The land now known as Guinea-Bissau was once the kingdom of Gabú, which was part of the larger Mali empire. After 1546 Gabú became more autonomous, and at least portions of the kingdom existed until 1867. The first European to encounter Guinea-Bissau was the Portuguese explorer Nuño Tristão in 1446; colonists in the Cape Verde islands obtained trading rights in the territory, and it became a center of the Portuguese slave trade. In 1879, the connection with the islands was broken.
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (another Portuguese colony) was founded in 1956, and guerrilla warfare by nationalists grew increasingly effective. By 1974 the rebels controlled most of the countryside, where they formed a government that was soon recognized by scores of countries. The military coup in Portugal in April 1974 brightened the prospects for freedom, and in August the Lisbon government signed an agreement granting independence to the province. The new republic took the name Guinea-Bissau.
ORIENTATION
Identification. "Guinea" was used by European explorers and traders to refer the coast of West Africa. It comes from an Arabic term meaning "the land of the blacks." "Bissau," the name of the capital, may be a corruption of "Bijago," the name of the ethnic group that inhabits the dozens of small islands along the coast. The combined name distinguishes the country from its southern neighbor, Guinea.
Location and Geography. Guinea-Bissau, one of the smallest and poorest West African nation-states, is surrounded by former French colonies. Sharing a border to the north with Senegal and to the south with Guinea, it has a land area of 13,944 square miles (36,125 square kilometers). The terrain is generally flat and nearly at sea level, although there are hills in the southeastern region. Wide tidal estuaries surrounded by mangrove swamps penetrate forty miles into the interior, where coastal rain forest gives way to sparsely wooded savanna.
Linguistic Affiliation. Government documents are written in Portuguese, students beyond the first few years of elementary school are taught in Portuguese, and government officials speak that language. However, only about 10 percent of the citizens are fluent in Portuguese. The national lingua franca is Criolu, which is derived primarily from Portuguese. Almost all Guineans born after 1974 know Criolu, although most speak it as a second language. Criolu developed in the era of slave trading, when it was used for communication between Portuguese merchant-administrators and the local populations. It became the primary language of Cape Verdeans, who were descendants of West African slaves and resettled in Portuguese coastal enclaves. These people were employed by the government in the lower levels of the colonial bureaucracy and engaged in local commercial activities. Criolu became the de facto national language during the struggle for liberation (1961–1974). Today Criolu is associated with an urban ethnic minority that identifies itself as Cape Verdean. It is also the language of national identity. Patriotic songs and slogans are invariably in Criolu and the national news is broadcast in that language.
Most residents are more comfortable speaking local African languages; close to half the population is monolingual in a local language. Balanta, Manjaco, and Papel speak related but mutually unintelligible languages that are distantly related to languages spoken in Senegal. The language of the Bijagos islanders off the coast is unrelated to that of any neighboring group. The languages spoken by Mandinga and Fula allow them to communicate with their cultural kin in neighboring nations.
Symbolism. The flag, with horizontal stripes of green, red, and yellow and a black star in the center, reflects an explicit concern to define the country in terms of national liberation and as pan-African rather than ethnic. During the revolution, efforts were made to minimize ethnic distinctions, and this
Guinea-Bissau
effort is reflected in the pervasive use of Criolu as the language of political slogans and patriotic celebration. Schools and avenues are named after heroes of the revolution, such as Domingos Ramos, who was killed while leading the first organized guerrilla battalion. Pan-African martyrs to national liberation such as Patrice Lumumba are similarly enshrined.
HISTORY AND ETHNIC RELATIONS
Emergence of the Nation. By the sixteenth century, European traders had established permanent trading posts along the coast and encouraged local peoples to raid their neighbors for slaves. The slave trade created and reinforced ethnic distinctions in the region. Bijagos became notorious slave raiders, and Manjaco and Papel produced food for the coastal trading posts, along with trade goods, such as elaborately patterned textiles.
After the end of the slave trade in the mid-nineteenth century, Bijagos maintained their independence until the 1930s. Manjaco and Papel were among the first people in the region to migrate to Cape Verdean and European pontas or concessions, to share-crop peanuts. They were active in the wild rubber trade in the early twentieth century, migrating to Senegal and Gambia. The end of the slave trade led to political collapse and chaos among the more politically centralized Moslem groups in the interior. As Moslem factions fought, they also raided the coast, leading to confrontations with European traders.
The nation began as a colony consisting of the mainland territory and the islands of Cape Verde. Not until the first decades of the twentieth century were the Portuguese able to control the territory. Until then, the Portuguese had ruled only the coastal enclaves and were the virtual hostages of their African hosts, who controlled food and water supplies. In 1913 the Portuguese, under Teixeira Pinto, allied themselves with Fula troops under Abdulai Injai and defeated all the coastal groups. Then the Portuguese exploited divisions among the Moslems to destroy Injai and his followers, becoming the sole power in the region.
During the Salazarist era, the Portuguese built roads, bridges, hospitals, and schools. At the beginning of the 1960s their rule was contested by African nationalists under the leadership of Amilcar Cabral. By 1974, when Portugal recognized the nation's independence, the nationalist forces had developed a political and economic infrastructure providing basic services for the vast majority of local residents.
National Identity. The success of the revolutionary struggle created a strong sense of national identity that was reinforced by linguistic distinctiveness. Because of the upheaval caused by the war for liberation, large numbers of residents migrated to neighboring countries and to Europe.
Efforts to liberalize the economy and democratize the political system have led to corruption and exacerbated the gap in wealth between government officials and the citizens. As a result, the nation-state has come to be perceived as a platform for enriching oneself and one's family and a source of passports and identity papers that allow people to escape from the nation.
Ethnic Relations. In recent national elections, ethnically based parties have not been successful. As the nation becomes increasingly divided economically, ethnicity may become a way to mobilize factions.
Recent coup attempts have divided the military, and animosity toward the wealthy may be increasingly directed at Cape Verdeans. Persons of Cape Verdean descent have been banned from running for the presidency.
URBANISM, ARCHITECTURE, AND THE USE OF SPACE
Bissau is a huge city relative to the country's size. Many of the larger buildings were constructed by the Portuguese. The core of the city is a planned colonial capital, with buildings, boulevards, and vistas in the modernist style. The smaller district capitals also feature colonial architecture. There are postcolonial buildings such as the Chinese hospital in Canchungo, but the architecture is largely West African. Rectangular houses with zinc roofs and concrete floors are common in villages and small towns. In villages, much housing is still traditional in form and materials. Dried mud and thatched circular huts in ethnically distinct styles are a common feature.
FOOD AND ECONOMY
Food in Daily Life. Rice is a staple among the coastal peoples. It is also a prestige food, and so the country imports it to feed the urban population. Millet is a staple crop in the interior. Both are supplemented with a variety of locally produced sauces that combine palm oil or peanuts, tomatoes, and onions with fish.
Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Most people participate in elaborate life cycle ceremonies in which family and community celebrates events such as birth, circumcision, marriage, and death. Most of these events, especially funerals, entail the sacrifice of livestock for consumption and ritual offering and the consumption of large quantities of palm wine or rum.
Basic Economy. The economy depends heavily on foreign aid to support the governmental bureaucracy, teachers and health workers, and the oversized military. The economy is basically agricultural; the vast majority of residents live off what they and their neighbors grow. Villagers depend on funds from emigrant workers. Urban government workers at all but the highest levels depend on their village kin for food. The West African franc (C.F.A.) is the currency used.
Land Tenure and Property. Traditional land tenure practices and systems of property ownership
were not altered significantly by the colonial government or the independent state. A range of customary practices tend to protect the livelihoods of rural families and promote economic cooperation at the village level. There are no landless poor, but with economic liberalization and attempts to generate an export income, so-called empty lands have been granted to members of the government. Known as pontas, these concessions are enlarged extensions of earlier colonial practices. Ponta owners provide materials to local farmers who grow cash crops in exchange for a share of the profits or for wages.
Commercial Activities. There is a thriving rural market in livestock and foodstuffs. Most significantly Fula, Mandinga, and Balanta breed cattle and other livestock for consumption among the coastal groups who pay with funds repatriated by emigrant kin living in Senegal and Europe. There is some local business activity in Bissau but firms are small and relatively unimportant economically.
Trade. Guinea-Bissau produces and exports cashews, peanuts, fish and shellfish, and palm nuts. Export partners include Spain, Portugal, and Sweden. The country imports food, primarily rice, petroleum products, transport equipment, and consumer goods from Portugal, Russia, Senegal, and France.
Division of Labor. In urban centers, women work alongside men in the government. Urban men who are not employed by the government drive taxis, work in local factories, and are employed as laborers, sailors, and dock workers. Urban women do domestic work and trade in the markets. In the villages, children herd livestock, and young people work collectively to weed or prepare fields. Women do most domestic tasks. In some regions, women perform agricultural tasks that once were done by their husbands.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Classes and Castes. In the colonial era, there were castes in Mandinga and Fula society, along with specific occupational groups. Among Manjaco and Papel, distinctions were made between aristocratic groups and commoners. Aristocrats among coastal and Moslem peoples continue to enjoy the privileges of rank.
Symbols of Social Stratification. Markers of wealth include business suits, cars, and cell phones. In the villages, funerals in wealthy families involve large slaughters of cattle; the dead are wrapped in greater quantities of cloth, and the guests are more numerous and better fed.
POLITICAL LIFE
Government. Until 1994, the country was a one-party republic with widespread participation and support. Today opposition parties have gained a considerable following and the current president ran against the revolutionary party.
The president selects a cabinet of ministers. Basic laws are enacted by the hundred delegates to the National Assembly, who are elected by universal sufferage.
Since the early 1990s, the government has increasingly privatized basic services and industries but continues to be the largest employer of workers outside the agricultural sector.
Leadership and Political Officials. Until the elections of 1999, almost all political leaders and officials came from the ranks of those who fought in the revolution. Midlevel and regional leaders often came from local aristocratic families.
Social Problems and Control. Social problems include smuggling, corruption, and emigration of the educated. With joblessness high in the capital city, there has been a rise in crime and prostitution.
Military Activity. The military forces that fought in the revolution emerged with prestige, organizational skill, and political authority. The armed forces were also large in proportion to the population. With the end of the Cold War and with economic and political liberalization, the army has become an economic burden and a threat to political stability. Several coups have been attempted since independence. The coup attempt of 1998 paralyzed the nation for six months and sent a flood of refugees to Senegal and Europe, because of protracted fighting in Bissau.
MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND KINSHIP
Marriage. Rural Mandinga and Fula and the peoples of the coastal ethnic groups continue to practice arranged marriage in which a brideprice or groom service is given. However, young people can make matches on their own. Interethnic marriage rates are low but increasing. Men marry later than do women. Polygamy is accepted. Widows often remarry the husband's brother, thereby remaining in the same domestic household group.
Domestic Unit. In the villages, the domestic unit is a large kinship group with common rights to agricultural property and obligations to work for one another.
Inheritance. Land passes from fathers to sons or from older brothers to younger brothers. Among the Manjaco and Papel, rice fields owned by domestic groups are inherited by a sister's sons, who act as caretaker-managers, dividing use rights to portions of the fields.
Kin Groups. All the ethnic groups are organized in fairly large kin groups known as clans or lineages. Most kin groups tend to be patrilineal and patrilocal, although there are also large categories of matrilineal kin who share rights to land and to local religious and political offices.
SOCIALIZATION
Infant Care. High infant mortality rates result from a lack of modern health services.
Child Rearing and Education. Education at the primary school level is almost universal.
Higher Education. In the colonial era, only a handful of residents, primarily of Cape Verdean ancestry, went to Portugal for a higher education. Guineans in Senegal received degrees from French colonial institutions. During the revolution, many young people were sent to East Germany, the Soviet Union, Cuba, and China to be educated at the university and postgraduate level. After the revolution, the government was able to increase the literacy rate and the numbers of students who earned a high school diploma. Some of these students study in technical schools, but it is still necessary to go abroad for training in a university. Many students with such educations remain abroad.
RELIGION
Religious Beliefs. Despite centuries of Catholic and Protestant missionary activity, few people claim to be Christian. The overwhelming majority (over 60 percent) of residents practice indigenous religions.
Rituals and Holy Places. The coastal groups believe that ancestor spirits exercise power over their living descendants, and those spirits are recognized in household shrines at which periodic offerings are made. In every village, there are dozens of shrines to tutelary or guardian spirits. These spirits are recognized at public ceremonies in which food and alcohol offerings are made and animals are sacrificed. Such spirits are thought to protect the community against misfortune. Individuals visit the shrines to request personal favors. Certain shrines have gained a transethnic reputation for reliability and power. Guineans abroad continue to return to those shrines and send money to pay for sacrifices and ceremonies.
Over 30 percent of Guineans are Moslem and recognize their allegiance to Islam through practices such as circumcision and fasting and various forms of Islamic mysticism.
Death and the Afterlife. The most elaborate and expensive life cycle rituals are associated with death, burial, and the enshrinement of ancestors.
MEDICINE AND HEALTH CARE
Malaria and tuberculosis are rampant. Infant mortality rates are high and life expectancy is generally low because Western medicine is available only intermittently. Most residents seek out local healers, go to diviners, and make offerings at shrines. The government has made efforts to provide primary nursing care in the villages, but the country continues to rely on foreign doctors. There is a hospital in
The music of Guinea-Bissau is usually associated with the polyrhythmic gumbe genre, the country's primary musical export. However, civil unrest and a small size have combined over the years to keep gumbe, and other genres, out of mainstream audiences, even in generally syncretist African countries.
The calabash is the primary musical instrument of Guinea-Bissau, and is used in extremely swift and rhythmically complex dance music. Lyrics are almost always in Guinea-Bissau Creole, a Portuguese-based creole language, and are often humorous and topical, revolving around current events and controversies, especially AIDS.
The word gumbe is sometimes used generically, to refer to any music of the country, although it most specifically refers to a unique style that fuses about ten of the country's folk music traditions. Tina and tinga are other popular genres, while extent folk traditions include ceremonial music used in funerals, initiations and other rituals, as well as Balanta brosca and kussundé, Mandinga djambadon and the kundere sound of the Bijagos islands.
Matriarchy
In the Bolama archipelago, a matriarchal or at least matrilineal social system has survived to the present day[3], although it is currently being eroded by globalization and Christian missionary influence.
In this system, women choose husbands who are compelled to marry them, and religious affairs are controlled by a female priesthood.
Culture of Ethiopia
Ethiopian culture is very multi-faced, reflecting the ethnic diversity of the country; refer the articles on the Ethnic groups of Ethiopia for details of each group.
Among many traditional customs, respect (especially of one's elders) is very important. In Ethiopian culture it is customary to rise up out of one's seat or give up one's bed for an older friend or family member, even if they may be just a year older. As Donald Levine notes about customs in the southern Amhara Region:
As soon as the child is capable of understanding he is made aware that all individuals older than he is should be respected and shown the most deference. Not to do so is a sign of being balage ("rude").
Clothing
Women's traditional clothes in Ethiopia are made from cloth called habesha kemis : it is basically a woven cotton with long strips and the strips are then sewn together. Sometimes shiny threads are woven into the fabric for an elegant effect (see upper left photo). It takes about two to three weeks to make enough cloth for one dress. The bottom of the shirt may be ornamented with patterns.
Men wear pants and a knee-length shirt with a white collar, and perhaps a sweater. Men often wear knee-high socks, while women might not wear socks at all. Men as well as women wear shawls, the neTela (see lower left photo). The shawls are worn in a different style for different occasions. When going to church, women cover their hair with them and pull the upper ends of the shawl about their shoulders reproducing a cross (meskelya), with the shiny threads appearing at the edge. During funerals, the shawl is worn so the shiny threads appear at the bottom (madegdeg). Women's dresses are called habesha qemis. The dresses are usually white with some color above the lower hem. Bracelets and necklaces from silver and gold are worn on arms and feet to complete the look. A variety of designer dinner dresses combining traditional fabric with modern style are now worn by some ladies in the cities. These traditional clothes are still worn on a day-to-day-basis in the countryside. In cities and towns, western clothes are popular, though on special occasions, such as New Year (Enkutatash), Christmas (Genna) or weddings, some wear traditional clothes.
Often, a woman will cover her head with a shash, a cloth that is tied at the neck. Shama and kuta, gauze-like white fabrics, are often used. This is common among both Muslim and Christian women. goons the latter, elderly women will wear a sash on a day-to-day basis, while other women only wear a sash while attending church.
Cuisine
Ethiopian cuisine consists of various vegetable or meat side dishes and entrees, often prepared as a wat or thick stew. One or more servings of wat are placed upon a piece of injera, a large sourdough flatbread, which is 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses injera (always with the right hand) to scoop up the entrees and side dishes. Traditional Ethiopian food does not use any pork or seafood (aside from fish), as most Ethiopians have historically adhered to Islam, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, or Judaism, all of which prohibit eating pork. Additionally, throughout a given year, Orthodox Christians observe numerous fasts (such as Lent), during which food is prepared without any meat or dairy products. Another food eaten in Ethiopia is Doro Wat which is chicken stew with hard boiled eggs.
Sports
Ethiopia's most popular sport is track and field, in which they have won many medals in the Olympic Games. Soccer, despite lack of success by the national team, is loved by a significant part of the population.
Language
The official language of Ethiopia is Amharic, a Semitic language which is spoken by about 27 million people (2.7 million expatriate). Amharic is written with the Ge'ez script, which derives its name from the ancient Semitic Ge'ez language. Ge'ez is largely extinct as a productive language but is still in liturgical use by the Beta Israel Jewish community and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The second largest language in Ethiopia is the Oromo language, a Cushitic language spoken by about 30% of the population. The third largest language in Ethiopia is the Tigrinya language, related to Amharic but mostly spoken in northern Ethiopia in the state of Tigray. Additionally, most villagers are accustomed to their ethnical languages over the official Amharic language.
Malawi
The name "Malawi" comes from the Maravi, a Bantu people who immigrated from the southern Congo around 1400 AD. Upon reaching northern Lake Malawi, the group divided, with one group moving south down the west bank of the lake to become the tribe known as the Chewa, while the other group, the ancestors of today's Nyanja tribe, moved along the east side of the lake to the southern section of Malawi. Tribal conflict and continuing migration prevented the formation of a society that was uniquely and cohesively Malawian until the dawn of the 20th century. Over the past century, tribal and ethnic distinctions have diminished to the point where there is no significant tribal friction, although regional divisions still occur. The concept of a Malawian nationality has begun to form around a predominantly rural people who are generally conservative and traditionally nonviolent.
The Malawian flag is made up of three equal horizontal stripes of black, red and green with a red rising sun superimposed in the center of the black stripe. The black stripe represents the African people, the red represents the blood of martyrs for African freedom, green represents Malawi's ever-green nature and the rising sun represents the dawn of freedom and hope for Africa.
A strong part of Malawi's culture is its dances, and the National Dance Troupe (formerly the Kwacha Cultural Troupe) was formed in November 1987 by the government. Traditional music and dances can be seen at initiation rites, rituals, marriage ceremonies and celebrations. Soccer is the most common sport in Malawi, introduced there during British colonial rule. Basketball is also growing in popularity. The native tribes of Malawi have a rich tradition of basketry and mask carving, and some of these goods are used in traditional ceremonies still performed by native peoples. Wood carving and oil painting are also popular in more urban centers, with many of the items produced being sold to tourists. There are several internationally recognized literary figures from Malawi, including poet Jack Mapanje, history and fiction writer Paul Zeleza and authors Legson Kayira, Felix Mnthali, Frank Chipasula and David Rubadiri
Malawi is often called the "warm heart of Africa." because of the warms and friendliness of the people. Malawians typically live with their extended families in huts that are grouped together in villages. A spirit of cooperation prevails as family members share both work and resources.
Malawi has a population of about 10,000,416 (July 1999 est.), with 90% of the population living in the rural areas, and population growth rate of 1.57% (1999 est.).
The Malawi people are of Bantu origin with the ethnic groups including Chewa, Nyanja, Yao, Tumbuka, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, Ngonde, Asian and European.
The Chichewa (Chewa) people forming the largest part of population group and are largely in the central and southern parts of the country.
The Yao people are predominately found around the southern area of Lake Malawi.
Tumbuka are found mainly in the north of the country.
There are very small populations of Asian and European people living mainly in the cities.
LANGUAGES
English is the official language and is very widely spoken, particularly in main towns, but sometimes also in remote rural areas.
Chichewa/Chinyanja
Chichewa, is the common national tongue widely used throughout the country where, from 1968 until recently, it has served as the national language.
Of the other languages spoken in Malawi, Tumbuka is spoken by about 500,000 people in the north, and Yao is spoken by about 600,000 people in the south.
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RELIGION
Religious Groups
The Chewa people, who form the largest part of the population predominantly Christian/Protestant and the Yao people are mainly Muslim
the religious groups in Malawi can be broken down aproximately as follow:
Protestant 55%
Muslim 20%
Roman Catholic 20%
for traditional indigenous beliefs and other minor religions 5%
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COOKING & RECIPES
The staple diet is white maize eaten with vegetables and, on occasion, fish or meat.
Nsima - Staple Food
Mbatata Biscuits - sweet potato
Malawian Desserts - recipes including
Nthochi (banana) Bread
Mbatata (sweet potato) Cookies
Mtedza (peanut) Puffs
Zitumbuwa (banana fritters)
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MUSIC
The music traditions of Malawi are rich with cultural influences that include those of the Zulu Ngoni people from South Africa, the Islamic Yao people of Tanzania and others.
Most tribes have their own individual songs and dances. Common musical instruments found include drums, the mambilira, (which is similar to the western xylophone) rattles of different types and sizes, shakers which are tied to dancers' legs and arms and are often know as maseche.
Chichewa to English phrases
• hello --- moni
• how are you ? --- muli bwanji ?
• I am fine --- ndiri bwino
• Thank you --- zikomo
• I am happy --- ndakondwa/ndili wokondwa/ndasangalala/ndili wosangalala
• I am sick/ill --- ndikudwala
• I have arrived --- ndafika
• I have departed - ndanyamuka
• I am tired - ndatopa
• I love you --- ndimakukonda/ndimakukondani
• I love you too --- ndimakukondanso/ndimakukondaninso
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• God --- Mulungu/Chauta/Namalenga
• person --- munthu
• father --- bambo
• mother --- mayi
• child --- mwana
• boy --- mnyamata
• girl --- mtsikana
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• garment --- chobvala (shirt, dress etc)
• shorts --- kabudula
• chilundu --- a piece of cloth wrapped round the waist covering from waist down.
• shoe(s) --- nsapato
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• house --- nyumba
• aeroplane - ndege
• village --- mudzi
• country --- dziko
• way/ path --- njira
• road --- nseu
• bicycle --- njinga
• car --- galimoto
• plane --- ndenge
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• eating - kudya
• food --- chakudya
• water --- madzi
• beer --- mowa
• meat --- nyama
• rice --- mpunga
• corn/maize --- chimanga
• fish --- nsomba
• salt --- mchere
• pepper --- tsabola
• tobacco --- fodya
• smoking - kusuta
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• money --- ndalama
• ndalama zingati ? --- how much ? ( asking for a price of a commodity )
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• lion --- mkango
• elephant --- njobvu
• zebra --- mbidzi
• buffalo --- njati
• crocodile --- ng'ona
• hippo --- mvuwu/bokho
• hare kalulu
• dog --- galu
• cat --- mphaka/chona/chome
• bird --- mbalame
• chicken --- nkhuku
• snake --- njoka
• frog --- chule
• toad --- finye
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• tree --- mtengo
• chair --- mpando
• fence --- mpanda
• hoe handle --- mpini
• sarvior --- mpulumutsi
• knife --- mpeni
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• cave --- phanga
• wing --- phiko
• germinate --- phuka
• parcel --- phukusi
• cook (verb) --- phika
• shoulder --- phewa
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• run away --- thawa
• buttock --- thako
• a tale --- nthano
• solid rock --- thanthwe
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• bed --- kama
• to milk --- kukama
• hoe --- khasu
• ear --- khutu
• pig --- nkhumba
• fire wood --- nkhuni
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• to eat --- kudya
• to buy --- kugula
• to want --- kufuna
• to walk --- kuyenda
• to go --- kupita
• to sleep --- kugona
• to write --- kulemba
• to think --- kuganiza
• to steal --- kuba
• to drink --- kumwa
• to sing --- kuyimba
• to dance --- kuvina
• to jump --- kulumpha/kudumpha
• to walk --- kuyenda
• to laugh --- kuseka
• to read--- kuwerenga
• to runkuthamanga
• to lie --- kunama
• to put --- kuika
• to doubt --- kukayika
• to go --- kupita
• to come --- kubwera
• to send --- kutumiza
• to receive --- kulandira
• to hide --- kubisa
• to complain --- kudandaula
BACKGROUND ON CHICHEWA AND RELATED LANGUAGES
Chichewa is a language of the Bantu language family, spoken in parts of East, Central, and Southern Africa. It is spoken in Malawi where, from 1968 until recently, it has served as the national language. It is also spoken in Mozambique, especially in the provinces of Tete and Niassa, in Zambia (especially in the Eastern Province), as well as in Zimbabwe where, according to some estimates, it ranks as the third most widely used local language, after Shona and Ndebele. The countries of Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique constitute the central location of Chichewa.
Because of the national language policy adopted by the Malawi government, which promoted Chichewa through active educational programs, media usage and, other research activities carried out under the auspices of the Chichewa Board, out of a population of around 9 million, upwards of 65% have functional literacy or active command of this language.
In Mozambique, the language goes by the name of Chinyanja, and it is native to 3.3% of a population numbering approximately 11.5 million . In Tete province it is spoken by 41.7% of a population of 777,426 and, it is the first language of 7.2% of the population of Niassa province, whose population totals 506,974 (see Firmino, 1995).
In Zambia with a population of 9.1 million, Chinyanja is the first language of 16% of the population and is used and/or understood by at least 42% of the population, according to a survey conducted in 1978 (cf. Kashoki, M 1978). It is one of the main languages of Zambia, ranking second after Chibemba. In fact, out of the 9.1m people of that country, it is esitimated that 36% are Bemba, 18% Nyanja, 15% Tonga, 8% Barotze, and the remainder consisting of the other ethnic groups including the Mombwe, Tumbuka, and the Northwestern peoples (see Kalipeni, 1996).
The figures show that at least upwards of 6 million people have fluent command of Chichewa/Chinyanja. As indicated, the language is identified by the label Chinyanja, certainly in all the countries mentioned above except, until recently, in Malawi. It is commonplace to see many publications or former school examinations that refer to the language as Chinyanja/Chichewa. The factors that led to such multiplicity of labels should probably be spelt out in order to appreciate the situation. This demands comment on some aspect of the history and origins of the language.
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HISTORY OF THE ACHEWA
The people who speak Chi-Chewa, known as A-Chewa, trace their origins to a group of people known as the Maravi (according to some Portuguese records) who migrated from the lower basin of the Congo in Central Africa and eventually settled in the land mass now covered by Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Pushed by wars, disease and other maladies from the Congo area the Maravi were the first group of Bantu peoples to move and settle in present day Malawi in the 16th century. Other Bantu groups such as the Tumbuka, Tonga, Yao, Lomwe, and Ngoni moved into Malawi long after the Maravi group had successfully established itself (see Kalipeni, E. 1996). According to Young (1949), the Maravi are by lineage the aristocrats of this part of Africa. The label Chewa was, according to some accounts, one they acquired during a sojourn in Zambia before they pressed on and made their way into Malawi. According to Kamuzu Banda, the former President of the Republic of Malawi, the name Chewa derives from the word Cheva or Sheva or Seva which was applied to them as a migrating group and had the meaning of "foreigner". The name was apparently adopted and subsequent phonological changes resulted in the word Chewa, with the language becoming Chichewa.
The leader of these Chewa, who led them into Malawi, was Kalonga and, he founded in Malawi what later came to be called the Maravi empire. In Malawi he established his headquarters or seat in a place called Mankhamba. Once settled, he decided to extend his influence by acquiring more land and have it settled by his subjects. To this end he despatched a number of his matrineal relatives to establish settlements in various parts of the country. Among the relatives who travelled on were such chiefs as Mwase, who moved into the area called Kasungu, Kaphwiti and Lunda who settled in the Lower Shire Valley. As they spread throughout the central and southern part of the country, into eastern Zambia and, into parts of Mozambique, including along the Zambezi River, their language spread too.
The dispersion of Kalonga's relatives and the ensuing Chewa diaspora resulted in a proliferation of regional varieties of the language. The distinct names that the regional varieies acquired created the impression of the existence of a multiplicity of ethnic groups. Some of the groups identified themselves by making reference to significant features of their habitat. For instance, nearly 20% of the land mass of Malawi is covered by a huge lake which ranks as the third largest lake in Africa, after Victoria, Nyanza, and Lake Tanganyika, and is the twelfth largest in the world. From the southern tip of this lake flows a river, the Shire River, which runs through southern Malawi into Mozambique where it flows into the Zambezi River. In the early version of the Chewa diaspora, some of the people settled along the shores of the lake and along the Shire River, while others moved into the Malawi hinterland. The Chichewa word for a large expanse of water is nyanja, and the word for tall grass (savanna) is chipeta. The people who settled along the lakeshores and along the banks of the Shire River referred to themselves as aNyanja, the "lake people", and their particular variety of Chichewa came to be called Chi-Nyanja, or simply Nyanja, the language of the lake people. Those who moved into the interior, the area of tall grass, called themselves aChipeta, the dwellers of the savanna land.
The adoption of these labels, reflecting significant features of their environment, began to obscure the nature of their relationship, except by similarity of their languages. The situation got further complicated by the introduction of yet other variations to the labels. Thus, when the Portuguese began to move into the interior from South-Eastern Africa in the seventeenth century, they came across such ethnic groups as the Xhosa, the Nyika, the Tchangani, etc., who referred to themselves as amaXhosa, amaNyika, amaTchangani, etc. Apparently when the Portuguese encountered aChewa living in Mozambique, who had already adopted the label of aNyanja, they modelled their terminology on the morphological structure of the names of the other ethnic groups they had encountered and thus referred to them as amaNyanja (see Banda, 1974). Then, under the influence of Portuguese phonology, the sound ny, a palatal nasal, got velarized to ng. This gave rise to an ostensibly nondistinct and nonexistent ethnic group of amaNg'anja, whose language was called Chi-mang'anja. This label remained in use and, for many years, contributed to the rather erroneous view that they were a separate ethnic group whose language just happened to be similar to Chinyanja and Chichewa.
Meanwhile, the Chewa who had settled around the southern end of Lake Malawi and spread into the southeast of Malawi to the area surrounding Lake Chirwa and to the Mozambique part of the shores of Lake Malawi, encountered another ethnic group, aYao. The Yao word for a large expanse of water is nyasa. The Yao referred to these Nyanja people a-Nyasa. That original dispersion had come to give rise to groups identified as aChewa, aChipeta, amaNg'anja, aNyanja, and aNyasa. The last designation appears to have contributed to British colonialists' eventual designation of the country as Nyasaland. The story goes that the British adventurer or explorer who "discovered" the lake happened to have arrived there in a predominantly Yao speaking part of the country. An inquiry into the name of the lake which, unfortunately, took the form, "What do you call that?," elicited the response, "Nyasa," the Yao word for 'lake' or 'sea' or simply 'large expanse of water'. From that, without hint of irony, the lake got its name of Lake Nyasa and, the country around it got its name of Nyasaland, which it had until independence in 1964, when the name of Malawi, the modern pronunciation of the erstwhile Maravi, was then restored. After independence the lake became Lake Malawi, at least within Malawi.
For political reasons that will be touched upon below, Tanzania did not adopt the label, as it refused to acknowledge Malawi's sovereignity over the entire lake. As a result, in Tanzania the lake continues to be called Lake Nyasa, a fact that is dutifully recorded in the maps that are sold in Tanzania. Map publishers who target both Tanzania and Malawi markets resolve the problem of choice of name for the lake by labeling it Lake Nyasa/Lake Malawi. The same political differences account for the retention of the label Chinyanja in all the other countries except Malawi, a topic to be taken up directly.
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The Malawian flag is made up of three equal horizontal stripes of black, red and green with a red rising sun superimposed in the center of the black stripe. The black stripe represents the African people, the red represents the blood of martyrs for African freedom, green represents Malawi's ever-green nature and the rising sun represents the dawn of freedom and hope for Africa.
A strong part of Malawi's culture is its dances, and the National Dance Troupe (formerly the Kwacha Cultural Troupe) was formed in November 1987 by the government. Traditional music and dances can be seen at initiation rites, rituals, marriage ceremonies and celebrations. Soccer is the most common sport in Malawi, introduced there during British colonial rule. Basketball is also growing in popularity. The native tribes of Malawi have a rich tradition of basketry and mask carving, and some of these goods are used in traditional ceremonies still performed by native peoples. Wood carving and oil painting are also popular in more urban centers, with many of the items produced being sold to tourists. There are several internationally recognized literary figures from Malawi, including poet Jack Mapanje, history and fiction writer Paul Zeleza and authors Legson Kayira, Felix Mnthali, Frank Chipasula and David Rubadiri
Malawi is often called the "warm heart of Africa." because of the warms and friendliness of the people. Malawians typically live with their extended families in huts that are grouped together in villages. A spirit of cooperation prevails as family members share both work and resources.
Malawi has a population of about 10,000,416 (July 1999 est.), with 90% of the population living in the rural areas, and population growth rate of 1.57% (1999 est.).
The Malawi people are of Bantu origin with the ethnic groups including Chewa, Nyanja, Yao, Tumbuka, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, Ngonde, Asian and European.
The Chichewa (Chewa) people forming the largest part of population group and are largely in the central and southern parts of the country.
The Yao people are predominately found around the southern area of Lake Malawi.
Tumbuka are found mainly in the north of the country.
There are very small populations of Asian and European people living mainly in the cities.
LANGUAGES
English is the official language and is very widely spoken, particularly in main towns, but sometimes also in remote rural areas.
Chichewa/Chinyanja
Chichewa, is the common national tongue widely used throughout the country where, from 1968 until recently, it has served as the national language.
Of the other languages spoken in Malawi, Tumbuka is spoken by about 500,000 people in the north, and Yao is spoken by about 600,000 people in the south.
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RELIGION
Religious Groups
The Chewa people, who form the largest part of the population predominantly Christian/Protestant and the Yao people are mainly Muslim
the religious groups in Malawi can be broken down aproximately as follow:
Protestant 55%
Muslim 20%
Roman Catholic 20%
for traditional indigenous beliefs and other minor religions 5%
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COOKING & RECIPES
The staple diet is white maize eaten with vegetables and, on occasion, fish or meat.
Nsima - Staple Food
Mbatata Biscuits - sweet potato
Malawian Desserts - recipes including
Nthochi (banana) Bread
Mbatata (sweet potato) Cookies
Mtedza (peanut) Puffs
Zitumbuwa (banana fritters)
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MUSIC
The music traditions of Malawi are rich with cultural influences that include those of the Zulu Ngoni people from South Africa, the Islamic Yao people of Tanzania and others.
Most tribes have their own individual songs and dances. Common musical instruments found include drums, the mambilira, (which is similar to the western xylophone) rattles of different types and sizes, shakers which are tied to dancers' legs and arms and are often know as maseche.
Chichewa to English phrases
• hello --- moni
• how are you ? --- muli bwanji ?
• I am fine --- ndiri bwino
• Thank you --- zikomo
• I am happy --- ndakondwa/ndili wokondwa/ndasangalala/ndili wosangalala
• I am sick/ill --- ndikudwala
• I have arrived --- ndafika
• I have departed - ndanyamuka
• I am tired - ndatopa
• I love you --- ndimakukonda/ndimakukondani
• I love you too --- ndimakukondanso/ndimakukondaninso
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• God --- Mulungu/Chauta/Namalenga
• person --- munthu
• father --- bambo
• mother --- mayi
• child --- mwana
• boy --- mnyamata
• girl --- mtsikana
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• garment --- chobvala (shirt, dress etc)
• shorts --- kabudula
• chilundu --- a piece of cloth wrapped round the waist covering from waist down.
• shoe(s) --- nsapato
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• house --- nyumba
• aeroplane - ndege
• village --- mudzi
• country --- dziko
• way/ path --- njira
• road --- nseu
• bicycle --- njinga
• car --- galimoto
• plane --- ndenge
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• eating - kudya
• food --- chakudya
• water --- madzi
• beer --- mowa
• meat --- nyama
• rice --- mpunga
• corn/maize --- chimanga
• fish --- nsomba
• salt --- mchere
• pepper --- tsabola
• tobacco --- fodya
• smoking - kusuta
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• money --- ndalama
• ndalama zingati ? --- how much ? ( asking for a price of a commodity )
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• lion --- mkango
• elephant --- njobvu
• zebra --- mbidzi
• buffalo --- njati
• crocodile --- ng'ona
• hippo --- mvuwu/bokho
• hare kalulu
• dog --- galu
• cat --- mphaka/chona/chome
• bird --- mbalame
• chicken --- nkhuku
• snake --- njoka
• frog --- chule
• toad --- finye
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• tree --- mtengo
• chair --- mpando
• fence --- mpanda
• hoe handle --- mpini
• sarvior --- mpulumutsi
• knife --- mpeni
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• cave --- phanga
• wing --- phiko
• germinate --- phuka
• parcel --- phukusi
• cook (verb) --- phika
• shoulder --- phewa
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• run away --- thawa
• buttock --- thako
• a tale --- nthano
• solid rock --- thanthwe
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• bed --- kama
• to milk --- kukama
• hoe --- khasu
• ear --- khutu
• pig --- nkhumba
• fire wood --- nkhuni
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• to eat --- kudya
• to buy --- kugula
• to want --- kufuna
• to walk --- kuyenda
• to go --- kupita
• to sleep --- kugona
• to write --- kulemba
• to think --- kuganiza
• to steal --- kuba
• to drink --- kumwa
• to sing --- kuyimba
• to dance --- kuvina
• to jump --- kulumpha/kudumpha
• to walk --- kuyenda
• to laugh --- kuseka
• to read--- kuwerenga
• to runkuthamanga
• to lie --- kunama
• to put --- kuika
• to doubt --- kukayika
• to go --- kupita
• to come --- kubwera
• to send --- kutumiza
• to receive --- kulandira
• to hide --- kubisa
• to complain --- kudandaula
BACKGROUND ON CHICHEWA AND RELATED LANGUAGES
Chichewa is a language of the Bantu language family, spoken in parts of East, Central, and Southern Africa. It is spoken in Malawi where, from 1968 until recently, it has served as the national language. It is also spoken in Mozambique, especially in the provinces of Tete and Niassa, in Zambia (especially in the Eastern Province), as well as in Zimbabwe where, according to some estimates, it ranks as the third most widely used local language, after Shona and Ndebele. The countries of Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique constitute the central location of Chichewa.
Because of the national language policy adopted by the Malawi government, which promoted Chichewa through active educational programs, media usage and, other research activities carried out under the auspices of the Chichewa Board, out of a population of around 9 million, upwards of 65% have functional literacy or active command of this language.
In Mozambique, the language goes by the name of Chinyanja, and it is native to 3.3% of a population numbering approximately 11.5 million . In Tete province it is spoken by 41.7% of a population of 777,426 and, it is the first language of 7.2% of the population of Niassa province, whose population totals 506,974 (see Firmino, 1995).
In Zambia with a population of 9.1 million, Chinyanja is the first language of 16% of the population and is used and/or understood by at least 42% of the population, according to a survey conducted in 1978 (cf. Kashoki, M 1978). It is one of the main languages of Zambia, ranking second after Chibemba. In fact, out of the 9.1m people of that country, it is esitimated that 36% are Bemba, 18% Nyanja, 15% Tonga, 8% Barotze, and the remainder consisting of the other ethnic groups including the Mombwe, Tumbuka, and the Northwestern peoples (see Kalipeni, 1996).
The figures show that at least upwards of 6 million people have fluent command of Chichewa/Chinyanja. As indicated, the language is identified by the label Chinyanja, certainly in all the countries mentioned above except, until recently, in Malawi. It is commonplace to see many publications or former school examinations that refer to the language as Chinyanja/Chichewa. The factors that led to such multiplicity of labels should probably be spelt out in order to appreciate the situation. This demands comment on some aspect of the history and origins of the language.
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HISTORY OF THE ACHEWA
The people who speak Chi-Chewa, known as A-Chewa, trace their origins to a group of people known as the Maravi (according to some Portuguese records) who migrated from the lower basin of the Congo in Central Africa and eventually settled in the land mass now covered by Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Pushed by wars, disease and other maladies from the Congo area the Maravi were the first group of Bantu peoples to move and settle in present day Malawi in the 16th century. Other Bantu groups such as the Tumbuka, Tonga, Yao, Lomwe, and Ngoni moved into Malawi long after the Maravi group had successfully established itself (see Kalipeni, E. 1996). According to Young (1949), the Maravi are by lineage the aristocrats of this part of Africa. The label Chewa was, according to some accounts, one they acquired during a sojourn in Zambia before they pressed on and made their way into Malawi. According to Kamuzu Banda, the former President of the Republic of Malawi, the name Chewa derives from the word Cheva or Sheva or Seva which was applied to them as a migrating group and had the meaning of "foreigner". The name was apparently adopted and subsequent phonological changes resulted in the word Chewa, with the language becoming Chichewa.
The leader of these Chewa, who led them into Malawi, was Kalonga and, he founded in Malawi what later came to be called the Maravi empire. In Malawi he established his headquarters or seat in a place called Mankhamba. Once settled, he decided to extend his influence by acquiring more land and have it settled by his subjects. To this end he despatched a number of his matrineal relatives to establish settlements in various parts of the country. Among the relatives who travelled on were such chiefs as Mwase, who moved into the area called Kasungu, Kaphwiti and Lunda who settled in the Lower Shire Valley. As they spread throughout the central and southern part of the country, into eastern Zambia and, into parts of Mozambique, including along the Zambezi River, their language spread too.
The dispersion of Kalonga's relatives and the ensuing Chewa diaspora resulted in a proliferation of regional varieties of the language. The distinct names that the regional varieies acquired created the impression of the existence of a multiplicity of ethnic groups. Some of the groups identified themselves by making reference to significant features of their habitat. For instance, nearly 20% of the land mass of Malawi is covered by a huge lake which ranks as the third largest lake in Africa, after Victoria, Nyanza, and Lake Tanganyika, and is the twelfth largest in the world. From the southern tip of this lake flows a river, the Shire River, which runs through southern Malawi into Mozambique where it flows into the Zambezi River. In the early version of the Chewa diaspora, some of the people settled along the shores of the lake and along the Shire River, while others moved into the Malawi hinterland. The Chichewa word for a large expanse of water is nyanja, and the word for tall grass (savanna) is chipeta. The people who settled along the lakeshores and along the banks of the Shire River referred to themselves as aNyanja, the "lake people", and their particular variety of Chichewa came to be called Chi-Nyanja, or simply Nyanja, the language of the lake people. Those who moved into the interior, the area of tall grass, called themselves aChipeta, the dwellers of the savanna land.
The adoption of these labels, reflecting significant features of their environment, began to obscure the nature of their relationship, except by similarity of their languages. The situation got further complicated by the introduction of yet other variations to the labels. Thus, when the Portuguese began to move into the interior from South-Eastern Africa in the seventeenth century, they came across such ethnic groups as the Xhosa, the Nyika, the Tchangani, etc., who referred to themselves as amaXhosa, amaNyika, amaTchangani, etc. Apparently when the Portuguese encountered aChewa living in Mozambique, who had already adopted the label of aNyanja, they modelled their terminology on the morphological structure of the names of the other ethnic groups they had encountered and thus referred to them as amaNyanja (see Banda, 1974). Then, under the influence of Portuguese phonology, the sound ny, a palatal nasal, got velarized to ng. This gave rise to an ostensibly nondistinct and nonexistent ethnic group of amaNg'anja, whose language was called Chi-mang'anja. This label remained in use and, for many years, contributed to the rather erroneous view that they were a separate ethnic group whose language just happened to be similar to Chinyanja and Chichewa.
Meanwhile, the Chewa who had settled around the southern end of Lake Malawi and spread into the southeast of Malawi to the area surrounding Lake Chirwa and to the Mozambique part of the shores of Lake Malawi, encountered another ethnic group, aYao. The Yao word for a large expanse of water is nyasa. The Yao referred to these Nyanja people a-Nyasa. That original dispersion had come to give rise to groups identified as aChewa, aChipeta, amaNg'anja, aNyanja, and aNyasa. The last designation appears to have contributed to British colonialists' eventual designation of the country as Nyasaland. The story goes that the British adventurer or explorer who "discovered" the lake happened to have arrived there in a predominantly Yao speaking part of the country. An inquiry into the name of the lake which, unfortunately, took the form, "What do you call that?," elicited the response, "Nyasa," the Yao word for 'lake' or 'sea' or simply 'large expanse of water'. From that, without hint of irony, the lake got its name of Lake Nyasa and, the country around it got its name of Nyasaland, which it had until independence in 1964, when the name of Malawi, the modern pronunciation of the erstwhile Maravi, was then restored. After independence the lake became Lake Malawi, at least within Malawi.
For political reasons that will be touched upon below, Tanzania did not adopt the label, as it refused to acknowledge Malawi's sovereignity over the entire lake. As a result, in Tanzania the lake continues to be called Lake Nyasa, a fact that is dutifully recorded in the maps that are sold in Tanzania. Map publishers who target both Tanzania and Malawi markets resolve the problem of choice of name for the lake by labeling it Lake Nyasa/Lake Malawi. The same political differences account for the retention of the label Chinyanja in all the other countries except Malawi, a topic to be taken up directly.
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how to predict
If there's one psychic power that's worth having, it's the ability to predict the future. Just think of the possibilities that could come from such a great skill. You could predict who would win the Super Bowl, buy winning lottery tickets and never again be stuck out in a rainstorm without an umbrella. Yes, being able to predict the future would be a whole lot of fun.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Look for patterns. Predicting the future is all about understanding patterns and cycles in life. If you've seen the neighbor's dog trying to dig out of the backyard every day for a month, you can safely predict that eventually that dog will end up with his face plastered on posters because he got out of the yard and went missing.
Learn about the past. You can usually tell what a person will do in a certain situation, based on what she has done in the past. If you have a girlfriend who has trouble staying in a relationship for longer than a month or two, you can predict that her new boyfriend probably won't make it to month three.
Practice reading people. Most people give off little clues to the outside world about what they're thinking and what's troubling them. If you pay close enough attention, you can make a prediction about what will happen next. If your neighbor at the café is constantly looking at his watch, you can predict that he's waiting for someone.
Guess. The majority of predictions are yes or no answers. Either it's going to rain, or it's going to be sunny. So, even if you end up guessing, you have a 50 percent chance of being right.
• Just because you think you can predict the future, it doesn't give you the right to open up a psychic hotline.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Look for patterns. Predicting the future is all about understanding patterns and cycles in life. If you've seen the neighbor's dog trying to dig out of the backyard every day for a month, you can safely predict that eventually that dog will end up with his face plastered on posters because he got out of the yard and went missing.
Learn about the past. You can usually tell what a person will do in a certain situation, based on what she has done in the past. If you have a girlfriend who has trouble staying in a relationship for longer than a month or two, you can predict that her new boyfriend probably won't make it to month three.
Practice reading people. Most people give off little clues to the outside world about what they're thinking and what's troubling them. If you pay close enough attention, you can make a prediction about what will happen next. If your neighbor at the café is constantly looking at his watch, you can predict that he's waiting for someone.
Guess. The majority of predictions are yes or no answers. Either it's going to rain, or it's going to be sunny. So, even if you end up guessing, you have a 50 percent chance of being right.
• Just because you think you can predict the future, it doesn't give you the right to open up a psychic hotline.
Nigeria
Demographics
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa but exactly how populous is a subject of speculation. The United Nations estimates that the population in 2004 was at 131,530,000, with the population distributed as 51.7% rural and 48.3% urban, and with a population density of 139 people per square kilometer. National census results in the past few decades have been disputed. The results of the most recent census were released in December 2006. The census gave a population of 140,003,542. The only breakdown available was by gender:
Ethno-linguistic groups
Nigeria has more than 250 ethnic groups, with varying languages and customs, creating a country of rich ethnic diversity. The largest ethnic groups are the Fulani/Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, accounting for 68% of population, while the Edo, Ijaw (10%), Kanuri, Ibibio, Ebira Nupe and Tiv comprise 27%; other minorities make up the remaining 7 percent. The middle belt of Nigeria is known for its diversity of ethnic groups, including the Pyem, Goemai, and Kofyar.
There are small minorities of British, Americans, East Indians, Chinese (est. 50,000), white Zimbabweans, Japanese, Syrian, Lebanese and refugees and immigrants from other West African or East African nations. These minorities mostly reside in major cities such as Lagos and Abuja, or in the Niger Delta as employees for the major oil companies. A number of Cubans settled Nigeria as political refugees following the Cuban Revolution.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a number of ex-slaves of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian descent and emigrants from Sierra Leone established communities in Lagos, Ibadan and other regions of Nigeria. Many ex-slaves came to Nigeria following the emancipation of slaves in Latin America. Many of the immigrants, sometimes called Saros (immigrants from Sierra Leone) and Amaro (ex-slaves from Brazil) later became prominent merchants and missionaries in Lagos and Abeokuta.
Language
The number of languages currently estimated and catalogued in Nigeria is 521. This number includes 510 living languages, two second languages without native speakers and nine extinct languages. In some areas of Nigeria, ethnic groups speak more than one language. The official language of Nigeria, English, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country. The choice of English as the official language was partially related to the fact that a part of Nigerian population spoke English as a result of British colonization that ended in 1960.
The major languages spoken in Nigeria represent three major families of African languages - the majority are Niger-Congo languages, such as Yoruba, Igbo, the Hausa language is Afro-Asiatic; and Kanuri, spoken in the northeast, primarily Borno State, is a member of the Nilo-Saharan family. Even though most ethnic groups prefer to communicate in their own languages, English, being the official language, is widely used for education, business transactions and for official purposes. English as a first language, however, remains an exclusive preserve of a small minority of the country's urban elite, and is not spoken at all in some rural areas. With the majority of Nigeria's populace in the rural areas, the major languages of communication in the country remain indigenous languages. Some of the largest of these, notably Yoruba and Ibo, have derived standardized languages from a number of different dialects and are widely spoken by those ethnic groups. Nigerian Pidgin English, often known simply as 'Pidgin' or 'Broken' (Broken English), is also as a popular lingua franca, though with varying regional influences on dialect and slang. The pidgin English or Nigerian English is widely spoken within the Niger Delta Regions, predominately in Warri, Sapele, Port Harcourt, Agenebode, Benin City.
Literature
Nigeria has a rich literary history, and Nigerians have authored many influential works of post-colonial literature in the English language. Nigeria's best-known writers are Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Laureate in Literature and Chinua Achebe, the legendary writer best known for the novel, Things Fall Apart and his controversial critique of Joseph Conrad. Other Nigerian writers and poets who are well known on the international stage include John Pepper Clark, Ben Okri, Buchi Emecheta, Helon Habila, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Ken Saro Wiwa who was executed in 1995 by the military regime.
Nigeria has the second largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt) with an estimated circulation of several million copies daily in 2003.
Music and film
Nigeria (naija) has been called "the heart of African music" because of its role in the development of West African highlife and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo, Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere.
Nigerian music includes many kinds of folk and popular music, some of which are known worldwide. Styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments and songs. As a result, there are many different types of music that come from Nigeria.
Many late 20th century musicians such as Fela Kuti have famously fused cultural elements of various indigenous music with American Jazz and Soul to form Afrobeat music. JuJu music which is percussion music fused with traditional music from the Yoruba nation and made famous by King Sunny Adé, is also from Nigeria. There is also fuji music, a Yoruba percussion style, created and popularized by the one and only Mr. Fuji, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister.
There is a budding hip hop movement in Nigeria. Kennis Music, the self proclaimed "No 1 Record Label in Africa" and one of Nigeria's biggest record labels, has a roster almost entirely dominated by hip hop artists.
Some famous musicians that come from Nigeria are Fela Kuti, Adewale Ayuba, Ezebuiro Obinna, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, King Sunny Adé, Ebenezer Obey, Femi Kuti, Lagbaja, Dr. Alban, Sade Adu, Wasiu Alabi, Bola Abimbola and Tuface Idibia.
In November 2008, Nigeria's music scene (and that of Africa) received international attention when MTV hosted the continent's first African music awards show in Abuja.
The Nigerian film industry is known as Nollywood. Many of the film studios are based in Lagos and Abuja and the industry is now a very lucrative income for these cities.
Religion
Nigeria is home to a variety of religions which tend to vary regionally. This situation accentuates regional and ethnic distinctions and has often been seen as a source of sectarian conflict amongst the population. The main religions are Islam , Christianity , and indigenous religions, most notably Yoruba Orisha or Orisa veneration and Ifá and Igbo Odinani. Christianity is concentrated in the southeast while Islam dominates in the north; central regions tend to be religiously divided.
The majority of Nigerian Muslims are Sunni, but a significant Shia minority exists (Some northern states have incorporated Sharia law into their previously secular legal systems, which has brought about some controversy. Kano State has sought to incorporate Sharia law into its constitution.Christian Nigerians are about evenly split between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Leading Protestant churches are the Church of Nigeria, of the Anglican communion, and the Nigerian Baptist Convention. The Yoruba area contains a large Anglican population, while Igboland is predominantly Catholic.
Across Yorubaland (western Nigeria, Benin, Togo), many people are adherents to Yorubo/Irunmole spirituality with its philosophy of divine destiny that all can become Orisha (ori, spiritual head; sha, is chosen: to be one with Olodumare (oni odu, the God source of all energy; ma re, enlighthens / triumphs).
Other minority religious and spiritual groups in Nigeria include Hinduism, Judaism, The Bahá’í Faith, and Chrislam (a syncretic faith melding elements of Christianity and Islam). Further, Nigeria has become an African hub for the Grail Movement, the Rosicrucian order (AMORC), and the Hare Krishnas.
Cuisine
Suya
Nigerian cuisine, like West African cuisine in general, is known for its richness and variety. Many different spices, herbs and flavourings are used in conjunction with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply-flavoured sauces and soups often made very hot with chilli peppers. Nigerian feasts are colourful and lavish, while aromatic market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil are plentiful and varied.
Culture of Kenya
Kenya has no one culture that identifies it. With such diverse regional peoples such as the Swahili along the coast, several pastoralist communities mainly in the North and the different communities in Central and Western regions, having a mutually acceptable cultural identification is difficult.
There are about 42 different tribes in Kenya - each of these with its own unique culture, but majority of them with intertwining cultural practices brought about by the close resemblance in the languages, the similar environment and physical proximity of the tribes. The tribes are grouped into larger sub-groups - based on their cultural and linguistic similarities. There are three major unifying categories of languages: the Bantu speaking people of the Coastal region, the Central Highlands and the Western Kenya Region, The Nilotes who are mainly found in the Rift Valley and the Lake Victoria Region and the Cushites who are mainly composed of pastoralists and nomads in the drier North Eastern part of the country. Of note is that these sub-groups span a vast area of not just Kenya, but the East, Central and Southern African Region as a whole.
The Maasai culture owes its widespread identification to the tourist industry which has exploited them for purely commercial purposes.
Historical and current politics of division practiced first by the colonizers and then by subsequent community leaders has led to a situation where Kenyans themselves barely know their own culture let alone that of their neighbours. The colonial administration in partnership with missionary activities and formal education wiped out most cultural practices leaving a gap that was filled by Western cultural attitudes and identification especially by the youth.
The recent attempts at coming up with a national dress testifies to the difficult nature of Kenyans' cultural identity. The top-down formula employed rendered the entire process irrelevant as it only involved the urban areas hence the better educated and wealthier segments of society. The result was basically a restricted set of pre-approved national dresses and outfits with questionable aesthetic appeal to the majority of Kenyans.
Food
There is no singular dish that represents all of Kenya. Different communities have their own native foods. Staples are maize and other cereals depending on the region including millet and sorghum eaten with various meats and vegetables. The foods that are universally eaten in Kenya are ugali, sukuma wiki, and nyama choma. Sukuma wiki, a Kiswahili phrase which literally means "to push the week," is a simple dish made with greens similar to kale or collards that can also be made with cassava leaves, sweet potato leaves, or pumpkin leaves. Its Kiswahili name comes from the fact that it is typically eaten to "get through the week" or "stretch the week." Nyama choma is roasted meat - usually goat or sheep- roasted over an open fire. It is best eaten with ugali and kachumbari. Among the Luhyas residing in the western region of Kenya, ingokho (chicken) and ugali is a favourite meal. Other than these, they also eat tsisaka, miroo, managu etc. Also among the Kikuyu of Central Kenya, a lot of tubers, ngwaci (sweet potatoes), ndũma (taro root) known in Kenya as arrowroot, ikwa (yams), mianga (cassava) are eaten as well as legumes like beans and a Kikuyu bean known as njahi.
[National dress
Apart from the national flag, Kenya is yet to have a national dress that cuts across its diverse ethnic divide. With each of the more than 42 ethnic communities in Kenya having its own traditional practices and symbols that make it unique, this is a task that has proved elusive in the past. However, several attempts have been made to design an outfit that can be worn to identify Kenyans, much like the Kente' cloth of Ghana.
The most recent effort was the Unilever-sponsored "Sunlight quest for Kenya's National Dress". A design was chosen and though it was unveiled with much pomp at a ceremony in which public figures modelled the dress, the dress design never took hold with the ordinary people.
Kitenge, a cotton fabric made into various colours and design through tie-and-dye and heavy embroidery, is generally accepted as the African dress. Though used in many African countries, Kitenge is yet to be accepted as an official dress as it is only worn during ceremonies and non-official functions. The Maasai wear dark red garments to symbolise their love for the earth and also their dependence on it. It also stands for courage and blood that is given to them by nature. The Kanga (Khanga, Lesso) is another cloth that is in common use in practically every Kenyan home. The Kanga is a piece of clothing about 1.5 m by 1 m, screen printed with beautiful sayings in Swahili (or English) and is largely worn by women around the waist and torso.
MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK
Murchison falls National Park derives it name from the Murchison falls where the mighty river Nile explodes through a narrow gorge and flows down to become a placid river whose banks are thronged with Hippos, crocodiles, waterbucks and buffaloes. The Vegetation is characterized by savannah, Riverine forest and woodland. Wildlife includes; lions, leopards, chimpanzee giraffes, buffaloes, hartebeests, oribis, Uganda Kob, Chimpanzees and many bird species including the rare shoebill stock.
Latest Phones and available at Amazon
Samsung Eltz S7220 Leaked Photos
Samsung must be planning quite an onslaught of phones next week. After the Acme and the Samsung Tocco Ultra which was supposed to be the Loches now we have the Samsung Eltz being leaked.
According to Steve at LeakedPhones.com the Samsung Eltz is a mid-range handset and will sport a 5MP camera and a 2.4 inch AMOLED screen as well as a-GPS, MP3 player and expandable memory.
Thanks Steve for the tip!
Samsung Acme i8910 Leaked Photos
The breaking news today is that a new touchscreen phone from Samsung called the Samsung i8910 is about to be announced at MWC this month.
The Samsung i8910 has been leakeed by Gaj-It.com and will be available in 8GB and 16GB versions.
It is rumoured that it will include a 8 megapixel touchscreen cameraphone, which is no surprise for Samsung’s standards. As well as attracting the click happy bunch, it also includes GPS, HDMI, WiFi, 3.5mm socket, is DNLA and DivX compatible and offers HD recording. It will come in 8GB and 16GB versions and is expected to be a bit on the pricey side.
We’ve known that Samsung are planning around 11 devices for release at MWC this month for a while, the Samsung Loches was another rumoured device with very high specifications. The Loches is a 12.8mm thick slider handset with a black and orange colour scheme. Reminds me of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phones, however their use of orange was a bit more subtle! It has a duralumin body with anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint coating. It features a 2.8inch OLED touch screen with a WQVGA resolution and 16 million colours, as well as a 12-key keypad.
Toshiba TG01 Gets Reviewed
Toshiba are entering the smartphone marketing with a bang by launching a mobile phone with all the functions of their top end TV sets.
Pocket Lint has got a hands on video here.
Apparently the Toshiba TG01 is set to “revolutionise the mobile entertainment world”
Featuring the new Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, the company says the 1GHz chip will be considerably faster than any device on the market.
Users will be able to interact with the device using a virtual trackpad that will appear on screen. Instead of an accelerometer, the phone will use something Toshiba are calling a “G-sensor” that allows you to tilt the phone around a central spot.
On the tech side you’ll get HSDPA 3G and AGPS or GPS connectivity. Elsewhere you will get a microSD card for expanding the 512MB memory and there will be support for DivX.
LG Arena KM900 New Leaked Photos
A lot of blogs have been talking about the new LG Arena KM900 that has been leaked today. It’s a 5-megapixel camera phone with a secondary one for video calls, built-in GPS, WiFi, and an “innovative S-Class 3D interface.
As well as the main large image below we have an exclusive image of the LG Arena showing the phone in action rather than just on a poster.
LG KM900 Arena handset seems to be already in production and should hit retail shelves in Europe in March
Looks like a pretty interesting handset to me, though overall design kinda reminds me of Samsung Omnia.
Acer smartphone launching
The Acer smartphone has been unveiled this week.
Not much is known so far, other than the fact it will launch at Mobile World on 16th February.
So asks an invite that’s just dropped into Pocket-lint’s inbox this morning, confirming rumours the company are to launch a smartphone.
Due to be unveiled on 16 February at the Mobile World Congress event the invite promises “smartphones launch - Acer press conference” with Gianfranco Lanci, Acer’s president and CEO, due to speak.
Pocket-lint will be attending the Barcelona event and will bring you all the Acer news as it is announced.
Samsung Tocco Ultra S8300 leaked, launch date
A brand new smartphone is about to hit the UK called the Samsung Loches S8300. We first heard about the S8300 back in December but thanks to a leak this week the full name of Samsung Loches is now known.
Apparently the Loches will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 16th with a launch date of March 2009.
The Loches is a 12.8mm thick slider handset with a black and orange colour scheme. Reminds me of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phones, however their use of orange was a bit more subtle! It has a duralumin body with anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint coating. It features a 2.8inch OLED touch screen with a WQVGA resolution and 16 million colours, as well as a 12-key keypad.
It uses Samsung’s TouchWiz finger friendly interface, featuring various widgets for a customisable home screen and has an accelerometer for auto rotating webpages, camera, pictures, etc.
Samsung Armani Night Effect launch date announced
With mobile phones becoming every part the fashion accessory, what better way to make a statement than by treating yourself to the new Samsung Armani night effect phone. Everyone wants to be at the cutting edge of fashion and what better way to cause a stir among your friends than with this!!
Mobile Phone manufacturers are starting to focus more on style and class and what better way to do that by joining up with one of the leading fashion houses.
For all those people who like labels, the Armani logo is engraved on the side and rear of the handset. It also sports a customised ring tone so you won’t go unnoticed. The name focuses on the use of LED lights, which change colours from red to blue and green that make it stand out at night so people will not only hear you but see you.
The Samsung Armani Night Effect hasn’t been adorned with the fanciest features like many other handsets on the market, but taking the Armani name fashion brand speaks volumes alone.
Features
• 2.2 inch QVGA screen
• 3 Megapixel Camera
• Music Hot keys
• 3G Equipped
• Bluetooth Connectivity
• Media player with Video Recorder
• FM Radio
• 3.5mm Audio Jack
The new INQ1 is set to make social networking tools even more accessible
Just when you thought you were already spending enough time on Facebook, the new INQ1 is set to make social networking even more accessible.
The INQ1 phone is based around instant chat and social networking so for all those people who love social networking and keeping up to date with their friends this is the phone for you. With messenger, full Facebook integration, an ebay tracker and all your skype functions what more could you want?
We know that most phones can already do most of these things but what is different about the INQ1 is that these are not done via add ons so it makes it much more user friendly.
It doesnt come close to the Iphone and doesn’t have a touch screen but it is set to inject a new lease of life into social networking for all you Facebook addicts.
Samsung must be planning quite an onslaught of phones next week. After the Acme and the Samsung Tocco Ultra which was supposed to be the Loches now we have the Samsung Eltz being leaked.
According to Steve at LeakedPhones.com the Samsung Eltz is a mid-range handset and will sport a 5MP camera and a 2.4 inch AMOLED screen as well as a-GPS, MP3 player and expandable memory.
Thanks Steve for the tip!
Samsung Acme i8910 Leaked Photos
The breaking news today is that a new touchscreen phone from Samsung called the Samsung i8910 is about to be announced at MWC this month.
The Samsung i8910 has been leakeed by Gaj-It.com and will be available in 8GB and 16GB versions.
It is rumoured that it will include a 8 megapixel touchscreen cameraphone, which is no surprise for Samsung’s standards. As well as attracting the click happy bunch, it also includes GPS, HDMI, WiFi, 3.5mm socket, is DNLA and DivX compatible and offers HD recording. It will come in 8GB and 16GB versions and is expected to be a bit on the pricey side.
We’ve known that Samsung are planning around 11 devices for release at MWC this month for a while, the Samsung Loches was another rumoured device with very high specifications. The Loches is a 12.8mm thick slider handset with a black and orange colour scheme. Reminds me of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phones, however their use of orange was a bit more subtle! It has a duralumin body with anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint coating. It features a 2.8inch OLED touch screen with a WQVGA resolution and 16 million colours, as well as a 12-key keypad.
Toshiba TG01 Gets Reviewed
Toshiba are entering the smartphone marketing with a bang by launching a mobile phone with all the functions of their top end TV sets.
Pocket Lint has got a hands on video here.
Apparently the Toshiba TG01 is set to “revolutionise the mobile entertainment world”
Featuring the new Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, the company says the 1GHz chip will be considerably faster than any device on the market.
Users will be able to interact with the device using a virtual trackpad that will appear on screen. Instead of an accelerometer, the phone will use something Toshiba are calling a “G-sensor” that allows you to tilt the phone around a central spot.
On the tech side you’ll get HSDPA 3G and AGPS or GPS connectivity. Elsewhere you will get a microSD card for expanding the 512MB memory and there will be support for DivX.
LG Arena KM900 New Leaked Photos
A lot of blogs have been talking about the new LG Arena KM900 that has been leaked today. It’s a 5-megapixel camera phone with a secondary one for video calls, built-in GPS, WiFi, and an “innovative S-Class 3D interface.
As well as the main large image below we have an exclusive image of the LG Arena showing the phone in action rather than just on a poster.
LG KM900 Arena handset seems to be already in production and should hit retail shelves in Europe in March
Looks like a pretty interesting handset to me, though overall design kinda reminds me of Samsung Omnia.
Acer smartphone launching
The Acer smartphone has been unveiled this week.
Not much is known so far, other than the fact it will launch at Mobile World on 16th February.
So asks an invite that’s just dropped into Pocket-lint’s inbox this morning, confirming rumours the company are to launch a smartphone.
Due to be unveiled on 16 February at the Mobile World Congress event the invite promises “smartphones launch - Acer press conference” with Gianfranco Lanci, Acer’s president and CEO, due to speak.
Pocket-lint will be attending the Barcelona event and will bring you all the Acer news as it is announced.
Samsung Tocco Ultra S8300 leaked, launch date
A brand new smartphone is about to hit the UK called the Samsung Loches S8300. We first heard about the S8300 back in December but thanks to a leak this week the full name of Samsung Loches is now known.
Apparently the Loches will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 16th with a launch date of March 2009.
The Loches is a 12.8mm thick slider handset with a black and orange colour scheme. Reminds me of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phones, however their use of orange was a bit more subtle! It has a duralumin body with anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint coating. It features a 2.8inch OLED touch screen with a WQVGA resolution and 16 million colours, as well as a 12-key keypad.
It uses Samsung’s TouchWiz finger friendly interface, featuring various widgets for a customisable home screen and has an accelerometer for auto rotating webpages, camera, pictures, etc.
Samsung Armani Night Effect launch date announced
With mobile phones becoming every part the fashion accessory, what better way to make a statement than by treating yourself to the new Samsung Armani night effect phone. Everyone wants to be at the cutting edge of fashion and what better way to cause a stir among your friends than with this!!
Mobile Phone manufacturers are starting to focus more on style and class and what better way to do that by joining up with one of the leading fashion houses.
For all those people who like labels, the Armani logo is engraved on the side and rear of the handset. It also sports a customised ring tone so you won’t go unnoticed. The name focuses on the use of LED lights, which change colours from red to blue and green that make it stand out at night so people will not only hear you but see you.
The Samsung Armani Night Effect hasn’t been adorned with the fanciest features like many other handsets on the market, but taking the Armani name fashion brand speaks volumes alone.
Features
• 2.2 inch QVGA screen
• 3 Megapixel Camera
• Music Hot keys
• 3G Equipped
• Bluetooth Connectivity
• Media player with Video Recorder
• FM Radio
• 3.5mm Audio Jack
The new INQ1 is set to make social networking tools even more accessible
Just when you thought you were already spending enough time on Facebook, the new INQ1 is set to make social networking even more accessible.
The INQ1 phone is based around instant chat and social networking so for all those people who love social networking and keeping up to date with their friends this is the phone for you. With messenger, full Facebook integration, an ebay tracker and all your skype functions what more could you want?
We know that most phones can already do most of these things but what is different about the INQ1 is that these are not done via add ons so it makes it much more user friendly.
It doesnt come close to the Iphone and doesn’t have a touch screen but it is set to inject a new lease of life into social networking for all you Facebook addicts.
Sony Ericsson C510 the ultimate mobile camera experience
The Sony Ericsson C510 is due to hit the shops soon and is supposed to be it’s most affordable Cyber-shot phone to date. The price is still unknown but should most definitely be in line with the average budget.
For all those people who are looking for high quality pictures in a phone. Look no further than this.
The handset boasts a “smile shutter function” which allows the handset to tell if the subject is smiling and then take the photo at the correct time. Other features include , a camera light, face and a smile detection and picture editing tools. The smile shutter technology will also be added to the C905 launched
ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN UGANDA
All governments after independence declared their opposition to discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. Neither the 1969 nor the 1980 census recorded ethnic identity. However, Ugandans continued to take pride in their family histories, and government officials, like many other people, continued to consider ethnic factors in decision making. Moreover, much of Uganda's internal upheaval traditionally was based in part on historical differences among ethnic groups.
The forty or more distinct societies that constitute the Ugandan nation are usually classified according to linguistic similarities. Most Ugandans speak either Nilo-Saharan or CongoKordofanian languages. Nilo-Saharan languages, spoken across the north, are further classified as Eastern Nilotic (formerly NiloHamitic ), Western Nilotic, Central Sudanic. The many Bantu languages in the south are within the much larger CongoKordofanian language grouping.
Lake Kyoga in central Uganda serves as a rough boundary between the Bantu-speaking south and the Nilotic and Central Sudanic language speakers in the north. Despite the popular image of north-versus-south in political affairs, however, this boundary runs roughly from northwest to southeast near the course of the Nile River, and many Ugandans live among people who speak other languages. Some sources describe regional variation in terms of physical characteristics, clothing, bodily adornments, and mannerisms, but others also claim that these differences are disappearing.
Bantu-speakers probably entered southern Uganda by the end of the first millennium A.D. and developed centralized kingdoms by the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Following independence, Bantu-language speakers comprised roughly two-thirds of the population. They were classified as Eastern Lacustrine and Western Lacustrine Bantu, referring to the populous region among East Africa's Great Lakes (Victoria, Kyoga, Edward, and Albert in Uganda; Kivu and Tanganyika to the south). Eastern Lacustrine Bantu-speakers included the Baganda (people of Buganda, whose language is Luganda), Basoga, and many smaller societies in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. Western Lacustrine Bantu-speakers included the Banyoro (people of Bunyoro), Batoro, Banyankole, and several smaller populations.
Nilotic-language speakers probably entered the area from the north beginning about A.D. 1000. They were the first cattleherding people in the area but relied on crop cultivation to supplement livestock herding for subsistence. The largest Nilotic populations in Uganda in the 1980s were the Iteso and Karamojong cluster of ethnic groups, who speak Eastern Nilotic languages, and the Acholi, Langi, and Alur, who speak Western Nilotic languages. Central Sudanic languages, which also arrived in Uganda from the north over a period of centuries, are spoken by the Lugbara, Madi, and a few small groups in the northwestern corner of the country.
One of the most recent major languages to arrive in Uganda is English. Introduced by the British in the late nineteenth century, it was the language of the colonial administration. After independence English became the official language of Uganda, used in government and commerce and as the primary medium of educational instruction. Official publications and most major newspapers appear in English, and English is often employed in radio and television broadcasts. Most Ugandans speak at least one African language. Swahili and Arabic are also widely spoken.
Eastern Lacustrine Bantu
Western Lacustrine Bantu
Eastern Nilotic Language Groups
Western Nilotic Language Groups
Central Sudanic Language Groups
Foreigners
Baganda
The Baganda (sing., Muganda; often referred to simply by the root word and adjective, Ganda) make up the largest Ugandan ethnic group, although they represent only about 16.7 percent of the population. (The name Uganda, the Swahili term for Buganda, was adopted by British officials in 1894 when they established the Uganda Protectorate, centered in Buganda.) Buganda's boundaries are marked by Lake Victoria on the south, the Victoria Nile River on the east, and Lake Kyoga on the north. This region was never conquered by colonial armies; rather the powerful king (kabaka), Mutesa, agreed to protectorate status. At the time, Mutesa claimed territory as far west as Lake Albert, and he considered the agreement with Britain to be an alliance between equals. Baganda armies went on to help establish colonial rule in other areas, and Baganda agents served as tax collectors throughout the protectorate. Trading centers in Buganda became important towns in the protectorate, and the Baganda took advantage of the opportunities provided by European commerce and education. At independence in 1962, Buganda had achieved the highest standard of living and the highest literacy rate in the country.
Authoritarian control is an important theme of Ganda culture. In precolonial times, obedience to the king was a matter of life and death. A second important theme of Ganda culture, however, is the emphasis on individual achievement. An individual's future is not entirely determined by status at birth. Instead, individuals carve out their fortunes by hard work as well as by choosing friends, allies, and patrons carefully.
The traditional Ganda economy relied on crop cultivation. In contrast with many other East African economic systems, cattle played only a minor role. Many Baganda hired laborers from the north as herders. Bananas were the most important staple food, providing the economic base for the region's dense population growth. This crop does not require shifting cultivation or bush fallowing to maintain soil fertility, and as a result, Ganda villages were quite permanent. Women did most of the agricultural work, while men often engaged in commerce and politics (and in precolonial times, warfare).
Ganda social organization emphasized descent through males. Four or five generations of descendants of one man, related through male forebears, constituted a patrilineage. A group of related lineages constituted a clan (for lineage and clan). Clan leaders could summon a council of lineage heads, and council decisions affected all lineages within the clan. Many of these decisions regulated marriage, which had always been between two different lineages, forming important social and political alliances for the men of both lineages. Lineage and clan leaders also helped maintain efficient land use practices, and they inspired pride in the group through ceremonies and remembrances of ancestors.
Ganda villages, sometimes as large as forty or fifty homes, were generally located on hillsides, leaving hilltops and swampy lowlands uninhabited, to be used for crops or pastures. Early Ganda villages surrounded the home of a chief or headman, which provided a common meeting ground for members of the village. The chief collected tribute from his subjects, provided tribute to the kabaka, distributed resources among his subjects, maintained order, and reinforced social solidarity through his decision-making skills. Late nineteenth-century Ganda villages became more dispersed as the role of the chiefs diminished in response to political turmoil, population migration, and occasional popular revolts.
Most lineages maintained links to a home territory (butaka) within a larger clan territory, but lineage members did not necessarily live on butaka land. Men from one lineage often formed the core of a village; their wives, children, and in-laws joined the village. People were free to leave if they became disillusioned with the local leader to take up residence with other relatives or in-laws, and they often did so.
The twentieth-century influence of the Baganda in Uganda has reflected the impact of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century developments. A series of kabakas amassed military and political power by killing rivals to the throne, abolishing hereditary positions of authority, and exacting higher taxes from their subjects. Ganda armies also seized territory held by Bunyoro, the neighboring kingdom to the west. Ganda cultural norms also prevented the establishment of a royal clan by assigning the children of the kabaka to the clan of their mother. At the same time, this practice allowed the kabaka to marry into any clan in the society.
One of the most powerful appointed advisers of the kabaka was the katikiro, who was in charge of the kingdom's administrative and judicial systems--effectively serving as both prime minister and chief justice. The katikiro and other powerful ministers formed an inner circle of advisers who could summon lower-level chiefs and other appointed advisers to confer on policy matters. By the end of the nineteenth century, the kabaka had replaced many clan heads with appointed officials and claimed the title "head of all the clans."
The power of the kabaka impressed British officials, but political leaders in neighboring Bunyoro were not receptive to British officials who arrived with Baganda escorts. Buganda became the centerpiece of the new protectorate, and many Baganda were able to take advantage of opportunities provided by schools and businesses in their area. Baganda civil servants also helped administer other ethnic groups, and Uganda's early history was written from the perspective of the Baganda and the colonial officials who became accustomed to dealing with them.
The family in Buganda is often described as a microcosm of the kingdom. The father is revered and obeyed as head of the family. His decisions are generally unquestioned. A man's social status is determined by those with whom he establishes patronclient relationships, and one of the best means of securing this relationship is through one's children. Baganda children, some as young as three years old, are sent to live in the homes of their social superiors, both to cement ties of loyalty among parents and to provide avenues for social mobility for their children. Even in the 1980s, Baganda children were considered psychologically better prepared for adulthood if they had spent several years living away from their parents at a young age.
Baganda recognize at a very young age that their superiors, too, live in a world of rules. Social rules require a man to share his wealth by offering hospitality, and this rule applies more stringently to those of higher status. Superiors are also expected to behave with impassivity, dignity, self-discipline, and self-confidence, and adopting these mannerisms sometimes enhances a man's opportunities for success.
Ganda culture tolerates social diversity more easily than many other African societies. Even before the arrival of Europeans, many Ganda villages included residents from outside Buganda. Some had arrived in the region as slaves, but by the early twentieth century, many non-Baganda migrant workers stayed in Buganda to farm. Marriage with non-Baganda was fairly common, and many Baganda marriages ended in divorce. After independence, Ugandan officials estimated that one-third to one-half of all adults marry more than once during their lives.
Basoga
The traditional territory of the Basoga (people of Busoga; sing., Musoga; adj. Soga) is in southeastern Uganda, east of the Victoria Nile River. The Basoga make up about 8 percent of the population. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Basoga were subsistence farmers who also kept cattle, sheep, and goats. Basoga often had gardens for domestic use close to the homestead. There the women of the household cared for the most common staple foods--bananas, millet, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Men generally cared for cash crops--coffee, cotton, peanuts, and corn.
Traditional Soga society consisted of a number of small kingdoms not united under a single paramount leader. Society was organized around a number of principles, the most important of which was descent. Descent was traced through male forebears, leading to the formation of the patrilineage, which included an individual's closest relatives. This group provided guidance and support for each individual and united related homesteads for economic, social, and religious purposes. Lineage membership determined marriage choices, inheritance rights, and obligations to the ancestors. An individual usually attempted to improve on his economic and social position, which was initially based on lineage membership, by skillfully manipulating patron-client ties within the authority structure of the kingdom. A man's patrons, as much as his lineage relatives, influenced his status in society.
Unlike the kabakas of Buganda, Basoga kings are members of a royal clan, selected by a combination of descent and approval by royal elders. In northern Busoga, near Bunyoro, the royal clan, the Babito, is believed to be related to the Bito aristocracy in Bunyoro. Some Basoga in this area maintain that they are descended from people of Bunyoro.
Bagisu
The Bagisu (people of Bugisu) constitute roughly 5 percent of the population. They occupy the well-watered western slopes of Mount Elgon, where they grow millet, bananas, and corn for subsistence, and coffee and cotton as cash crops. Bugisu has the highest population density in the nation, rising to 250 per square kilometer. As a result, almost all land in Bugisu is cultivated, and land pressure causes population migration and social conflicts.
A large number of Bagisu were drawn into the cash economy in 1912, with the organization of smallholder production of arabica coffee and the extension of Uganda's administrative network into Bugisu. After that, the Bagisu were able to exploit their fertile environment by producing large amounts of coffee and threatening to withhold their produce from the market when confronted with unreasonable government demands. One of the mechanisms for organizing coffee production was the Bugisu Cooperative Union (BCU), which became one of the most powerful and most active agricultural cooperatives in Uganda. Bugisu's economic strength was based in part on the fact that coffee grown on Mount Elgon was of the highest quality in Uganda, and total output in this small region constituted more than 10 percent of the coffee produced nationwide.
Land pressure during the early decades of colonial rule caused the Bagisu to move northward, impinging on the territory of the Sebei people, who have fought against Gisu dominance for over a century. The Bagwere and Bakedi people to the south have also claimed distinct cultural identities and have sought political autonomy.
Western Lacustrine Bantu
Uganda Table of Contents
The Banyoro, Batoro, and Banyankole people of western Uganda are classified as Western Lacustrine Bantu language speakers. Their complex kingdoms are believed to be the product of acculturation between two different ethnic groups, the Hima (Bahima) and the Iru (Bairu). In each of these three societies, two distinct physical types are identified as Hima and Iru. The Hima are generally tall and are believed to be the descendants of pastoralists who migrated into the region from the northeast. The Iru are believed to be descendants of agricultural populations that preceded the Hima as cultivators in the region.
Banyoro
Bunyoro lies in the plateau of western Uganda. The Banyoro (people of Bunyoro; sing., Munyoro; adj. Nyoro) constitute roughly 3 percent of the population. Their economy is primarily agricultural, with many small farms of two or three hectares. Many people also keep goats, sheep, and chickens. People often say that the Banyoro once possessed large herds of cattle, but their herds were reduced by disease and warfare. Cattle raising is still a prestigious occupation, generally reserved for people of Hima descent. The traditional staple is millet, and sweet potatoes, cassava, and legumes of various kinds are also grown. Bananas are used for making beer and occasionally as a staple food. Cotton and tobacco are important cash crops.
Nyoro homesteads typically consist of one or two mud-and- wattle houses built around a central courtyard, surrounded by banana trees and gardens. Homesteads are not gathered into compact villages; rather, they form clustered settlements separated from each other by uninhabited areas. Each Munyoro belongs to a clan, or large kinship group based on descent through the male line. A woman retains her membership in her clan of birth after marriage, even though she lives in her husband's home. Adult men usually live near, but not in, their father's homestead. Men of the same clan are also dispersed throughout Bunyoro, as a result of generations of population migration based on interpersonal loyalties and the demand for farmland.
The traditional government of Bunyoro consisted of a hereditary ruler, or king (omukama), who was advised by his appointed council consisting of a prime minister, chief justice, and treasurer. The omukama occupied the apex of a graded hierarchy of territorial chiefs, of whom the most important were four county chiefs. Below them in authority were subcounty chiefs, parish chiefs, and village heads.
The Nyoro omukama was believed to be descended from the first ruler, Kintu, whose three sons were tested to determine the relationship that would endure among their descendants. As a result of a series of trials, the oldest son became a servant and cultivator, the second became a herder, and the third son became the ruler over all the people. This tale served to legitimize social distinctions in Nyoro society that viewed pastoral lifestyles as more prestigious than peasant agriculture and to emphasize the belief that socioeconomic roles were divinely ordained.
During colonial times, the king was a member of the Bito clan. Bito clan members, especially those closest to the king, were considered members of royalty, based on their putative descent from Kintu's youngest son, who was chosen to rule. The pastoralist Hima were believed to be descended from Kintu's second son, and the Iru, or peasant cultivators, were said to be descended from Kintu's eldest son, the cultivator. Even during the twentieth century, when many Banyoro departed from their traditional occupations, these putative lines of descent served to justify some instances of social behavior.
Among the most important of the omukama's advisers were his "official brother" (okwiri) and "official sister" (kalyota), who represented his authority within the royal clan, effectively removing the king from the demands of his family. The kalyota was forbidden to marry or bear children, protecting the king against challenges from her offspring. The king's mother, too, was a powerful relative, with her own property, court, and advisers. The king had numerous other retainers, including custodians of royal graves, drums, weapons, stools, and other regalia, as well as cooks, musicians, potters, and other attendants. Most of these were his close relatives and were given land as a symbol of their royalty; a few palace advisers were salaried.
Almost all Nyoro political power derived from the king, who appointed territorial chiefs at all levels. High-ranking chiefs were known as the "king's men" and were obligated to live in the royal homestead, or capital. The chief's advisers, messengers, and delegates administered his territory according to his dictates. During colonial times, the three highest ranks of chiefs were assigned county, subcounty, and parish-level responsibilities to conform with the system British officials used in Buganda. Most kings appointed important Hima cattle farmers to be chiefs. People provided the chiefs with tribute-- usually grain, beer, and cattle--most of which was supposed to be delivered to the king. Failure to provide generous tribute weakened a man's standing before the throne and jeopardized his family's security.
Batoro
The Toro Kingdom evolved out of a breakaway segment of Bunyoro some time before the nineteenth century. The Batoro and Banyoro speak closely related languages, Lutoro and Lunyoro, and share many other similar cultural traits. The Batoro live on Uganda's western border, south of Lake Albert. They constitute roughly 3.2 percent of the population, but the Toro king (also called omukama) also claims to rule over the Bakonjo and Baamba people in the more fertile highlands above the plains of Toro. These highlands support cultivation of coffee as well as cotton, rice, sugarcane, and cocoa. Jurisdictional disputes have erupted into violence many times during colonial and independent rule and led to the formation of the Ruwenzururu political movement that was still disrupting life in Toro in the late 1980s.
Toro is a highly centralized kingdom like Buganda but similar in stratification to Bunyoro. The omukama has numerous retainers and royal advisers. Chiefs govern at several levels below the king, and like the kabaka of Buganda, the Toro ruler can appoint favored clients to these positions of power. Clientship--often involving cattle exchange--is an important means of social advancement.
Banyankole
Ankole (Nkole) is a large kingdom in southwestern Uganda, where the pastoralist Hima established dominion over the agricultural Iru some time before the nineteenth century. The Hima and Iru established close relations based on trade and symbolic recognition, but they were unequal partners in these relations. The Iru were legally and socially inferior to the Hima, and the symbol of this inequality was cattle, which only the Hima could own. The two groups retained their separate identities through rules prohibiting intermarriage and, when such marriages occurred, making them invalid.
The Hima provided cattle products that otherwise would not have been available to Iru farmers. Because the Hima population was much smaller than the Iru population, gifts and tribute demanded by the Hima could be supplied fairly easily. These factors probably made Hima-Iru relations tolerable, but they were nonetheless reinforced by the superior military organization and training of the Hima.
The kingdom of Ankole expanded by annexing territory to the south and east. In many cases, conquered herders were incorporated into the dominant Hima stratum of society, and agricultural populations were adopted as Iru or slaves and treated as legal inferiors. Neither group could own cattle, and slaves could not herd cattle owned by the Hima.
Ankole society evolved into a system of ranked statuses, where even among the cattle-owning elite, patron-client ties were important in maintaining social order. Men gave cattle to the king (mugabe) to demonstrate their loyalty and to mark life-cycle changes or victories in cattle-raiding. This loyalty was often tested by the king's demands for cattle or for military service. In return for homage and military service, a man received protection from the king, both from external enemies and from factional disputes with other cattle owners.
The mugabe authorized his most powerful chiefs to recruit and lead armies on his behalf, and these warrior bands were charged with protecting Ankole borders. Only Hima men could serve in the army, however, and the prohibition on Iru military training almost eliminated the threat of Iru rebellion. Iru legal inferiority was also symbolized in the legal prohibition against Iru owning cattle. And, because marriages were legitimized through the exchange of cattle, this prohibition helped reinforce the ban on Hima-Iru intermarriage. The Iru were also denied highlevel political appointments, although they were often appointed to assist local administrators in Iru villages.
The Iru had a number of ways to redress grievances against Hima overlords, despite their legal inferiority. Iru men could petition the king to end unfair treatment by a Hima patron. Iru people could not be subjugated to Hima cattle-owners without entering into a patron-client contract.
A number of social pressures worked to destroy Hima domination of Ankole. Miscegenation took place despite prohibitions on intermarriage, and children of these unions (abambari) often demanded their rights as cattle owners, leading to feuding and cattle-raiding. From what is present-day Rwanda, groups launched repeated attacks against the Hima during the nineteenth century. To counteract these pressures, several Hima warlords recruited Iru men into their armies to protect the southern borders of Ankole. And, in some outlying areas of Ankole, people abandoned distinctions between Hima and Iru after generations of maintaining legal distinctions that had begun to lose their importance
QUEEN ELIZABETH
The Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) is Uganda's most-visited game reserve. It lies in the west of the nation and occupies 2,000 square miles (5,000 km2) from Lake George to Lake Edward around the Kazinga Channel connecting them.
The park is named after Queen Elizabeth II and was established in 1954.
Hippopotami in the Kazinga Channel, Queen Elizabeth National Park
The park is known for its wildlife, although many animals were killed in the Uganda-Tanzania War. Many species have recovered, including hippopotamuses, elephants, leopards, lions and chimpanzees; it is now home to 95 species of mammal and over 500 species of birds.
The park is also famous for its volcanic features, comprising volcanic cones and deep craters, many with crater lakes such as Lake Katwe, from which salt is extracted.
The national park includes the Maramagambo Forest and borders the Kigezi and Kyambura Game Reserves, Kibale National Park, and the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kasese lies on the north western edge of the park.
Eastern Nilotic Language Groups
Uganda Table of Contents
Historians believe that Uganda's northeastern districts were inhabited by herders migrating from the east over a period of several centuries. Their twentieth-century descendants live in Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda, where the largest groups are the Karamojong (people of Karamoja) ethnic groups. These include the Karamojong proper, as well as Jie, Dodoth, and several small related groups, constituting about 12 percent of the population. All Karamojong peoples speak almost the same language (Akaramojong), with different pronunciations. The Iteso (people of Teso) south of Karamoja also speak an Eastern Nilotic language (Ateso) and are historically related to the Karamojong, but the Iteso are sometimes classified separately, based on cultural differences (many of which are recently acquired). The small Teuso (Ik), Tepeth, and Labwor populations in the northeast also speak Eastern Nilotic languages but maintain separate cultural identities. In northwestern Uganda, the Kakwa are also classified as Eastern Nilotic, based on linguistic similarities to the Karamojong, despite the fact that Kakwa society is surrounded by Western Nilotic and Central Sudanic language speakers.
Karamojong Cluster
The relatively sparse rainfall in northeastern Uganda supports a pastoralist economy, and most people also raise crops to supplement their diet that centers around meat, milk, and blood from cattle. Even after independence in 1962, most Ugandan governments dealt with the Karamojong as rather difficult rural citizens who sometimes impeded administration of the region. Most Karamojong resisted government pressures to abandon their herding life-styles, but officials estimated that as many as 20 percent of the population may have died in the drought and famine that swept through much of the African Sahel in the early 1980s.
Karamojong, Jie, and Dodoth oral historians have recounted their forebears' arrival in the region from the north. According to these accounts, they found an indigenous society, the Oropom, who were forced to move southward, leaving an Oropom clan among the Karamojong as an apparent remnant of this society. The Dodoth people were believed to have separated from the Karamojong proper in the mid-eighteenth century. They migrated northward into more mountainous territory. As a result, their culture resembled that of the Karamojong in many respects. Dodoth homesteads were generally in valleys, with dry season pastures on nearby hillsides. As a result, the Dodoth did not practice the transhumant migration patterns that required other Karamojong peoples to establish dry-season cattle camps.
Cattle are of great symbolic and economic importance, and people recalled the devastating rinderpest epidemic that swept the area in the late nineteenth century. Using that tragedy to educate the young, they also told of cattle herds that were saved by being moved to highland grazing areas.
British control of the region was fairly ineffective well into the twentieth century, although successful trading centers had been established as early as 1890. Traders brought ivory and, occasionally, cattle to augment local herds, and received grain, spears, and other metal products in return.
Most Karamojong peoples supplement their pastoral economy with crop cultivation, which is almost entirely in the hands of women. Millet is an important staple, but many people also grow corn and peanuts. Tobacco is often grown within the stockade that surrounds most homesteads. The homestead is usually a circular configuration, and within this enclosure, each married woman has a house built of mud and brushwood walls with a thatched roof. The center of this is a cattle kraal, usually with only one opening to the outside.
Wives live in their husband's homestead after marriage. Each wife has a separate, small house that serves as a kitchen, and some women also cultivate plots of ground several hours' walk away from their homes. Men were traditionally scornful of widowers and old men who cared for their own gardens, but after plows were introduced in the 1950s and farming became more financially rewarding, many young men claimed plots of ground for their own use and hired women to work in them.
Dodoth homesteads are larger than those of the Karamojong proper and more isolated from one another. Surrounding the homestead, upright poles are thrust into the earth, intertwined with branches and packed with mud and cow dung, forming a sturdy wall with only one or two small openings to the outside. As many as forty people often live in one homestead. Each wife has her own hut and hearth, and adolescent girls often build huts of their own next to their mothers' huts. Adolescent boys also build a larger "men's house," where they live before marriage. People keep cattle and other animals inside the fortified wall at night. A woman often keeps a small garden near her hut, but fields and pastures are outside the homestead.
Among most Karamojong peoples, men living within a homestead are related by descent through male forebears. This group, the patrilineage, is augmented by wives and children, and occasionally by unmarried brothers of the lineage head. A group of brothers usually shares the ownership of a herd of cattle, although animals are divided among individuals for milking and other domestic purposes. Cattle are usually branded with clan markings, although a man normally knows each animal in his family herd. Only when the last surviving brother dies is the herd divided among the next generation, with each set of full brothers inheriting a small herd.
Grazing areas are common ground outside the stockade, although milk cows sometimes stay near the homestead. During the driest months, usually February and March, cattle are moved to seasonal camps some distance from the homestead. In these camps, men live almost entirely on milk and blood drawn from live cattle, and, occasionally, meat. In the homestead, women, children, and old people forage for food, including flying ants, if stores of grain are depleted. In very lean times, milk is reserved for children and calves before adults.
Most societies of northeastern Uganda are organized into kinship groups larger than the lineage. Among the Jie, patrilineages maintaining the belief that they are distantly related often keep homesteads near one another, but this practice is less common among other Karamojong. The clan comprises related lineages, often numbering over 100 people. Jie clans are exogamous, meaning that two people of the same clan can not marry one another. In addition, men generally avoid marriage with a woman of their mother's clan or that of her close relatives. Jie clan members share some symbolic recognition of their common identity, such as jewelry, but they do not observe the ritual taboos of animals or foods that are characteristic of many other African clan groupings.
Two important sources of social solidarity link members of unrelated lineages to one another. Intermarriage forms bonds based on brideprice cattle, which are given by a man's family to that of his bride, and children, who are important to their own lineage and to that of their mother. Age-sets form bonds among groups of men close in age. (Clan leaders establish a new age-set about every twenty-five years.) Members of an age-set are generally obligated to maintain ties of friendship and assist each other when in need.
Cattle are so vital in Karamoja that it is often difficult for Westerners to understand the attitudes surrounding them. Owning cattle is a mark of adulthood for men. Being without cattle is almost as onerous as being seriously ill; it threatens life. Moreover, a man can lose his entire herd of cattle in a brief raid. A mistake in judgment, such as a poor choice of pastures or travel routes, can cost a life's work. At the same time, outsiders are sometimes surprised to realize that these herders perceive themselves as poverty-ridden or uncivilized. In fact, the value of their cattle is often much greater than the value of the salaries received by government civil servants who come from the south to administer the region of the Karamojong.
Living among the Karamojong peoples in the far northeast are several small ethnic groups who rely on hunting and cattle- raiding for much of their subsistence, but some have also gained a reputation as spies and informers in the local system of raiding and warfare. One such group, the Teuso, were moved from their homeland in the 1960s to clear land for Kidepo National Park. Most of their Karamojong neighbors despised the Teuso, so much so that people were willing to see them starve rather than allow them to join nearby villages. Some Teuso died, and others left the area to become low-wage earners in nearby towns. The social system that developed in response to depopulation and deprivation emphasized individual survival at the expense of other people. The Uganda government reacted strongly against the unfavorable publicity generated by one anthropological account of this society in the early 1970s, and security problems limited travel in the area. As a result, by the late 1980s, information about their society was scarce.
The Tepeth also lived among the Karamojong, although they were usually classified as a separate Eastern Nilotic-speaking group. Oral histories relate that they were forced by government edict to vacate their homes in caves high in the mountains in northeastern Uganda. The move increased their vulnerability to attack by people and disease, and an influx of refugees from Sudan further disrupted life. Warfare and conflict increased, and the Tepeth developed a variety of religious cults and rituals to maintain their cultural integrity in the face of Karamojong and Sudanese influence. In the late 1980s, little was known of the life-style of the remaining Tepeth people.
The Labwor people, who live on the border between Acholi and Karamoja, are historically and linguistically related to the Karamojong but have adopted much of the life-style of the Acholi. The Labwor region is also a center of trade between cultivators to the west and pastoralists to the east. The local economy centers around crops--chiefly sorghum, eleusine, maize, gourds, sweet potatoes, beans, and peanuts--but people also raise cattle and goats. A small number of men from Labwor have achieved substantial wealth as itinerant traders in northeastern Uganda. Labwor society is organized into homesteads centered around the core of patrilineally related men and their wives and children. In addition, age-sets are important stabilizing factors, forming cross-cutting ties among lineages.
Iteso
The Iteso (people of Teso) are an acculturated branch of the Eastern Nilotic language speakers. With roughly 8.1 percent of the population of Uganda, they are believed to be the nation's second largest ethnic group. Teso territory stretches south from Karamoja into the well-watered region of Lake Kyoga. The traditional economy emphasizes crop growing. Many Iteso joined Uganda's cash economy when coffee and cotton were introduced in 1912, and the region has thrived through agriculture and commerce.
Traditional Teso settlements consist of scattered homesteads, each organized around a stockade and several granaries. Groups of homesteads are united around a hearth, where men who form the core of the settlement gather for ritual and social purposes. These groups usually consist of patrilineally related males, whose wives, children, and other relatives form the remainder of the settlement. Several groups of lineages form a clan. Clans are only loosely organized, but clan elders maintain ritual observances in honor of their ancestors. Men of the clan consult the elders about social customs, especially marriage. Much of the agricultural work is performed by women. Women may also own land and granaries, but after the introduction of cash-crop agriculture, most land was claimed by men and passed on to their sons.
All Iteso men within a settlement, both related and unrelated, are organized according to age. Each age-set spans fifteen to twenty years, providing a generational framework for sharing the work of the settlement. Age-sets exercise social control by recognizing status distinctions based on seniority, both between and within age groups. They also share responsibility for resolving disputes within the settlement or among neighboring settlements.
The small population of Kumam people living on the western border of Teso are historically related to the Iteso, but the Kumam have adopted many cultural features of their neighbors to the west, the Langi. The Kumam economy is based on mixed farming and cotton, but little other information was available regarding their culture in the 1980s.
Kakwa
Although Kakwa people speak an Eastern Nilotic language, they are geographically separated from other Eastern Nilotic speakers. Kakwa society occupies the region bordering northwestern Uganda, southern Sudan, and northeastern Zaire. Those living in Uganda constitute less than 1 percent of the population, but Kakwa society has achieved widespread notoriety because the father of Idi Amin Dada, president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, was Kakwa. (Amin's mother was from a neighboring society, the Lugbara.) The Kakwa are believed to have migrated to the region from the northeast. Their indigenous political system features small villages centered around a group of men who are related by descent. A council of male elders wields political and judicial authority. Most land is devoted to cultivating corn, millet, potatoes, and cassava. Cattle are part of the economy but not central to it. After Amin was deposed in 1979, many Kakwa people fled. Government and rebel troops inflicted a wave of revenge on the area, even though Amin had lived in Buganda as a child and had spent little time among Kakwa villagers.
Western Nilotic Language Groups
Uganda Table of Contents
Western Nilotic language groups in Uganda include the Acholi, Langi, Alur, and several smaller ethnic groups. Together they comprise roughly 15 percent of the population. Most Western Nilotic languages in Uganda are classified as Lwo, closely related to the language of the Luo society in Kenya. The two largest ethnic groups, the Acholi and Langi, speak almost identical languages, which vary slightly in pronunciation, suggesting that the two groups divided as recently as the early or mid-nineteenth century. The Alur, who live west of the Acholi and Langi, are culturally similar to neighboring societies of the West Nile region, where most people speak Central Sudanic languages.
Langi and Acholi
The Langi and Acholi occupy north-central Uganda. The Langi represent roughly 6 percent of the population. Despite their linguistic affiliation with other Lwo speakers, the Langi reject the "Lwo" label. The Acholi represent 4 percent of the population but suffered severe depopulation and dislocation in the violence of the 1970s and 1980s.
By about the thirteenth century A.D., Lwo-speaking peoples migrated from territory now in Sudan into Uganda and Kenya. They were probably pastoralists, organized in segmentary patrilineages rather than highly centralized societies, but with some positions of ritual or political authority. They encountered horticultural Bantu-speakers, organized under the authority of territorial chiefs. The newcomers probably claimed to be able to control rain, fertility, and supernatural forces through ritual and sacrifice, and they may have established positions of privilege for themselves based on their spiritual expertise. Some historians believe the Langi represent the descendants of fifteenth-century dissenters from Karamojong society to the east.
Both societies are organized into localized patrilineages and further grouped into clans, which are dispersed throughout the territory. Clan members claim descent from a common ancestor, but they are seldom able to recount the nature of their relationship to the clan founder. Acholi lineages are ranked according to their proximity to a royal lineage, and the head of this lineage is recognized as a king, although his power is substantially less than that of monarchs in the south.
Acholi and Langi societies rely on millet cultivation and animal husbandry for subsistence. In some areas, people also cultivate corn, eleusine, peanuts, sesame seed, sweet potatoes, and cassava. Both Langi and Acholi generally assign agricultural tasks either to men or women; in many cases men are responsible for cattle while women work in the fields. (In some villages, only adult men may milk cows.) An Acholi or Langi man may marry more than one wife, but he may not marry within his lineage or that of his mother. A woman normally leaves her own family to live in her husband's homestead, which may include his brothers and their families. Each wife has a separate house and hearth for cooking.
Alur
The Alur political system is a series of overlapping, interlocking chiefdoms, which were never unified in a single polity during precolonial times. Related lineages from different chiefdoms performed some religious ceremonies together, and intermarriage among chiefdoms was also fairly common. People also recognized other Alur speakers as neighbors. The Acholi claimed land east of Alur territory, and the Alur lost land in 1952, with the creation of Murchison (Kabalega) National Game Park. The Alur subsequently incorporated some Sudanic-speaking groups into their society as they expanded to the west.
Alur territory was remote from British commerce during colonial times, but once colonial boundaries were set, people found ways to profit from cross-border smuggling. Only a few churches, schools, and medical dispensaries were established, and many Alur became migrant laborers in Buganda to earn money to pay their taxes. Despite its geographical isolation, Alur territory in the 1980s showed signs of substantial but uneven acculturation, influenced by Sudanese, Zairian, and other Ugandan cultures. Alur society also became the object of some of the anti-Amin revenge that swept through the region in the 1980s.
Murchison Falls National Park lies in north western Uganda, spreading inland from the shore of Lake Albert around the Victoria Nile. It is named for the Murchison Falls waterfall, itself named for a president of the Royal Geographical Society. The park is known for its wildlife which has partly recovered from a massacre by poachers and troops under Idi Amin. The park is, together with the adjacent Bugungu Wildlife Refuge and Karuma Wildlife Refuge, part of Murchison Falls Conservation Area.
Central Sudanic Language Groups
Uganda Table of Contents
Central Sudanic languages are spoken by about 6 percent of Ugandans, most of whom live in the northwest. The Lugbara (roughly 3.8 percent of the total) and the Madi (roughly 1.2 percent) are the largest of these groups, representing the southeastern corner of a wide belt of Central Sudanic language speakers stretching from Chad to Sudan. The Lugbara live in the highlands, on an almost treeless plateau that marks the watershed between the Zaire River and the Nile. The Madi live in the lowlands to the east.
Lugbara and Madi speak closely related languages and bear strong cultural similarities. Both groups raise millet, cassava, sorghum, legumes, and a variety of root crops. Chickens, goats, and, at higher elevations, cattle are also important. Corn is grown for brewing beer, and tobacco is an important cash crop.
This region is densely populated, dotted with small settlements separated from one another by streams or patches of bush. Each settlement consists of a family cluster, with a core of patrilineal relatives and their polygynous families living under the authority of a lineage elder. Membership in a settlement is flexible; however, people leave and rejoin a village on the basis of interpersonal relationships.
The clan leaders adjudicate most disputes. They can order a man to pay compensation for assault or property damage; murder is often avenged by killing. The entire clan shares responsibility in most matters, but the clan segment, or lineage, shares more immediate responsibility for avoiding conflict.
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