Buganda

Buganda, kingdom of the 14-million Baganda, is East Africa's greatest traditional state, holding Uganda's Central Region with Kampala inside. Unification began around the 13th century under Kato Kintu, founder of the Kintu dynasty, and by the 18th and 19th centuries Buganda was the most powerful state of the region, with canoe fleets on the lake, barkcloth and iron industries, and appointed chiefs governing counties under the Kabaka. The name Uganda itself is the Swahili word for Buganda, taken by Britain when the kingdom became the protectorate's centre in 1884. Under colonial rule Baganda served as administrators and grew cotton and coffee; independence abolished the kingdoms in 1967, but the monarchy was restored in 1993. The Kabaka's Lubiri palace, the Kasubi tombs and the Lukiiko parliament still order Ganda life. Baganda administrators ran the whole protectorate for Britain. Cotton and coffee from Buganda farms still fill Kampala markets. Fourteen million Baganda keep the clans of the Kintu dynasty.