
  786.  
  787. Beattie, John. Bunyoro: An African Kingdom. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Wilson, 1960.
  788.  
  789. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  790.  
  791. A much slimmer volume than Beattie 1971, it offers a brief introduction to Bunyoro political and social systems. There is a rather unproductive comparison with feudal England, but it is nonetheless a valuable guide that discusses history in addition to the ethnographic component.
  792.  
  793. Find this resource:
  794.  
  795.  
  796. Beattie, John, The Nyoro State. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971.
  797.  
  798. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  799.  
  800. Mainly an ethnographic study of the political system of Bunyoro, but with significant historical discussion of both colonial conquest and rule and the earlier Cwezi traditions. Published four years after Obote abolished the kingdoms in Uganda, it also covers the events leading up to that development.
  801.  
  802. Find this resource:
  803.  
  804.  
  805. Connah, Graham. Kibiro: The Salt of Bunyoro, Past and Present. London: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1996.
  806.  
  807. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  808.  
  809. An important text on the history of salt production in and trade from Kibiro in Bunyoro. Sets out the environmental, historical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence for salt production since the early second millennium and ends with a brief discussion of the role of Kibiro in the Bunyoro state.
  810.  
  811. Find this resource:
  812.  
  813.  
  814. Doyle, Shane. Crisis & Decline in Bunyoro: Population & Environment in Western Uganda 1860–1955. Oxford: James Currey, 2006.
  815.  
  816. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  817.  
  818. A rare recent historical monograph on Bunyoro, particularly focused on demographic and environmental history. The chapter “The State & Pre-Colonial Ecology, Health & Demography” offers a useful introduction to Bunyoro’s earlier history.
  819.  
  820. Find this resource:
  821.  
  822.  
  823. Schoenbrun, David. “A Mask of Calm: Emotion and Founding the Kingdom of Bunyoro in the Sixteenth Century.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 55.3 (2013): 634–664.
  824.  
  825. DOI: 10.1017/S0010417513000273Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  826.  
  827. A recent revisiting of the history of the founding of the Bito dynasty that addresses the role of drought and concomitant violence and pays particular attention to the importance of descriptions of emotion in oral traditions as providing insight into the aftermath of violence. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  828.  
  829. Find this resource:
  830.  
  831.  
  832. Steinhart, Edward I. “From ‘Empire’ to State: The Emergence of the Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara: c. 1350–1890.” In The Study of the State. Edited by Henri J. M. Claessen and Peter Skalník, 353–370. The Hague: Mouton, 1981.
  833.  
  834. DOI: 10.1515/9783110825794Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  835.  
  836. A brief but useful overview of the history of Bunyoro from the foundation of the state up to colonial conquest.
  837.  
  838. Find this resource:
  839.  
  840.  
  841. Buganda
  842. Perhaps one of the most famous of Africa’s kingdoms in the 19th century, Buganda has been the focus of extensive study, and recently there has been a shift in historical interpretations of the nature of power in the kingdom. Included here are just a few of the results of that research. Kiwanuka 1972 is a political history of Buganda from its foundation based primarily on oral traditions; Médard 2007 covers the 19th century in depth, drawing on a range of sources. Musisi 1991 pays attention to gender relations in state formation, drawing on oral traditions; Wrigley 1996 explores mythmaking and the origins of the kingdom, arguing that most of the traditions cannot be used as historical evidence. Kodesh 2010 revisits the traditions and stresses the role of clans as healing networks in state formation; Hanson 2003 emphasizes the importance of affective relationships in political power and argues that power was less centralized in Buganda than historians had believed. Ray 1991 takes a religious history approach to analyze state structures, and Schiller 1990 examines the role of women in the kingdom’s governance.
  843.  
  844. Hanson, Holly Elisabeth. Landed Obligation: The Practice of Power in Buganda. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.
  845.  
  846. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  847.  
  848. A departure from the depiction of Buganda as a strong centralized state. Hanson argues instead that relationships of reciprocal obligation structured political power between the royal family and multiple nodes of power throughout the kingdom.
  849.  
  850. Find this resource:
  851.  
  852.  
  853. Kiwanuka, M. S. M. Semakula. A History of Buganda: From the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900. New York: Longman, 1972.
  854.  
  855. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  856.  
  857. One of the first and only histories covering the entire existence of Buganda to 1900. Draws on oral traditions for the early period and includes useful discussion of sources. Emphasises migration and gives an earlier date for the foundation of the kingdom than is generally accepted, but an important text.
  858.  
  859. Find this resource:
  860.  
  861.  
  862. Kodesh, Neil. Beyond the Royal Gaze: Clanship and Public Healing in Buganda. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
  863.  
  864. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  865.  
  866. Kodesh’s text deliberately moves outside the royal capital, which has dominated histories of Buganda. Focusing on clan histories, he reframes the history of clanship and political centralization as one of public healing, further undermining the perception of the kingdom as a powerful state dominated by the royal family.
  867.  
  868. Find this resource:
  869.  
  870.  
  871. Médard, Henri. Le royaume du Buganda au XIXe siècle: Mutations politiques et religieuses d’un ancien état d’Afrique de l’Est. Paris: Karthala, 2007.
  872.  
  873. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  874.  
  875. A comprehensive monograph in French on Buganda’s political and religious history. Primarily focused on the 19th century, but with considerable material on earlier periods.
  876.  
  877. Find this resource:
  878.  
  879.  
  880. Musisi, Nakanyike B. “Women, ‘Elite Polygyny,’ and Buganda State Formation.” Signs 16.4 (1991): 757–786.
  881.  
  882. DOI: 10.1086/494702Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  883.  
  884. An important article that explores the role of gender in the emergence of the Buganda state, with particular reference to shifts in marriage patterns in the households of chiefs and kings. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  885.  
  886. Find this resource:
  887.  
  888.  
  889. Ray, Benjamin C. Myth, Ritual, and Kingship in Buganda. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
  890.  
  891. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  892.  
  893. A religious history approach to Buganda that analyzes the traditions of the kingdom to argue that it was neither a divine kingship (after Frazer) nor a secular state. Rather, as a cultural product at least some of the palace’s power lay in its symbolism.
  894.  
  895. Find this resource:
  896.  
  897.  
  898. Schiller, Laurence D. “The Royal Women of Buganda.” International Journal of African Historical Studies 23.3 (1990): 455–473.
  899.  
  900. DOI: 10.2307/219599Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  901.  
  902. A nuanced survey of the status of women in Buganda that pays particular attention to differences between women in different positions, from commoners to princesses and from royal wives to the queen mother. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  903.  
  904. Find this resource:
  905.  
  906.  
  907. Wrigley, Christopher. Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  908.  
  909. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511584763Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  910.  
  911. The product of long research and consideration of Buganda. Wrigley assesses the various traditions about different kings, labeling many of them as myth but also presenting a careful analysis of the founding and expansion of the state, paying attention to gender and violence.
  912.  
  913. Find this resource:
  914.  
  915.  
  916. Nyiginya-Rwanda-Burundi
  917. The majority of scholarship on Rwanda and Burundi focuses on events in the 20th century. Nonetheless, there are a number of important works on the kingdoms before colonial conquest. The earlier literature tended to present the categories of Hutu and Tutsi as racial and the basis of a largely static feudal system. Since then, scholars have refuted this interpretation and emphasized the dynamic quality of the categories and their interrelationship. Mworoha, et al. 1987 offers an overview of Burundi’s history; Gahama 1979 examines the role of the queen mother in particular. Maquet 1961 is an influential study on the centrality of Hutu-Tutsi relations in the Rwandan kingdom, while de Heusch 1966 challenges Maquet’s description of Rwanda as feudal. Nkurikiyimfura 1994 and Vansina 2004 offer new interpretations of the Nyiginya kingdom.
  918.  
  919. Gahama, Amélie. La reine mère et ses prêtres au Burundi. Nanterre, France: Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, 1979.
  920.  
  921. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  922.  
  923. A short and rare ethnographic study in French on the political role of the queen mother in the Burundi state.
  924.  
  925. Find this resource:
  926.  
  927.  
  928. Heusch, Luc de. Le Rwanda et la civilisation interlacustre. Brussels: Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1966.
  929.  
  930. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  931.  
  932. Anthropologically oriented study that argues strongly against the then prevalent depiction of Rwanda as a feudal society and explores the role of religious practice and of Ryangombe in particular in shoring up inequality.
  933.  
  934. Find this resource:
  935.  
  936.  
  937. Maquet, Jaques J. The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda: A Study of Political Relations in a Central African Kingdom. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.
  938.  
  939. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  940.  
  941. An influential ethnographic study that described Rwanda as a feudal society. Includes useful descriptions of the political and social systems in Rwanda, albeit presented as part of the ethnographic present of the 19th century.
  942.  
  943. Find this resource:
  944.  
  945.  
  946. Mworoha, Emile, Jean-Pierre Chrétien, Joseph Gahama, et al. Histoire du Burundi: Des origines à la fin du XIXe siècle. Paris: Hatier, 1987.
  947.  
  948. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  949.  
  950. General history of Burundi in French from the first inhabitants through the formation of the kingdom and its expansion in the 19th century. Useful as an overview for undergraduates in particular.
  951.  
  952. Find this resource:
  953.  
  954.  
  955. Nkurikiyimfura, Jean-Népomucène. Le gros bétail et la société rwandaise: Évolution historique des XIIe–XIVe siècles à 1958. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1994.
  956.  
  957. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  958.  
  959. Social history of the Rwandan kingdom, with special attention paid to evolving role of cattle in political centralization and expansion of ruling dynasty. Takes a long view of Rwandan history from the earliest foundation of the Nyiginya kingdom through the particular changes, e.g. to clientship, of the colonial period.
  960.  
  961. Find this resource:
  962.  
  963.  
  964. Vansina, Jan. Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.
  965.  
  966. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  967.  
  968. English translation by the author of Le Rwanda ancien: Le royaume nyiginya, first published in 2001. A rare history focusing on Rwanda before the 19th century, balancing narrative of political developments with social history. Makes an argument for emergence of ethnic categories before colonial conquest.
  969.  
  970. Find this resource:
  971.  
  972.  
  973. Other Great Lakes States
  974. The other states in the region have received significantly less historical attention. In the east, Lubogo 1960 and Cohen 1972 draw on oral traditions to write the histories of Busoga’s kingdoms, and Fallers 1965 offers an anthropological study of its political systems. Karugire 2007 examines the history of Nkore, while Doornbos 2001 focuses primarily on its more recent past. Ingham 1975 covers the history of Toro, Katoke 1975 is a history of Karagwe, and Newbury 1991 focuses on Ijwi Island in the west of the region.
  975.  
  976. Cohen, David William. The Historical Tradition of Busoga: Mukama and Kintu. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972.
  977.  
  978. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  979.  
  980. Revision of Cohen’s PhD thesis; based on extensive interviews in Busoga among the various clans. Seeks to reconstruct the history of their settlement in the region and the emergence of states; emphasis on migration reflects historical thinking at the time. Remarkable analysis of a very large and diverse body of oral texts.
  981.  
  982. Find this resource:
  983.  
  984.  
  985. Doornbos, Martin A. The Ankole Kingship Controversy: Regalia Galore Revisited. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, 2001.
  986.  
  987. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  988.  
  989. Revision of Regalia Galore: The Decline and Eclipse of Ankole Kingship, first published in 1975 in the aftermath of the abolition of the kingdoms in Uganda. Mostly focused on the colonial period, but with some useful discussion of earlier history.
  990.  
  991. Find this resource:
  992.  
  993.  
  994. Fallers, Lloyd A. Bantu Bureaucracy: A Century of Political Evolution among the Basoga of Uganda. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
  995.  
  996. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  997.  
  998. An anthropological work that focuses primarily on the colonial period, but includes useful material on earlier states in Busoga. First published in 1956.
  999.  
  1000. Find this resource:
  1001.  
  1002.  
  1003. Ingham, Kenneth. The Kingdom of Toro in Uganda. London: Methuen, 1975.
  1004.  
  1005. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1006.  
  1007. Traces the somewhat tumultuous history of the Toro kingdom from its foundation by a breakaway Munyoro prince in the early 19th century through the declaration of a republican constitution in 1967.
  1008.  
  1009. Find this resource:
  1010.  
  1011.  
  1012. Karugire, Samwiri Rubaraza. A History of the Kingdom of Nkore in Western Uganda to 1896. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, 2007.
  1013.  
  1014. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1015.  
  1016. Revision of Karugire’s PhD thesis, first published in 1971; covers Nkore from foundation of the kingdom in the 16th century through colonial conquest. Draws extensively on oral traditions or “traditional history,” with useful methodological discussion. Includes cultural and religious, as well as political, history.
  1017.  
  1018. Find this resource:
  1019.  
  1020.  
  1021. Katoke, Israel K. The Karagwe Kingdom: A History of the Abanyambo of North Western Tanzania, c. 1400–1915. Nairobi, Kenya: East African Publishing House, 1975.
  1022.  
  1023. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1024.  
  1025. Revision of Katoke’s PhD dissertation. Based primarily on oral traditions collected in the late 1960s. Traces history of Karagwe from the earliest traditions about the 15th century through the defeat of Germany in the region in 1915.
  1026.  
  1027. Find this resource:
  1028.  
  1029.  
  1030. Lubogo, Y. K. A History of Busoga. Jinja, Uganda: East African Literature Bureau, 1960.
  1031.  
  1032. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1033.  
  1034. Originally completed in Luganda in 1939, but published only in English translation. See Cohen 1986 (cited under Primary Sources: Collections) for discussion of Lubogo and this history. A valuable text on the history of the various Busoga kingdoms, but very difficult to find.
  1035.  
  1036. Find this resource:
  1037.  
  1038.  
  1039. Newbury, David. Kings and Clans: Ijwi Island and the Lake Kivu Rift, 1780–1840. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991.
  1040.  
  1041. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1042.  
  1043. A detailed and careful history of royal authority on Ijwi Island in Lake Kivu and the creation of new social identities in the context of social and political change in the wider region.
  1044.  
  1045. Find this resource:
  1046.  
  1047.  
  1048. The 19th Century
  1049. The 19th century was a tumultuous period in the region and saw its fuller incorporation into long-distance trade networks, political tensions, and a dramatic increase in unfree labor and clientship. Médard 2007 and Reid 2002 offer detailed studies of Buganda at this time; Hanson 2002 addresses the marginalization of women’s power in the kingdom. Cohen 1977 and Hartwig 1976 provide perspectives from places typically seen as on the margins: Bunafu in Busoga and Ukerewe, respectively. Newbury 2009 brings the margins and the center together in a collection of essays on Ijwi and Rwanda. Mworoha 1977 covers Burundi’s 19th-century history, and Newbury 1988 describes important changes in clientship in Rwanda that helped shape later developments.
  1050.  
  1051. Cohen, David William. Womunafu’s Bunafu: A Study of Authority in a Nineteenth-Century African Community. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977.
  1052.  
  1053. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1054.  
  1055. A detailed study of a small polity in northern Busoga that highlights the ways multiple kinds of connections and alliances served to shore up authority, especially in a context of predation from Buganda.
  1056.  
  1057. Find this resource:
  1058.  
  1059.  
  1060. Hanson, Holly. “Queen Mothers and Good Government in Buganda: The Loss of Women’s Political Power in Nineteenth-Century East Africa.” In Women in African Colonial Histories. Edited by Jean Allman, Susan Geiger, and Nakanyike Musisi, 219–236. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002.
  1061.  
  1062. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1063.  
  1064. A complement to Hanson 2003 (cited under Buganda). Here she discusses the ways in which political and economic changes in the 19th century fundamentally undermined the place of women at the heart of power in the kingdom.
  1065.  
  1066. Find this resource:
  1067.  
  1068.  
  1069. Hartwig, Gerald W. The Art of Survival in East Africa: The Kerebe and Long-Distance Trade, 1800–1895. New York: Africana, 1976.
  1070.  
  1071. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1072.  
  1073. History of Ukerewe in eastern Lake Victoria in the 19th century, drawing on analysis of oral sources. Focused on economic changes wrought by expansion of long-distance trade, but with particular attention paid to social and political impacts of those changes.
  1074.  
  1075. Find this resource:
  1076.  
  1077.  
  1078. Médard, Henri. Le royaume du Buganda au XIXe siècle: Mutations politiques et religieuses d’un ancien état d’Afrique de l’Est. Paris: Karthala, 2007.
  1079.  
  1080. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1081.  
  1082. As noted in Buganda, this is a comprehensive study in French of 19th-century Buganda that also includes important discussion of relations with neighboring states and regions.
  1083.  
  1084. Find this resource:
  1085.  
  1086.  
  1087. Mworoha, Émile. Peuples et rois de l’Afriques des lacs: Le Burundi et les royaumes voisins au XIXe siècle. Dakar, Senegal: Les Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1977.
  1088.  
  1089. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1090.  
  1091. An important contribution in French to Burundi’s 19th-century historiography. Opens with a problematic and outdated discussion of population “types.” Nonetheless, a useful work, especially in its contextualization of Burundi among its neighbors.
  1092.  
  1093. Find this resource:
  1094.  
  1095.  
  1096. Newbury, Catharine. The Cohesion of Oppression: Clientship and Ethnicity in Rwanda, 1860–1960. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
  1097.  
  1098. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1099.  
  1100. An important and careful study of the evolution of clientship and ethnicity in Rwanda. The focus on Kinyanga, outside the Nyiginya heartland, enables Newbury to view these relations in a new and nuanced light.
  1101.  
  1102. Find this resource:
  1103.  
  1104.  
  1105. Newbury, David. The Land beyond the Mists: Essays on Identity and Authority in Precolonial Congo and Rwanda. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2009.
  1106.  
  1107. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1108.  
  1109. The product of long engagement with the region, this addresses the 19th-century history of Ijwi and Rwanda, places long entangled. Looking both at Ijwi, on the margins of a major state, and the Rwandan kingdom, he unpacks many misplaced assumptions, underscoring the methodological approaches needed to uncover their history.
  1110.  
  1111. Find this resource:
  1112.  
  1113.  
  1114. Reid, Richard. Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda: Economy, Society & Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2002.
  1115.  
  1116. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1117.  
  1118. A detailed study of economic and military life in 19th-century Buganda, drawing almost exclusively on written sources.
  1119.  
  1120. Find this resource:
  1121.  
  1122.  
  1123. The Colonial Period to Independence, 20th Century
  1124. This section divides the region into north and south, reflecting the somewhat different colonial experiences of the various Great Lakes states.
  1125.  
  1126. Northern Great Lakes Region
  1127. Buganda tends to dominate the literature on Uganda’s colonial experience as it did the reality of colonial rule, but a number of works examine the impact of colonial rule and history since independence from the perspective of other parts of the country. Karugire 1980 is a useful overview of Uganda in the 20th century. Twaddle 1993 provides insight into the process by which the British used proxies in their conquest of much of the Uganda Protectorate, focusing on the east. Steinhart 1999 traces the process of conquest and the response of Ugandans in the west. Doyle 2006 shows the devastating consequence of British colonization in Bunyoro, while Carswell 2007 presents a rather different story for southwestern Uganda. Summers 2006 explores political developments in Buganda in the 1940s, and Fallers 1964 covers the 1950s. Mamdani 1999 offers an argument about the role of colonial rule in creating class conflict that shaped postcolonial politics.
  1128.  
  1129. Carswell, Grace. Cultivating Success in Uganda: Kigezi Farmers & Colonial Policies. Oxford: James Currey, 2007.
  1130.  
  1131. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1132.  
  1133. The Bakiga in Kigezi successfully resisted political centralization until colonial conquest, and the area was the site of prolonged resistance well into the 20th century. Carswell focuses on its particularity as a place where farmers refused cash crops but succeeded in maintaining soil fertility on steep hillsides and developing a market for their food surpluses.
  1134.  
  1135. Find this resource:
  1136.  
  1137.  
  1138. Doyle, Shane. Crisis & Decline: Population & Environment in Western Uganda, 1860–1950. Oxford: James Currey, 2006.
  1139.  
  1140. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1141.  
  1142. Discusses the particularly violent British imperial conquest of Bunyoro and the demographic and ecological consequences that continued through colonial rule.
  1143.  
  1144. Find this resource:
  1145.  
  1146.  
  1147. Fallers, L. A., ed. The King’s Men: Leadership and Status in Buganda on the Eve of Independence. London: Oxford University Press, 1964.
  1148.  
  1149. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1150.  
  1151. Survey of Buganda from political and economic perspectives at the end of colonialism, with chapters by Fallers, Audrey Richards, and Christopher Wrigley, among others. Serves as a useful document of Buganda during the final years of colonial rule and the early years of independence, with an insightful epilogue by Richards.
  1152.  
  1153. Find this resource:
  1154.  
  1155.  
  1156. Karugire, Samwiri Rubaraza. A Political History of Uganda. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann, 1980.
  1157.  
  1158. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1159.  
  1160. Despite a chapter on the “pre-colonial setting,” this is a history of the political creation of Uganda through colonial conquest and rule. Pays particular attention to emergence of long-lasting tensions among Ugandans in the late 19th century, ending with a chapter on the first decade of independence, up to Amin’s coup.
  1161.  
  1162. Find this resource:
  1163.  
  1164.  
  1165. Mamdani, Mahmood. Politics and Class Formation in Uganda. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, 1999.
  1166.  
  1167. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1168.  
  1169. First published in 1976, this is a Marxist analysis of politics during the first decade of Ugandan independence leading to Idi Amin’s coup, which traces class formation to colonial rule and uses that to explain later events.
  1170.  
  1171. Find this resource:
  1172.  
  1173.  
  1174. Steinhart, Edward I. Conflict and Collaboration: The Kingdoms of Western Uganda, 1890–1907. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, 1999.
  1175.  
  1176. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1177.  
  1178. A detailed study of colonial conquest in western Uganda that offers an important corrective to the tendency to focus on Buganda in this period. First published in 1977.
  1179.  
  1180. Find this resource:
  1181.  
  1182.  
  1183. Summers, Carol. “Radical Rudeness: Ugandan Social Critiques in the 1940s.” Journal of Social History 39.3 (2006): 741–770.
  1184.  
  1185. DOI: 10.1353/jsh.2006.0020Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1186.  
  1187. One of several articles by Summers on 1940s politics in Buganda. Here she explores how political activists sought to disrupt older notions of civility in politics in an effort to undermine the colonial system. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  1188.  
  1189. Find this resource:
  1190.  
  1191.  
  1192. Twaddle, Michael. Kakungulu & the Creation of Uganda, 1868–1928. London: James Currey, 1993.
  1193.  
  1194. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1195.  
  1196. Focused on colonial conquest and the early period of colonial rule. Twaddle uses Semei Kakungulu’s remarkable life story to explore the mechanisms for British imperial expansion and the ways in which some Ugandans were able to take advantage of the opportunities it offered, often at the expense of their compatriots.
  1197.  
  1198. Find this resource:
  1199.  
  1200.  
  1201. Southern Great Lakes Region
  1202. The southern part of the region experienced two colonial regimes: Germany and Belgium in Rwanda and Burundi, and Germany and Britain in Tanzania. Austen 1968 addresses the latter. The late colonial period and the decades since independence have dominated the literature on Rwanda and Burundi in particular. Prunier 1997 offers a political history overview of events through 1994. Mamdani 2001 focuses on colonial rule as an explanatory framework for later events. Earlier work is shaped by Rwanda and Burundi’s mid-20th-century history but is less burdened with the need to explain the genocide than the work that has been produced since. Gahama 2001 focuses on the period of Belgian rule under a League of Nations mandate. Lemarchand 1970 explores in depth the events leading up to independence and in its immediate aftermath in both countries. Newbury 1988 examines clientship and its role in creating ethnic identities from a peripheral region. Des Forges 2011, by contrast, focuses on the monarchy in the early period of colonial rule.
  1203.  
  1204. Austen, Ralph A. Northwest Tanzania under German and British Rule: Colonial Policy and Tribal Politics, 1889–1939. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968.
  1205.  
  1206. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1207.  
  1208. A rare study on northwestern Tanzania during the colonial period. Includes an introductory section on the Haya states up to the 19th century, then traces the history through incorporation into long-distance trade, conquest by Germany, and finally British colonial rule from 1919.
  1209.  
  1210. Find this resource:
  1211.  
  1212.  
  1213. Des Forges, Alison Liebhafsky. Defeat is the Only Bad News: Rwanda under Musinga, 1896–1931. Edited by David Newbury. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011.
  1214.  
  1215. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1216.  
  1217. Revision of Des Forges’s 1972 PhD thesis, edited and published posthumously. Based on oral history as well as archival sources, it examines the tensions within the ruling elite in the first decades of colonial rule, both German and Belgian. Important for its study of internal dynamics, rather than viewing the colonial government as all-powerful.
  1218.  
  1219. Find this resource:
  1220.  
  1221.  
  1222. Gahama, Joseph. Le Burundi sous administration belge: La période du mandat, 1919–1939. 2nd ed. Paris: Karthala, 2001.
  1223.  
  1224. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1225.  
  1226. Detailed study in French of twenty years during which Belgium ruled Burundi (and Rwanda) under a League of Nations mandate. Covers political, economic, and sociocultural aspects of Belgian rule and missionary activity; explores the impact of these on Burundian society and the response of Burundians. First published in 1983, revised for new edition.
  1227.  
  1228. Find this resource:
  1229.  
  1230.  
  1231. Lemarchand, René. Rwanda and Burundi. New York: Praeger, 1970.
  1232.  
  1233. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1234.  
  1235. An impressively detailed and thorough comparative study of Rwanda and Burundi in the transition to independence and the early years thereafter. Draws on deeper historical perspectives to explain both the different trajectories of the two countries and the violence that ensued in both.
  1236.  
  1237. Find this resource:
  1238.  
  1239.  
  1240. Mamdani, Mahmood. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001.
  1241.  
  1242. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1243.  
  1244. Mamdani examines the Rwandan genocide by tracing the impact of colonial conquest and the racialization of identity in Rwanda under colonial rule. His argument lies in the crisis of citizenship that colonialism engendered and the importance of a regional perspective in making sense of Rwanda’s late-20th-century history.
  1245.  
  1246. Find this resource:
  1247.  
  1248.  
  1249. Newbury, Catharine. The Cohesion of Oppression: Clientship and Ethnicity in Rwanda, 1860–1960. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
  1250.  
  1251. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1252.  
  1253. Newbury offers a careful analysis of the evolving relationship between clientship and ethnicity and between Hutu and Tutsi. Using a case study located away from the royal capital and crossing the precolonial-colonial division, she is able to demonstrate the complexity of identity and the impact of colonial rule.
  1254.  
  1255. Find this resource:
  1256.  
  1257.  
  1258. Prunier, Gérard. The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
  1259.  
  1260. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1261.  
  1262. Political history of 20th-century Rwanda that covers racialization of identity under colonial rule, the complicated politics of postcolonialism, and the international development economy. Includes a detailed survey of the civil war and the events that led up to April 1994 as well as the genocide itself. Useful for undergraduates.
  1263.  
  1264. Find this resource:
  1265.  
  1266.  
  1267. Society and Culture
  1268. This section is divided into four parts: health and medicine, covering in particular the history of biomedicine in the region; religion, focusing especially on Christianity but also including spirit possession and Islam; gender, including texts that primarily address history of gender relations; and trade and unfree labor, focusing on economic history and slavery in the Great Lakes states.
  1269.  
  1270. Health and Medicine
  1271. Uganda dominates the literature on health and medicine, although Cornet 2011 is a sign that this may be changing, tracing as it does colonial and missionary medicine in Rwanda. The literature on health and medicine tends to emphasize the power dynamics at play, particularly in colonial contexts. The two main concerns of colonial officials and medical missionaries in Uganda were sleeping sickness and syphilis. Hoppe 1997 explores colonial responses to the former, and Summers 1991 addresses the latter. Acute malnutrition as well as disease epidemics during the early colonial years is the focus on Kuhanen 2005, while Doyle 2013 addresses the interrelated issues of sexuality and fertility in Uganda and northwestern Tanzania. Iliffe 1998, meanwhile, addresses the history of the medical profession.
  1272.  
  1273. Cornet, Anne. Politiques de santé et contrôle social au Rwanda, 1920–1940. Paris: Karthala, 2011.
  1274.  
  1275. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1276.  
  1277. A rare book on the history of colonial medicine in Rwanda, focusing on the period of the Belgian mandate. Covers both colonial government interventions and missionary medicine and the tensions invoked by such interventions.
  1278.  
  1279. Find this resource:
  1280.  
  1281.  
  1282. Doyle, Shane. Before HIV: Sexuality, Fertility and Mortality in East Africa, 1900–1980. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  1283.  
  1284. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1285.  
  1286. A comparative study of sexuality and demography in 20th-century Ankole, Buganda, and Buhaya, ending before the impact of HIV became known. Doyle demonstrates the diversity of experiences in terms of the history of sexual mores, fertility, and life expectancy in three neighboring areas, underscoring the importance of comparative work.
  1287.  
  1288. Find this resource:
  1289.  
  1290.  
  1291. Hoppe, Kirk A. “Lords of the Fly: Colonial Visions and Revisions of African Sleeping Sickness Environments on Ugandan Lake Victoria, 1906–1961.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 67.1 (1997): 86–105.
  1292.  
  1293. DOI: 10.2307/1161271Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1294.  
  1295. A history of the colonial response to the devastating outbreak of sleeping sickness in the early 20th century on and around Lake Victoria. Hoppe explores both the colonial motivations and Ugandan responses to official actions to clear people from the lake shore. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  1296.  
  1297. Find this resource:
  1298.  
  1299.  
  1300. Iliffe, John. East African Doctors: A History of the Modern Profession. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  1301.  
  1302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1303.  
  1304. A “collective biography” of doctors across East Africa from the 1870s, focusing on biomedicine and tracing the professionalization of doctors from the founding of the Makerere Medical School in 1924. Covers Kenya and Tanzania also, but Uganda plays a prominent role in the story.
  1305.  
  1306. Find this resource:
  1307.  
  1308.  
  1309. Kuhanen, Jan. Poverty, Health and Reproduction in Early Colonial Uganda. Joensuu, Finland: University of Joensuu, Faculty of Humanities, 2005.
  1310.  
  1311. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1312.  
  1313. Published PhD thesis that emphasizes impact of colonial conquest and rule in disrupting economic and physical well-being in Uganda, with a particular emphasis on Buganda and Bunyoro.
  1314.  
  1315. Find this resource:
  1316.  
  1317.  
  1318. Summers, Carol. “Intimate Colonialism: The Imperial Production of Reproduction in Uganda, 1907–1925.” Signs 16.4 (1991): 787–807.
  1319.  
  1320. DOI: 10.1086/494703Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1321.  
  1322. Discusses the colonial obsession with syphilis as the cause of low fertility in early colonial Uganda, noting the misdiagnosis of yaws as syphilis, the moral anxiety of medical missionaries at treating STDs, and the focus on reforming mothers as a solution to the perceived epidemic. Available online by purchase or subscription.
  1323.  
  1324. Find this resource:
  1325.  
  1326.  
  1327. Religion
  1328. Ethnographies aside, the main focus in studies of religion has been the arrival and spread of Christianity. Discussions of indigenous religious practices can be found in histories listed above, but Freedman 1984 is a rare study that focuses on a single spirit possession cult. The challenges of writing such histories, as set out in Feierman 1999, may help explain their scarcity. Kasozi 1986 focuses on Islam and is again a rarity in doing so. Hansen 1984 and Pirouet 1978 trace in detail the early history of Christianity in Uganda, with the former focusing on missionaries and the colonial state and the latter on the African agents of its transmission beyond Buganda. Longman 2010 examines the history of the Christian church in Rwanda and its complicated role in reifying ethnic difference and social hierarchy, leading to active participation in the genocide of 1994. Peterson 2012 looks at a regional phenomenon: the East African Revival that started in the 1930s and challenged both church and political hierarchies.
  1329.  
  1330. Feierman, Steven. “Colonizers, Scholars, and the Creation of Invisible Histories.” In Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture. Edited by Victoria E. Bonnell and Lynn Hunt, 182–216. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999.
  1331.  
  1332. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1333.  
  1334. An important essay that argues the need for a new historical approach if historians are to adequately write about spirit possession and healing practices such as Nyabingi, especially in the aftermath of the violence of colonial rule.
  1335.  
  1336. Find this resource:
  1337.  
  1338.  
  1339. Freedman, Jim. Nyabingi: The Social History of an African Divinity. Tervuren, Belgium: Musée royale de l’Afrique centrale, 1984.
  1340.  
  1341. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1342.  
  1343. An ethnographic and historical account of the spirit possession cult of Nyabingi, which arose in the late 18th century in the borderlands of Rwanda and Uganda and became a principal vehicle for resisting the encroachment of the state, whether Rwandan or colonial.
  1344.  
  1345. Find this resource:
  1346.  
  1347.  
  1348. Hansen, Holger Bernt. Mission, Church and State in a Colonial Setting: Uganda 1890–1925. London: Heinemann, 1984.
  1349.  
  1350. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1351.  
  1352. A comprehensive study of the establishment of the Christian church in Uganda in the early decades of British colonial rule. Explores in particular the ways in which the church was entangled with the colonial state and the implications of this entanglement.
  1353.  
  1354. Find this resource:
  1355.  
  1356.  
  1357. Kasozi, Abdu B. The Spread of Islam in Uganda. Nairobi, Kenya: Oxford University Press, 1986.
  1358.  
  1359. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1360.  
  1361. Revision of Kasozi’s PhD thesis. Traces history of Islam in Uganda from its first known presence in Buganda in 1844 through the colonial period and up to 1974.
  1362.  
  1363. Find this resource:
  1364.  
  1365.  
  1366. Longman, Timothy. Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  1367.  
  1368. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1369.  
  1370. A nuanced and careful exploration of the role of the Christian church in the 1994 genocide and in shaping the ethnic and political structures that made it possible. Longman notes too, that in some places in Rwanda, Christianity enabled people to make very different decisions, highlighting the lost possibility of an alternative history.
  1371.  
  1372. Find this resource:
  1373.  
  1374.  
  1375. Peterson, Derek R. Ethnic Patriotism and the East African Revival: A History of Dissent, c. 1935–1972. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  1376.  
  1377. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139108614Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1378.  
  1379. Moving away from mission Christianity, Peterson traces the history of the evangelical East African Revival that arose in southwest Uganda the 1930s and spread across Uganda, northwestern Tanzania, and Kenya. He shows it to have offered a means for ordinary Africans to criticize those at the heart of power as well as an alternative form of religious expression.
  1380.  
  1381. Find this resource:
  1382.  
  1383.  
  1384. Pirouet, Louise. Black Evangelists: The Spread of Christianity in Uganda, 1881–1914. London: Collings, 1978.
  1385.  
  1386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1387.  
  1388. Study of the spread of Protestant Christianity from Buganda west to the kingdoms of Toro, Bunyoro, Nkore, and north to Acholi and Teso, from the 1890s to 1910s. Emphasizes role of local African evangelists in mission work and includes comparison with spread of Catholicism where significant.
  1389.  
  1390. Find this resource:
  1391.  
  1392.  
  1393. Gender
  1394. Many works that emphasize gender have been listed throughout; those listed here are a small selection that address gender primarily. Uganda is overrepresented; work on northwestern Tanzania tends to be anthropological, while work on gender on Rwanda and Burundi focuses almost exclusively on very recent events. Gahama 1979 is an exception that examines the role of women at the heart of the kingdom in Burundi. Stephens 2013 traces the long history of the mobilization of ideas of motherhood in communities and state structures in Uganda. Nannyonga-Tamusuza 2005 uses dance to dismantle notions of gender as biological and static in Buganda. Musisi 2002 addresses the perceptions of medical missionaries in early colonial Buganda. Kyomuhendo and McIntosh 2006 offer a valuable study of women’s work in 20th-century Uganda. Stevens 1995 unpacks the notion of Buhaya as strictly patrilineal.
  1395.  
  1396. Gahama, Amélie. La reine mère et ses prêtres au Burundi. Nanterre, France: Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, 1979.
  1397.  
  1398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1399.  
  1400. A short and rare ethnographic study in French on the political role of the queen mother in the Burundi state.
  1401.  
  1402. Find this resource:
  1403.  
  1404.  
  1405. Kyomuhendo, Grace Bantebya, and Marjorie Keniston McIntosh. Women, Work and Domestic Virtue in Uganda, 1900–2003. Oxford: James Currey, 2006.
  1406.  
  1407. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1408.  
  1409. A detailed historical study of women’s work in Uganda. The first half focuses on the colonial period and the development of the domestic virtue model that remained dominant in public discourse throughout the century. The second half turns to independent Uganda and the challenges of civil war and economic collapse.
  1410.  
  1411. Find this resource:
  1412.  
  1413.  
  1414. Musisi, Nakanyike. “The Politics of Perception or Perception as Politics? Colonial Missionary Representations of Baganda Women, 1900–1945.” In Women in African Colonial History. Edited by Jean Allman, Susan Geiger, and Nakanyike Musisi, 95–115. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002.
  1415.  
  1416. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1417.  
  1418. A study of the interactions of colonial medical missionaries and Baganda women. Musisi shows how medical missionaries focused on women’s bodies as sites of reform in order to “save the race” and the ways in which women were able to refuse medical interventions and resist being reformed.
  1419.  
  1420. Find this resource:
  1421.  
  1422.  
  1423. Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia A. Baakisimba: Gender in the Music and Dance of the Baganda People of Uganda. New York: Routledge, 2005.
  1424.  
  1425. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1426.  
  1427. A work of ethnomusicology tracing the history of a dance that was once limited to the Buganda royal palace, but that moved beyond its constraints after the abolition of the kingdom in 1967. Nannyonga-Tamusuza demonstrates the relative nature of gender in Buganda and explores shifting gender dynamics in the 20th century.
  1428.  
  1429. Find this resource:
  1430.  
  1431.  
  1432. Stephens, Rhiannon. A History of African Motherhood: The Case of Uganda, 700–1900. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  1433.  
  1434. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139344333Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1435.  
  1436. Examines how the Baganda, Basoga, and Bagwere, and their ancestors mobilized motherhood as ideology and social institution in diverse and complex ways to organize communities and centralize political power; emphasizes different and evolving ideas of motherhood.
  1437.  
  1438. Find this resource:
  1439.  
  1440.  
  1441. Stevens, Lesley. “Bananas, Babies, and Women Who Buy Their Graves: Matrifocal Values in a Patrilineal Tanzanian Society.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 29.3 (1995): 454–480.
  1442.  
  1443. DOI: 10.2307/486018Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1444.  
  1445. A feminist analysis of a postnatal ritual and the phenomenon of female landowners in Buhaya that unpacks the depiction of it as a strictly patrilineal society. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  1446.  
  1447. Find this resource:
  1448.  
  1449.  
  1450. Trade and Unfree Labor
  1451. A number of works address the entire region, highlighting the interconnectedness of its various parts: Cohen 1983 and Tosh 1970 provide overviews of economic exchange, Hartwig 1970 focuses on ivory trade across Lake Victoria Nyanza, and Médard and Doyle 2007 offers essays on slavery. Connah 1996, although focused on salt in Bunyoro, demonstrates the complexity of trade networks. Reid 2002 and Twaddle 1988 examine Buganda, with Twaddle focusing on slavery and Reid offering a broader and more detailed economic picture.
  1452.  
  1453. Cohen, David William. “Food Production and Food Exchange in the Precolonial Lakes Plateau Region.” In Imperialism, Colonialism, and Hunger: East and Central Africa. Edited by Robert I. Rotberg, 1–18. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1983.
  1454.  
  1455. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1456.  
  1457. A useful, though brief, overview of the food economy of the Great Lakes region to 1900.
  1458.  
  1459. Find this resource:
  1460.  
  1461.  
  1462. Connah, Graham. Kibiro: The Salt of Bunyoro, Past and Present. London: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1996.
  1463.  
  1464. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1465.  
  1466. An important text on the history of salt production in and trade from Kibiro in Bunyoro. Sets out the environmental, historical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence for salt production since the early second millennium and ends with a brief discussion of the role of Kibiro in the Bunyoro state.
  1467.  
  1468. Find this resource:
  1469.  
  1470.  
  1471. Hartwig, Gerald W. “The Victoria Nyanza as a Trade Route in the Nineteenth Century.” Journal of African History 11.4 (1970): 535–552.
  1472.  
  1473. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700010446Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1474.  
  1475. Discusses the changing use of the lake in the transportation of ivory from the early 19th century, drawing on evidence from European sources and oral traditions. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  1476.  
  1477. Find this resource:
  1478.  
  1479.  
  1480. Médard, Henri, and Shane Doyle, eds. Slavery in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa. Oxford: James Currey, 2007.
  1481.  
  1482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1483.  
  1484. An edited volume with essays that explore the history of slavery from before the 18th century through its dramatic expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries and the gradual process of abolition in the early 20th century. Valuable for its regional perspective that covers Rwanda and Burundi, eastern Congo, and Uganda.
  1485.  
  1486. Find this resource:
  1487.  
  1488.  
  1489. Reid, Richard. Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda: Economy, Society & Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2002.
  1490.  
  1491. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1492.  
  1493. A detailed study of economic and military life in 19th-century Buganda, drawing almost exclusively on written sources.
  1494.  
  1495. Find this resource:
  1496.  
  1497.  
  1498. Tosh, John. “The Northern Lacustrine Region.” In Pre-Colonial African Trade: Essays on Trade in Central and Eastern Africa before 1900. Edited by Richard Gray and David Birmingham, 103–118. London: Oxford University Press, 1970.
  1499.  
  1500. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1501.  
  1502. A survey of economic exchange in the Great Lakes region at the start of the 19th century and the impact of the arrival of long-distance trade caravans and the integration of the region into global trade networks.
  1503.  
  1504. Find this resource:
  1505.  
  1506.  
  1507. Twaddle, Michael. “Slaves and Peasants in Buganda.” In Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour. Edited by Léonie J. Archer, 118–129. London: Routledge, 1988.
  1508.  
  1509. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1510.  
  1511. Discusses the history of slavery in Buganda, tracing its expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries, efforts at abolition, and continuations in the form of forced labor in the colonial period. Twaddle takes exception to the hitherto accepted notion that slavery in Buganda was largely benign and slaves were not distinguished from peasants.
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