Ganda << GAN duh >> are one of the largest ethnic groups in the African nation of Uganda. They make up about 20 percent of the country’s population. Most Ganda, also known as Baganda, live in an area of central and southern Uganda called Buganda. They speak a language called Luganda, which is a Bantu language.
The kingdom of Buganda grew in size and importance in the 1600’s and 1700’s. By the mid-1800’s, it had become one of the richest and most powerful kingdoms in East Africa. In 1894, the United Kingdom made Buganda a British protectorate. In 1896, the British added several other kingdoms to the protectorate, extending it over most of present-day Uganda. However, the Ganda kept their own Kabaka (king) and Lukiko (parliament) under the Uganda Agreement of 1900 signed between British colonial officials and the leading Ganda chiefs.
Uganda became independent in 1962. The new constitution allowed Buganda to keep its Kabaka and remain partly independent. Sir Edward Mutesa II, the Kabaka of Buganda, became Uganda’s first president. In 1966, Prime Minister Milton Obote seized control of the government, dismissed Mutesa, and ended Buganda’s special status. The next year, a new constitution abolished the office of Kabaka and Mutesa fled to exile in London. Mutesa’s son, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, was installed as Kabaka in 1993 following a constitutional amendment that reinstalled traditional cultural leaders in Uganda.
