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Kampala

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

A scenic view of buildings and city life in Kampala, Uganda.

Kampala is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city has a population of 1,797,722 people, and it is divided into five areas: Kampala Central, Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa, and Rubaga.

The surrounding area, including nearby districts, has a growing population of around six million people. In 2015, Kampala contributed more than half of Uganda's economy, showing how important the city is to the country.

Kampala is one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa. It has often been named the best place to live in East Africa, better than Nairobi and Kigali.

Etymology

Kampala originally referred to a hill called Old Kampala, where the British built Fort Lugard. Before the fort was built, this hill was a special hunting place for the king of Buganda and was home to many impala animals. The British called it "The Hill of the Impala." The local people translated this name into their language, calling it Akasozi k’empala, which later became k'empala, and finally the name ‘Kampala’. In their language, Kasozi means "hill", ke means "of", and empala refers to impalas. This is how the city of Kampala got its name.

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Kampala.

This area of numerous hills and swamps that later become known as Kampala was part of the core of the highly centralised Buganda Kingdom. It was also the site of the shifting Kibuga (capital) of the different Bassekabaka (kings) of the Buganda Kingdom, with each Kabaka (king) upon coronation, or subsequently during their reign, setting up their Kibuga (capital) on a new or different hill as they wished or desired.

19th century

The first written description of this Kibuga (capital) was by the explorer Sir Richard Burton in his book, The Lake Region of East Africa, published in 1860. In the book, Burton, relying on the information collected by Snay Bin Amir, an Arab trader, described the Kibuga as:

…the settlement is not less than a day's journey in length, the buildings are of cane and rattan. The sultan's (Kabaka) palace is at least a mile long and the circular huts neatly arranged in a line are surrounded by a strong fence which has only four gates.

In 1862, when explorer John Speke arrived in Buganda, the Kibuga (capital) was at Bandabarogo, present-day Banda Hill, and the reigning Kabaka (King) was Mutesa I.

In 1875, explorer Henry Morton Stanley reported the capital as being at present-day Lubaga Hill, where he met the same Kabaka, Mutesa I.

Kampala, the city from Cathedral Hill in 1936

During this visit, Stanley wrote a letter that was published in The Daily Telegraph, inviting missionaries to come to Buganda. He also described the Kibuga in his 1870s dispatches to The New York Herald.

In 1877, the first missionaries from the Church Mission Society, who were of the Protestant faith, arrived from the United Kingdom and were allocated Namirembe Hill. Two years later, in 1879, the Catholic White Fathers also arrived, first settling at the present-day village of Kitebi near Lubaga; subsequently, they would be allocated Lubaga Hill. The arrival of these two missionary groups laid the ground for the religious wars of 1888 to 1892 between their new converts and forced the missionaries from Great Britain to then lobby for the British government to take over Buganda/Uganda as a protectorate.

In 1890, Frederick Lugard, an agent of the Imperial British East Africa Company, arrived in Buganda during the reign of Kabaka Mwanga II, with whom he signed a treaty of protection by the British government over Buganda, and the Kibuga (capital) was located at Mengo Hill. Captain Lugard would, later on, be allocated the Kampala hill that would soon be known as Old Kampala, and on which he built a fort.

In 1895, Mengo Senior School, the first school offering Western education in Kampala, was opened by the Church Missionary Society at Namirembe hill.

In 1897, Mwanga launched a rebellion but was defeated and was subsequently captured and exiled, in 1899, to the Seychelles alongside Omukama Kabalega, and his 3-year-old son was made Kabaka by the combined forces of the European officers leading Nubian and Baganda colonial soldiers. This state of affairs later culminated in the signing of the Buganda Agreement (1900) that formalised British colonial rule in Buganda.

Also in 1897, Kampala's first Western-style health facility, Mengo Hospital, was opened on Namirembe hill by British doctor and missionary Sir Albert Ruskin Cook. In addition, Sir Albert Ruskin Cook founded Mulago Hospital, the current National Referral Hospital, at Mulago hill in 1913.

In 1899, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa founded Lubaga Hospital on Lubaga Hill.

20th century

In 1900, the regents of the infant Kabaka Daudi Cwa II signed the Buganda Agreement on behalf of Buganda with Sir Harry Johnston, who signed on behalf of the British government. This agreement with Sir Harry Johnston created new land tenures such as freehold, Crown land, and mailo, and divided up and allocated the land in such a way that would come to define the development of Kampala.

Kampala. The Imperial Hotel in 1936.

The land in Buganda's Kibuga (capital), including Mengo Hill and Makerere Hill, was allocated to the young Kabaka, the Baganda colonial collaborators, etc., under mailo and freehold. The religious missions were also formally allocated land they were previously occupying. Thus, the Catholic White Fathers got Lubaga Hill, the Protestant Church Missionary Society got Namirembe Hill, the Muslims under Prince Nuhu Mbogo's leadership received Kibuli Hill, the British Catholic Mill Hill Missionaries received most of Nsambya Hill. The Uganda Protectorate government obtained land classified as Crown lands in the area such as Old Kampala Hill, Nakasero Hill, etc.

To legalise the above changes, the following laws and ordinances were subsequently passed: The Crown lands Ordinance of 1903, The Land Law of 1908, The Registration of Land Titles ordinance of 1922, and the Busulu and Envujo law of 1928.

In 1906, the Crown lands consisting of Old Kampala, Nakasero hills etc. and covering 567 hectares (5.67 km2; 1,400 acres) was consolidated and gazetted as Kampala Township.

In 1912, Kampala Township received its first land-use plan and had a European and Asian population of 2,850.

In 1922, Kampala's oldest university, Makerere, was founded as the Uganda Technical College at the present Makerere Hill and initially offered carpentry, building construction, mechanics, arts, education, agriculture, and medicine.

In 1930, the first sewerage plan was prepared to target a population of 20,000 people in the Nakasero and Old Kampala areas of the Kampala township. This plan guided sewerage development from 1936 to 1940 in planned urban areas of the Kampala Township and excluded the Kibuga area occupied by the Baganda and other natives.

In 1931, the Uganda Railway line reached Kampala, connecting Kampala to Mombasa Port, thirty-five years after the commencement of its construction.

In 1938, The East African Power & Lighting Company was granted a licence for thermal electric power generation and distribution for the towns of Kampala and Entebbe, and in the same year Sir Philip Mitchel, the Governor of Uganda, switched on Kampala and Uganda's first electric street lights.

Kampala in 1950s

In 1945, Ernst May, a German architect, was commissioned by the Uganda Protectorate Government to design a new physical plan for Kampala. Ernst May's plan of 1947 was intended to extend Kampala eastwards covering Kololo Hill and Naguru Hill, and with the commercial centre on the southern slopes of Nakasero Hill, an industrial zone in the southeast of Kampala, and, for the first time, a planned residential zone for the Ugandan natives. The plan was never fully implemented, and in 1951 the third physical plan by Henry Kendall was instead adopted, though it incorporated some elements of Ernst May's 1947 plan.

Henry Kendall's 1951 plan expanded Kampala from the 5.67 km2 (2.19 square miles) area of the 1930 plan to an area of 28 km2 (11 square miles) incorporating areas like Kololo Hill, and the Industrial Area. However, like the first two planning schemes, the 1951 plan failed to achieve many of its stated objectives.

On 9 October, 1962, Uganda gained independence; subsequently the capital city was transferred from Entebbe to Kampala and in the same year, Kampala was granted city status.

In 1968, six years after Uganda attained independence, the boundaries of Kampala were expanded incorporating the Kibuga (then known as Mengo Municipality), Kawempe and Nakawa Townships, and areas including Muyenga and Ggaba. This increased the administrative area of Kampala from 28 km2 (11 square miles) to the current 189 km2 (73 square miles).

In 1972, the fourth physical plan for Kampala was made covering the newly incorporated areas of Kampala's boundary extensions of 1968, but the subsequent political and economic turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s meant the plan was never implemented.

The Battle of Kampala during the Ugandan Bush War occurred in January 1986. It resulted in the capture of the city by the National Resistance Movement, led by Yoweri Museveni and the subsequent surrender of the Ugandan government.

Similarly, the fifth physical plan for Kampala, made in 1994, like the 1972 plan, was also never implemented.

21st century

In 2010, the Kampala Capital City Authority Act was enacted, giving the Ugandan Government more control of the administration of Kampala. The act also created the Kampala Metropolitan Physical Planning Authority with the stated aims of improving the infrastructure of the City of Kampala and the surrounding districts of Wakiso, Mukono, Buikwe, Mpigi and Luwero.

Geography

The City of Kampala covers a total area of 189 km2 (73 square miles), with 176 km2 (68 square miles) of land and 13 km2 (5.0 square miles) of water. It is a hilly place, with valleys filled with slow rivers and swamps. The highest point in the city is the summit of Kololo hill at 1,311 metres (4,301 ft), located in the centre of the city. The lowest point is at the shores of Lake Victoria south of the city centre, at an altitude of 1,135 metres (3,724 ft).

Kampala was originally built on seven hills, but it has since expanded beyond these. The original seven hills include Old Kampala Hill, Mengo Hill, Kibuli Hill, Namirembe Hill, Lubaga Hill, Nsambya Hill, and Nakasero Hill. Because of its hilly nature and tropical climate, the valleys have slow rivers and swamps that flow towards Lake Victoria or northwards. These swamps cover about 15% of Kampala’s land area and include Kinawataka swamp river, Nakivubo swamp river, Lubigi swamp, Kansanga swamp, and Kyetinda swamp.

Lake Victoria

Kampala has a tropical rainforest climate with two wetter seasons each year. While there isn’t a true dry month, the city gets more rain from August to December and from February to June. April usually has the heaviest rainfall, with an average of around 169 millimetres (6.7 in) of rain.

Topography

Apartment block in Kololo

Vegetation

Kampala was previously covered with short grasses on the hilltops, elephant grass, and plants like papyrus in the swamps. The area also had evergreen forests with trees such as African olive and Natal fig.

Geology

Kampala is located on the East African Plateau between the two arms of the East African Rift and on the northern limits of Tanzania Craton.

Climate

Education

Kampala has many schools and universities. Young children can go to pre-primary schools that start when they are very little, usually run by private groups and watched over by the government.

The city has lots of primary and secondary schools in every area. Most of these schools are private, but a few belong to the government. Some well-known private schools include Kampala Parents School, Aga Khan School, Gayaza High School, and Kawempe Muslim secondary school.

Kampala is also home to many universities, such as Makerere University, Kyambogo University, and Kampala University, along with several other institutions offering training in many different fields.

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Uganda

The number of people living in Kampala has grown very fast. In 1948, only 62,264 people lived there. By 2002, that number had grown to 1,189,142, and in 2014, it was 1,507,080. In 2019, about 1,650,800 people called Kampala home. The most recent count in 2024 showed that Kampala had 1,797,722 residents, with 1,004,884 males and 792,838 females. On average, each family in the city had 2.9 people.

As the capital and main city of Uganda, Kampala has people from many different backgrounds. Many people in Kampala come from all parts of Uganda and also from nearby countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia. Some people even come from places as far away as India and China.

Even though people in Kampala work and live close together, they often still feel connected to their own ethnic groups. This is clear in the languages they speak at home, work, and in public places. Besides Luganda and English, other languages are also used. Large groups of people in Kampala include the Baganda, Banyankole, Basoga, Bafumbira, Batoro, Bakiga, Alur, Bagisu, Banyoro, Iteso, Langi, and Acholi.

Year194819591969198019912002201420192024
Kampala (city proper)62,264107,058330,700458,503774,2411,189,1421,507,0801,650,8001,797,722

Culture

Kampala is a city full of culture and history. You can visit important places like the Uganda Museum and the Ugandan National Theatre. The city is also home to the Buganda kingdom in Mengo. One famous spot is the Kasubi Tombs, where the kings of Buganda are buried. The Independence Monument in the center of Kampala reminds everyone of Uganda's freedom.

Kampala has lively markets and shopping areas. Owino market (also called St Balikuddembe market) is very busy and full of different items like clothes, shoes, and fresh food. There are also modern shopping places such as Acacia Mall in kamwookya, Arena Mall in Nsambya, and Village Mall in bugolobi. The city’s nightlife is fun, with music and dance in areas like Kabalagala and Kololo.

Kampala has many places to enjoy meals. You can try local dishes like TV Chicken, which is roasted in a special oven that you can watch. In May and November, you can find nsenene vendors selling grasshoppers. Gaba Fish Market on Lake Victoria is the biggest fish market in the city.

The Ndere Cultural Centre in Kisasi promotes Ugandan and African cultural traditions through music, dance, and drama. The centre’s name comes from the word endere, meaning flute, and it has a famous music and dance group that performs often.

Sport

Kampala is a lively city for sports, especially basketball. The City Oilers are one of the top basketball teams in East Africa and the only East African team in the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup. They play at the MTN Arena in the Lugogo Area.

The city has hosted big events like the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the Rugby Africa Cup in 2024 at the Mandela National Stadium. It will also host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations together with Tanzania and Kenya.

The Mandela National Stadium, also called Namboole Stadium, is Uganda’s largest sports venue. It can hold over 45,000 people and is used for football, athletics, and concerts. It is where the Uganda national football team, the Cranes, play.

Lugogo Sports Complex is a busy place with facilities for tennis, cricket, and boxing. The MTN Arena there is a modern indoor space for basketball, netball, volleyball, and more. The Lugogo Cricket Oval is important for cricket in Uganda.

The Kampala Golf Club is the country’s oldest golf course, offering an 18-hole course, a driving range, and a clubhouse.

The renewed Hamz Nakivubo Stadium is located in the city center.

Kampala has many football clubs in the Uganda Premier League, such as Kampala Capital City Authority FC, SC Villa, Police FC, and Express FC. There are also teams in the FUFA Women Super League like Kawempe Muslim LFC and Lady Doves FC.

Economy

People are working to move big factories to a special area called the Kampala Business and Industrial Park in Namanve, Mukono District. This is east of the city to help reduce traffic. Many important companies have offices in the city centre, like all 25 commercial banks in Uganda, the New Vision Group, and Air Uganda.

Many people in Kampala also work in small jobs to earn extra money, like farming or driving taxis. Some use wet areas near the city to grow food, which they sell in markets. In 2015, Google started a Wi-Fi network in Kampala to help people get online. The city also gave land for more farming in the Nakawa Division.

Transport

Kampala has Entebbe International Airport, the biggest airport in Uganda.

Boda-bodas, which are local motorbike taxis, are a popular way to travel around the city. They can help you get through busy traffic, but some might not be well-maintained.

There have been plans to start a city bus service to help people move around more easily. Some bus services have started, but there have been delays. There are also plans for a light rail system similar to one in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Places of worship

Kampala has many important buildings where people gather to practice their faith. Some well-known places include the Baháʼí House of Worship in Kampala, St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral on Namirembe Hill, and Rubaga Cathedral, which is the main church for the Roman Catholic community. The city also has the Uganda National Mosque for those who follow Islam.

The city is home to many Christian churches, such as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala, Church of Uganda, Presbyterian Church in Uganda, Baptist Union of Uganda, and Assemblies of God. There are also mosques for the Muslim community. The Bahá'í House of Worship, called the Mother Temple of Africa, stands on Kikaya Hill just outside the city and opened in January 1961.

Health care

Kampala is the main place in Uganda for health care. It has public hospitals, private clinics, and special medical centers that help both people living there and visitors from other countries. The quality of care can be different depending on the place, but overall, Kampala has the best medical options in Uganda.

The government takes care of public health in Kampala through the Ministry of Health. One big hospital is Mulago National Referral Hospital, which is the largest and most advanced public hospital in Uganda. Mulago also teaches doctors from Makerere University and offers many services like surgery, care for mothers and children, and special treatments. Public hospitals are usually cheaper or free, but they can be very busy with long waits and sometimes don’t have enough supplies or staff.

Kampala also has many private hospitals and clinics that offer better care and are often chosen by people who can afford it, including visitors from other countries. Some well-known private places are Nakasero Hospital, known for advanced tests and surgeries, International Hospital Kampala (IHK) which offers many types of care, Kampala Hospital for quality services, and Case Hospital which helps both people staying in the hospital and those who visit for check-ups. Private places usually have better equipment and are faster but cost more money. Many of them accept health insurance from other countries, but it’s good to check first.

Notable people

Politics

Heads of state

Monarchs

Other officials

Activists

Artists

Business

Chess

Fashion

Film and television

Journalists

Law

  • Julia Sebutinde (born 1954), jurist on the International Court of Justice

Music

Public speakers

Religion and spirituality

Scientists and academics

Sport

Writers

Other

People awarded the honorary citizenship of Kampala are:

Images

The Bahá'í Temple in Kampala, Uganda, is a beautiful and peaceful building that serves as a place of worship and reflection.
Mengo Palace, the traditional home of the Kabaka of Buganda, is a significant cultural site in Uganda.
The Kasubi Tombs in Kampala, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its traditional African architecture and cultural importance.
Aerial view of the Gaddafi Mosque in Uganda, a notable national cultural site.
A view of Lubaga Cathedral, also known as St Mary's Cathedral Rubaga, located in Kampala, Uganda.
A nighttime aerial view of Hamz Stadium in Nakivubo, Kampala, showing the illuminated stadium and surrounding area.
The Ivory Tower at Makerere University, which was damaged in a fire and is now being restored.
The entrance to a museum building, showcasing architecture and a place where kids can learn about history and culture.
A map showing the countries of Africa, perfect for learning geography!

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This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Kampala, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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