"Samuel Baker in the early 1860s described Acholi girls being sold for as little as 13 English sewing needles." -- But those were also the days that Acholi chiefs organized to fight slaver raiders with notable success. And without putting the Acholi people in concentration camps. Which means that nearly 150 years later, the Ugandan neo-colonial state offers even less security to wananchi there than their ancestral confederal chiefdoms did.
> -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [Ugnet] Fwd: Let us get the facts of Uganda?s history right > From: Ochan Otim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Mon, June 25, 2007 12:03 pm > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], The First Virtual Network for friends of > Uganda <[email protected]> > >  >  > Let us get the facts ofUganda's history right Sunday, 24th June, > 2007 E-mail article  Printarticle > Merrick Posnansky > > By Merrick Posnansky > > In Uganda, history has been a simplistic story describing how > beforethe Europeans arrived, there were well-established kingdoms > likeBuganda, Bunyoro and Ankole between Lake Victoria and the > westernlakes. > > In the north were Lwoo, people without kingdoms who spilled over as > theLuo into eastern Kenya. There were also less sophisticated cattle > folklike the Karimojong in the northeast. In this scenario things > began tochange when the first European explorers turned up in Buganda. > FirstBurton and Speke, and in 1875 Stanley. His glowing descriptions > of theBuganda kingdom led to the arrival of Christian missionaries, > bothProtestant (CMS) and Catholic in 1877. Apart from Christianity, > theybrought blessings of trade and civilisation. > > This over-simplification of Uganda's history has led to > manymisunderstandings. The least of which is to give a Lake Victoria > biasto Uganda history, stress the accomplishments of early > missionaries andconcentrate on activities from the capital Kampala. It > has led to amisunderstanding of the past that ignores the north. > > Research in Karamoja has revealed the ancestors of early humans > 15million years ago. If linguistics are a guide, early > agriculturedeveloped in north east of Africa and spread south into > Uganda. Earlyagriculture involved animals and crops like mullet, > sorghum andprobably bananas. As civilisation developed in Egypt, trade > from thesouth brought timber, animal products, metals and slaves. With > thecollapse of Egyptian civilisation 3,000 years ago, the centre > ofgravity shifted to north of Khartoum, where the Meroitic > civilisationexisted for a 1,000 years followed by 1,000 years of > Christiankingdoms. > > With the collapse of these Christian states and severe climatic > change,700 years ago, people were displaced. The ripple effect was > manifestedin the Lwoo movements not only bringing pastoralism, but > aspects ofgovernment and language hailing from the middle Nile. > > In 1821, Mohammed Ali, the Albanian ruler of Egypt invaded the > Sudan.Merchants went south for two most sought products - slaves and > ivoryused to make billiard balls and piano keys. The upper Nile became > aboom area with slavers operating in ways not different from those > oftoday's Janjaweed in Darfur, ravaged large areas. > > Samuel Baker in the early 1860s described Acholi girls being sold > foras little as 13 English sewing needles. > > In return for financial subsidies for a failing Egyptian state, > Britainwas given command in the Sudan to control the slave trade. > First cameSir Samuel Baker and in 1874 Colonel Charles Gordon, an > engineer whomapped the Nile valley, built a network of administrative > and militarystations like Dufile and Wadelai and introduced steam > ships onto theAlbertine Nile. This represented the first real > globalisation of Ugandamuch more than the arrival of four CMS > missionaries in 1877, three ofwhom died within a year. > > Gordon's emissaries visited both Mutesa and Kabalega. Emin Pasha, > oneof the most remarkable scientific scholar administrators ever to > workin Africa, controlled Equatorial covering the Sudan and northern > Ugandatill 1888. > > Military stations like Dufile covered more than four hectares, > hadsurrounding ramparts five metres high with garrisons of hundreds > ofSudanese and Egyptians. The fort personnel interacted with the > localpopulation, largely Madi and Lugbara and exported foodstuffs to > thenorth. Dufile alone grew more than 35 different crops. > > The forts were abandoned in the late 1880's when Britain abandoned > theSudan following Gordon's murder in Khartoum by the Mahdists. > TheseSudanese soldiers were brought down to Kampala in 1890 with > theirfamilies, who now comprise Uganda's Muslim Nubian population, > byCaptain Lugard to form Uganda's first army, the African Rifles. > > This history of the interactions between Sudanese and the > localpopulation such as those in northern Uganda was explored in > excavationsat Dufile in December 2006 and January 2007 by foreign > scholars withsupport from the Uganda Museum and students of Makerere > and Kyambogouniversities. They excavated buildings both from the > Egyptian(1876-88), Belgian period (1902-07) and discovered the first > brickbuildings built in Uganda 20 years before those of Villa Maria. > Theydemonstrated the close interaction between the foreign troops and > thelocal people and using metal detectors located bullets expended > inrepulsing the Mahdist forces. > > All this provides a counterbalance to the previous history of > theinteraction between missionaries, kings Mutesa and Mwanga, that up > tonow dominated Uganda's history. > > The writer is a former senior Fulbright professor at Makerere2006 > > > > > > __,_._,___<hr>_______________________________________________ > Ugandanet mailing list > [email protected] > http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet > % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them > (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for > them in any way. > --------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
