Ankole, also referred to as
Nkore, is one of four traditional kingdoms in
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
. The kingdom is located in the southwestern Uganda, east of
Lake EdwardLake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the western Great Rift Valley, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometers south of the Equator...
. It was ruled by a monarch known as The Mugabe or
Omugabe of AnkoleThe Mugabe or Omugabe of Ankole is the title given to the monarch of the kingdom of Ankole in Uganda, what used to be the kingdom of Nkore in pre-colonial times, and leader of the Banyankole...
. The kingdom was formally abolished in 1967 by the government of President
Milton OboteApolo Milton Obote , Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1985, was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from the British colonial administration in 1962. He ruled by harassing, terrorizing, and torturing...
, and is still not officially restored.The people of Ankole are called
Banyankole (singular:
Munyankole) in
Runyankole languageRunyankole or Nyankore is a Bantu language spoken by the Banyankore of Southwestern Uganda in the former province of Ankole. There are approximately 1.5 million native speakers, mainly found in Mbarara, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda, Isingiro,Rukungiri districts...
, a
Bantu languageThe Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree. By one estimate, there are 513 languages in the Bantu grouping, 681 languages in Bantoid,...
.
On October 25, 1901, the Kingdom of Nkore was incorporated into the British protectorate of
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
by the signing of the Ankole agreement.
Due to the rearranging of the country by
Idi AminIdi Amin Dada , commonly known as Idi Amin, was the military dictator and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979....
, Ankole does no longer exist as an administrative unit.
Ankole, also referred to as
Nkore, is one of four traditional kingdoms in
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
. The kingdom is located in the southwestern Uganda, east of
Lake EdwardLake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the western Great Rift Valley, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometers south of the Equator...
. It was ruled by a monarch known as The Mugabe or
Omugabe of AnkoleThe Mugabe or Omugabe of Ankole is the title given to the monarch of the kingdom of Ankole in Uganda, what used to be the kingdom of Nkore in pre-colonial times, and leader of the Banyankole...
. The kingdom was formally abolished in 1967 by the government of President
Milton OboteApolo Milton Obote , Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1985, was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from the British colonial administration in 1962. He ruled by harassing, terrorizing, and torturing...
, and is still not officially restored.The people of Ankole are called
Banyankole (singular:
Munyankole) in
Runyankole languageRunyankole or Nyankore is a Bantu language spoken by the Banyankore of Southwestern Uganda in the former province of Ankole. There are approximately 1.5 million native speakers, mainly found in Mbarara, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda, Isingiro,Rukungiri districts...
, a
Bantu languageThe Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree. By one estimate, there are 513 languages in the Bantu grouping, 681 languages in Bantoid,...
.
On October 25, 1901, the Kingdom of Nkore was incorporated into the British protectorate of
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
by the signing of the Ankole agreement.
Due to the rearranging of the country by
Idi AminIdi Amin Dada , commonly known as Idi Amin, was the military dictator and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979....
, Ankole does no longer exist as an administrative unit. It is divided into six districts:
Bushenyi DistrictBushenyi District is a district in western Uganda. Like many other Ugandan districts, it is named after its chief town, Bushenyi, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
,
Ntungamo DistrictNtungamo District is a district in southwestern Uganda. Like most Uganda districts, it named after its 'chief town', Ntungamo.-Overview:In the past, Ntungamo District, together with the districts of Isingiro, Mbarara, Kiruhura, Ibanda and Bushenyi were parts of the Ankole Kingdom, a traditional...
,
Mbarara DistrictMbarara is a district in southwestern Uganda, named after its chief municipal centre, Mbarara town. It is located about 266km from Kampala on the road to Kabale...
,
Kiruhura DistrictKiruhura is a district in the Western Region of Uganda.It is part of the former Kingdom of Ankole, whose kingship is still abolished, as of June 2009...
,
Ibanda DistrictIbanda District is a district in western Uganda. As is the case with most Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town' of Ibanda, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
and Isingiro District.
History of pre-colonial ethnic relations in Ankole
The pastoralist Hima (also known as Bahima) established dominion over the agricultural Iru (also known as Bairu) some time before the nineteenth century. The Hima and Iru established close relations based on trade and symbolic recognition, but they were unequal partners in these relations. The Iru were legally and socially inferior to the Hima, and the symbol of this inequality was
cattleCattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, which only the Hima could own. The two groups retained their separate identities through rules prohibiting intermarriage and, when such marriages occurred, making them invalid.
The Hima provided cattle products that otherwise would not have been available to Iru farmers. Because the Hima population was much smaller than the Iru population, gifts and tribute demanded by the Hima could be supplied fairly easily. These factors probably made Hima-Iru relations tolerable, but they were nonetheless reinforced by the superior military organization and training of the Hima.
The kingdom of Ankole expanded by annexing territory to the south and east. In many cases, conquered herders were incorporated into the dominant Hima stratum of society, and agricultural populations were adopted as Iru or slaves and treated as legal inferiors. Neither group could own cattle, and slaves could not herd cattle owned by the Hima.
Ankole society evolved into a system of ranked statuses, where even among the cattle-owning elite, patron-client ties were important in maintaining social order. Men gave cattle to the king (mugabe) to demonstrate their loyalty and to mark life-cycle changes or victories in
cattle raidingCattle rustling or cattle raiding is the act of stealing livestock. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the person as a duffer.-History:...
. This loyalty was often tested by the king's demands for cattle or for military service. In return for homage and military service, a man received protection from the king, both from external enemies and from factional disputes with other cattle owners.
The mugabe authorized his most powerful chiefs to recruit and lead armies on his behalf, and these warrior bands were charged with protecting Ankole borders. Only Hima men could serve in the army, however, and the prohibition on Iru military training almost eliminated the threat of Iru rebellion. Iru legal inferiority was also symbolized in the legal prohibition against Iru owning cattle. And, because marriages were legitimized through the exchange of cattle, this prohibition helped reinforce the ban on Hima-Iru intermarriage. The Iru were also denied highlevel political appointments, although they were often appointed to assist local administrators in Iru villages.
The Iru had a number of ways to redress grievances against Hima overlords, despite their legal inferiority. Iru men could petition the king to end unfair treatment by a Hima patron. Iru people could not be subjugated to Hima cattle-owners without entering into a patron-client contract.
A number of social pressures worked to destroy Hima domination of Ankole. Miscegenation took place despite prohibitions on intermarriage, and children of these unions (abambari) often demanded their rights as cattle owners, leading to feuding and cattle-raiding. From what is present-day
RwandaThe Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approaching 10 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom...
,
East African FederationEast African Federation is the name of the proposed development of the East African Community. The development would federalize the five member states into a single state ....
, groups launched repeated attacks against the Hima during the nineteenth century. To counteract these pressures, several Hima warlords recruited Iru men into their armies to protect the southern borders of Ankole. And, in some outlying areas of Ankole, people abandoned distinctions between Hima and Iru after generations of maintaining legal distinctions that had begun to lose their importance.
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