SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The traditional kingdom of Nkore, in western Uganda, came into existence around the beginning of the 16th century and this study is an attempt to trace its political history, on the basis of traditional accounts, up to the coming of the Europeans during the last decade of the 19th century. But this study is not exclusively historical or political. Religious beliefs and practices, clan organisation and other non-political aspects of Nkore society are examined in varying degrees. From these and from other sources, it appears that Nkore had become a viable kingdom by the beginning of the 18th century, largely as a result of the efforts of her kings. From about that period, however, the kingdom went through a troubled period due to the rivalry of the princes for the throne and sin examination of the system of succession indicates that the system itself was largely responsible for this period of instability. The last two reigns covered by this study (from about 1850 to 1895) saw an aggressive and expansionist Nkore, but this trend was brought to an abrupt halt by a rapid sucession of human and animal epidemics, which wakened and demoralised the population, and then by the untimely death of the Mugabe Ntare V in 1895. Just when it appeared that the kingdom would not hold together in the face of these unsettling events, the vanguard of the colonial administration arrived and the course of Nkore history was shaped along radically different lines and in the wider context of a Uganda protectorate of which Nkore kingdom, henceforth to he called Ankole, was a part.