British Uganda Program
Encyclopedia
The British Uganda Programme was a plan to give a portion of British East Africa to the Jewish people as a homeland.
to Theodore Herzl's Zionist group in 1903. He offered 5000 square miles (12,949.9 km²) of the Mau Plateau in what is today Kenya
and Uganda
. The offer was a response to pogrom
s against the Jews in Russia
, and it was hoped the area could be a refuge from persecution for the Jewish people.
The idea was brought to the Zionist Congress
at its sixth meeting in 1903 in Basel
. There a fierce debate ensued. The African land was described as an "ante-chamber
to the Holy Land
" and a Nachtasyl (temporary night shelter), but other groups felt that accepting the offer would make it more difficult to establish a Jewish state in Ottoman Palestine, and also that the Jewish nation would not be able to claim itself as native to that land, since there were no historic or culture links between the Hebrews and East Africa. Before the vote on the matter, the Russian delegation stormed out in opposition. By a remaining vote of 295 to 177, it was decided to send an "investigatory commission" on expedition to examine the territory proposed.
The next year a three-man delegation was sent to inspect the plateau. Its high elevation gave it a temperate climate, making it suitable for European settlement. However, the observers found a dangerous land filled with lions and other creatures. Moreover, although it was sparsely populated by small bands of Maasai (themselves having recently conquered the Sirikwa
tribe), the Maasai were hostile to other tribes and outsiders.
After receiving this report, the following Congress in 1905 decided to politely decline the British offer. Some Jews viewed this as a mistake; they then split from the ZO and established the Jewish Territorialist Organization
, with the explicit aim of establishing a Jewish state anywhere, not just in Palestine. A few Jews did move to Kenya, but most settled in the urban centres. Some of these families remain to this day.
The Uganda proposal was revived during the Second World War by Winston Churchill
in an attempt to create a refuge for Jews fleeing from the Nazis, but by this time Zionist organizations were firmly committed to settling in Palestine and feared that accepting such an idea would undermine their efforts to convince the British government to end their restrictions on the number of Jews allowed to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine
.
The Uganda Debate occasionally is still brought up in the political debates within present-day Israel
. Religious-nationalist Israeli settlers, who place supreme importance on settling in the Biblically-hallowed Judea and Samaria
(i.e., the West Bank
), have used the term "Latter-Day Ugandists" on some occasions to describe the Israeli peace camp, who are willing to give up the West Bank and have a state centered on Tel Aviv
and the Mediterranean Coastal Plain - areas where the ancestral mountain-dwelling Hebrews of Biblical times did not dwell. The implication is that liberal Israelis - like the adherents of Uganda Programme - are simply interested in a place where Jews can live in peace, and care little about restoring past historical or religious glories.
History
The offer was first made by British Colonial Secretary Joseph ChamberlainJoseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self-made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University....
to Theodore Herzl's Zionist group in 1903. He offered 5000 square miles (12,949.9 km²) of the Mau Plateau in what is today Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. The offer was a response to pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s against the Jews in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and it was hoped the area could be a refuge from persecution for the Jewish people.
The idea was brought to the Zionist Congress
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization , or WZO, was founded as the Zionist Organization , or ZO, in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress, held from August 29 to August 31 in Basel, Switzerland...
at its sixth meeting in 1903 in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
. There a fierce debate ensued. The African land was described as an "ante-chamber
Antechamber
An antechamber is a smaller room or vestibule serving as an entryway into a larger one. The word is formed of the Latin ante camera, meaning "room before"....
to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
" and a Nachtasyl (temporary night shelter), but other groups felt that accepting the offer would make it more difficult to establish a Jewish state in Ottoman Palestine, and also that the Jewish nation would not be able to claim itself as native to that land, since there were no historic or culture links between the Hebrews and East Africa. Before the vote on the matter, the Russian delegation stormed out in opposition. By a remaining vote of 295 to 177, it was decided to send an "investigatory commission" on expedition to examine the territory proposed.
The next year a three-man delegation was sent to inspect the plateau. Its high elevation gave it a temperate climate, making it suitable for European settlement. However, the observers found a dangerous land filled with lions and other creatures. Moreover, although it was sparsely populated by small bands of Maasai (themselves having recently conquered the Sirikwa
Sirikwa
The Sirikwa were an ethnic group in the Western Highlands of Kenya, being most prominent from 12th to 15th century.The area inhabited by Sirikwa expanded to today's Sotik, Nakuru, Cherangani Hills, Mount Elgon and Eldoret...
tribe), the Maasai were hostile to other tribes and outsiders.
After receiving this report, the following Congress in 1905 decided to politely decline the British offer. Some Jews viewed this as a mistake; they then split from the ZO and established the Jewish Territorialist Organization
Jewish Territorialist Organization
The Jewish Territorial Organization, known as the ITO, was a Jewish political movement which first arose in 1903 in response to the British Uganda Offer, but which was institutionalized in 1905....
, with the explicit aim of establishing a Jewish state anywhere, not just in Palestine. A few Jews did move to Kenya, but most settled in the urban centres. Some of these families remain to this day.
The Uganda proposal was revived during the Second World War by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
in an attempt to create a refuge for Jews fleeing from the Nazis, but by this time Zionist organizations were firmly committed to settling in Palestine and feared that accepting such an idea would undermine their efforts to convince the British government to end their restrictions on the number of Jews allowed to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
.
The Uganda Debate occasionally is still brought up in the political debates within present-day Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Religious-nationalist Israeli settlers, who place supreme importance on settling in the Biblically-hallowed Judea and Samaria
Judea and Samaria
Judea and Samaria Area is the official Israeli term roughly corresponding to the territory usually known outside Israel as the West Bank and to the Israeli settlements there that are not governed as part of Jerusalem.-Terminology:...
(i.e., the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
), have used the term "Latter-Day Ugandists" on some occasions to describe the Israeli peace camp, who are willing to give up the West Bank and have a state centered on Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
and the Mediterranean Coastal Plain - areas where the ancestral mountain-dwelling Hebrews of Biblical times did not dwell. The implication is that liberal Israelis - like the adherents of Uganda Programme - are simply interested in a place where Jews can live in peace, and care little about restoring past historical or religious glories.
See also
- AbayudayaAbayudayaThe Abayudaya are a Baganda community in eastern Uganda near the town of Mbale who practice Judaism. Although they are not genetically or historically related to other ethnic Jews, they are devout in their practice of the religion, keeping their version of kashrut, and observing Shabbat...
, a group of Ugandans who converted to Judaism in the 1920s - Madagascar PlanMadagascar PlanThe Madagascar Plan was a suggested policy of the Nazi government of Germany to relocate the Jewish population of Europe to the island of Madagascar.-Origins:The evacuation of European Jews to the island of Madagascar was not a new concept...
, a Nazi plan to move the Jews of Europe to Madagascar. - The Soviet Union created a Jewish Autonomous OblastJewish Autonomous OblastThe Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated in the Russian Far East, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast of Russia and Heilongjiang province of China. Its administrative center is the town of Birobidzhan....
in Soviet Manchuria. - According to the authors of a partly fictionalized 1979 book, Japan created the Fugu PlanFugu PlanThe Jewish settlement in Imperial Japan involved the movement of Jews to and through Japan to its occupied areas of China shortly prior to and during World War II, coinciding with the Second Sino-Japanese War...
to attract Jews to the puppet state of ManchukuoManchukuoManchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
taken from Chinese Manchuria. - Beta IsraelBeta IsraelBeta Israel Israel, Ge'ez: ቤተ እስራኤል - Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl, EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "Community of Israel" also known as Ethiopian Jews , are the names of Jewish communities which lived in the area of Aksumite and Ethiopian Empires , nowadays divided between Amhara and Tigray...
and LembaLembaThe Lemba or 'wa-Remba' are a southern African ethnic group to be found in Zimbabwe and South Africa with some little known branches in Mozambique and Malawi. According to Parfitt they are thought to number 70,000...
, East African groups of Jewish ancestry - TerritorialismTerritorialismTerritorialism, also known as Statism , was a Jewish political movement calling for creation of a sufficiently large and compact Jewish territory , not necessarily in the Land of Israel and not necessarily fully autonomous.-Development of territorialism:Before 1905 some Zionist leaders took...
- Proposals for a Jewish stateProposals for a Jewish stateThere were several proposals for a Jewish state in the course of Jewish history between the destruction of ancient Israel and the founding of the modern State of Israel. While some of those have come into existence, others were never implemented. The Jewish national homeland usually refers to the...