Busoga (Lusoga: Obwakyabazinga bwa Busoga) is one of the 17 recognised traditional constitutional monarchies in present-day Uganda. The kingdom is a cultural institution which promotes popular participation and unity among the people of the region through development programs to improve their standard of living.
Busoga means "Land of the Soga", and is the kingdom of the 11 principalities of the Basoga or Soga (singular Musoga) people. Its capital is Bugembe, near Jinja (Uganda's second-largest city, after Kampala). Busoga comprises eleven districts: Kamuli, Iganga, Bugiri, Mayuge, Jinja, Luuka and the new districts of Bugweri, Buyende, Kaliro, Namutumba and Namayingo. Each district is headed by an elected chairperson or a Local Council Five, and municipalities are headed by an elected mayor. Jinja is the industrial and economic hub of Busoga. Busoga is bordered on the north by shallow Lake Kyoga (separating it from Lango), on the west by the Victoria Nile (separating it from Buganda), on the south by Lake Victoria (separating it from Tanzania and Kenya) and on the east by the Mpologoma River (separating it from smaller tribal groups such as the Adhola, Bugwere and Bugisu). It also includes several islands in Lake Victoria, such as Buvuma Island.
Etymology
The people who first settled in the area now called Busoga were remnants of the Southern Bantu expansion. Most of that expansion stopped at the mighty River Nile which was too hard to cross so people instead moved south into what is now Tanzania. However, it is believed that some Bantu people must have figured how to get across the Nile to the lands called Busoga.
By coincidence the people realised that the area was well protected by water bodies on all sides. To the North was Lake Kyoga, to the West there was River Nile, to the East run River Mpologoma, and Lake Victoria to the South. This allowed the community to thrive and gradually coalesced into organised societies.
Because of the "protected" nature of the area there was little need for an army as such, but this was to change as the powerful Buganda Kingdom developed on the western side of the River Nile.
Buganda had developed a complex clan structure of 52 clans that forbade people from the same or related clans to marry. With time this had created a shortage of women that men could marry - compounded by the fact that many Baganda chiefs had tens of wives. Buganda therefore began to expand and one of the reasons was to capture women from neighbouring areas. At first this was focused to the west where the Bunyoro, Toro and Ankole peoples who had no natural protection unlike the people to the east of the River Nile.
Bunyoro resistance grew and Buganda increasingly found it difficult to expand West and the Bunyoro kingdom could match its military might - so attention turned to the East.
The Achilles heel of the natural protection of the area now called Busoga was Lake Victoria. The Baganda could not tame the mighty River Nile but they had for many generations learnt how to use canoes on Lake Victoria (called Nalubaale before the arrival of the British who renamed it). This was significant as Nalubaale is home to the Sesse Islands a place of deep cultural heritage to the Baganda - it is believed Kintu the first Kabaka (King) came from there. All Kabakas since have made the pilgrimage to the island's shrines.
During the reign of Kabaka Jemba Busungwe (circa 1564-1584) - Jemba of Buganda, one of his chiefs, Sekamaanya ventured east on the lake on his way back from Sesse Islands, where he found a large uninhabited island. When he climbed to the highest point he noticed that he could see more land north - he was looking at the area now called Busoga. He reported back to the []Kabaka. Because he had "looked" from the Island - he called the island "Lingira" - which means "to look" in Luganda.
Soon Baganda warriors were on their way to conquer this land. They met little resistance when they came to shore and took women as was the custom back to Buganda.
Although not as complex as the Buganda clan system, the people in the area now called Busoga had a structured hereditary system based on family descendants - called "Abaise". As the Baganda moved deeper into the area they began to encounter members of the larger family units who were more organised.
The people in the area were expert fishermen and had developed unique ways to hunt for fish in the thick swamps in the area. One tool was a short stabbing spear which was used to stab fish that came to the clearer surface. They began to use these short spears against the Baganda invaders.
They would hide in the bushes and when the Baganda warriors came through they would ambush them and stab them with the short spears. Without distance between them and the assailant, Baganda warriors long spears that were thrown at enemies were useless.
In the Luganda language "Okussoga" means "to stab" - and they referred to their assailants as Aba'ssoga" - "those who stab". This where the word "Soga" comes from and the people referred to as "Basoga"
Although the Baganda were unable to conquer Busoga, their influence in the South Busoga area grew - especially as some Baganda chiefs and warriors decided to settle there and were integrated into the local culture.
In the North another Kingdom was exerting its power over Busoga. Bunyoro like their main rivals the Buganda were expanding. Bunyoro's expansion was the need for more land and intense leadership rivalry. Unable to go South due to Buganda, Bunyoro chiefs (Mukama) began to look to the North and North East.
In the 16th Century, Mukama Namutukula found a way to navigate the swampy shores of Lake Kyoga on foot and ended up stranded in the North of Busoga. He had travelled with his wives and a handful of warriors.
He found a land sparsely populated so he built a settlement on a hill locally called Kagulu Rock near Lyingo. Not only was it picturesque it was also full of wildlife to hunt - something Namutukula enjoyed. He also brought metal working to the area and the warrior tradition from Bunyoro - forming a small army made up of locals to protect Lyingo. To many Basoga this is the true origin of the Kingdom of Busoga.
Namutukula had many children while at Kagulu Rock but he never truly settled - he was homesick - and one day he gathered a few warriors together and headed back to Bunyoro via the way he had come. It is not clear whether he made it back or died along the way. The later is the most probable as no further account of him exists.
He had many children at Kagulu Rock - five sons survived. They had all inherited their fathers warrior traditions and when they came of age each had built sizeable armies and followers. Their mothers, recalling the disastrous rivalry that had forced them to leave Bunyoro urged their sons not to fight but to share the now sizeable land their father had left behind.
Therefore, The eldest Wakoli, received Bukooli - Bukooli Chiefdom; Zibondo received Bulamogi, Ngobi got Kigulu, Tabingwa got Luuka, and the youngest son, Kitimbo, received Bugabula. There was no need to have one brother as overall King because they believed their father would one day return to Lyingo.
The sons extended their territories south becoming more influential. They also adopted the "Abaise" hereditary structure - thus some of the most influential clans in Busoga have their names - e.g. "Abaise Ngobi", "Abaise-Tabingwa"etc. By the time the Arab traders and British arrived, the son's authority covered most of Northern and Central Busoga.
When the Arab traders came through Busoga on their way to Buganda they went through the South along the shores of Lake Victoria by canoe, avoiding the Nile and using the same route on Naluubale Lake Victoria that the Baganda used, and when they got to Buganda - they were told they had passed south of "Busoga" - and it was an island with large expanses of water on all sides. The Arabs returned to the East African coast referring to the "island" of "Usoga". This island myth is why most of the first European explorers chose to go around the longer route south of Lake Victoria - through present day Tanzania to get to Buganda.
Contact with Europeans
Contact with European Explorers and Missionaries
On 28 July 1862 Royal Geographical Society explorer John Hanning Speke arrived at Ripon Falls (near present day Jinja), where the Victoria Nile flows from Lake Victoria and begins its descent to Egypt. Since Speke's route (inland from the East African coast) took him around the southern end of Lake Victoria, he approached Busoga from the west (through Buganda). Having reached his goal (the source of the Nile), he turned northward and followed the river downstream without exploring Busoga. He records, however, being told that Usoga (Swahili for Busoga) was an island (it is bordered on all four sides by water). He gazed across at Busoga and described the scene, but did not cross the river.
The "Usoga Island" myth meant that Busoga was relatively unexplored by Arab traders and European explorers even after quite a significant number of them had reached Buganda using the Southern route around the southern part of Lake Victoria. Buganda was a target due to the lucrative ivory trade.
The "Usoga Island' myth had also entered Buganda folklore. Buganda's failure to advance further north into Busoga from the Lake Victoria shores had made it a vulnerability to the Kingdom and stories of Europeans colonising areas from the East African coast has reached Buganda. This was further accentuated by the Buganda Oracles (Emmandwa) who warned the Kabaka that the conqueror of the Kingdom would come from the East.
The Kabaka did have some little influence in Southern Busoga along the shores of Lake Victoria and had a number of chiefs there who were under his control including Chief Luba in Chiefdom of Bunya. Many of them were descendants of the Baganda warriors who had failed to conquer Busoga but had settled and intermarried with locals along the shores of Lake Victoria.
It was always believed there must be a route to Buganda north of Lake Victoria through present day Kenya. The Southern route was considered treacherous and many European explorers who had travelled through Kenya reported it as a less treacherous route.
Joseph Thomson (explorer) of the Royal Geographical Society led an expedition in 1883-4 to the northern shores of Lake Victoria but went no further. He had been warned by locals about the fierce Mwanga II of Buganda who was obsessed by the thought of enemies (including missionaries) coming from the East across Usoga to destroy his kingdom - so Thompson turned back. The furthest point he got to before turning back was Sio Port in present day Busia County, Western Kenya.
British explorers and traders were also looking for an easier roue to get to Buganda from the East African coast mainly to strengthen British Empire trade in the region while avoiding Masai who were often hostile and German competitors present day Tanzania.
On July 23, 1885, Bishop James Hannington of the Church Missionary Society set off from Rabai - north of Mombasa with a caravan of 200 porters and a local deacon he had personally ordained called William Jones or "Bombay African"- to find the route to Buganda through the mysterious "Usoga".
On October 8 they reached the Northeastern tip of Lake Victoria at Kavirondo closely following a route first explored by Joseph Thomson (explorer).James Hannington was aware of the warnings about Mwanga II of Buganda, but ignored these and continued west.