Documentary Final

The story of Uganda is told through a series of interconnected events, from the early interactions with outsiders and the introduction of Islam, to the search for the source of the Nile and the arrival of European explorers. The influence of Islam grew, leading to a clash with the king and the burning of Muslims. Henry Morton Stanley convinced the king to invite Christian missionaries, which led to a rivalry between Protestant and Catholic missionaries. The arrival of the missionaries caused unrest and disobedience among the people. When the king died, his son Wanga showed even more disdain for the new religions. you you it has been in bits and pieces of seemingly isolated events that the story of our existence has been narrated. Interrelated events of immense consequence are at times discussed as though they transpired in a vacuum. The assumptions and conjecture that result from the absence of full context inevitably degenerate into far-fetched and unsubstantiated narratives eventually becoming mainstream beliefs. We'll spotlight and examine a few events of consequence in this nation's rare history. Things that happened contemporaneously both within and beyond its borders. Taking a closer look at them from a holistic perspective and drawing logical correlations. Our story will be told like it has never been told before. Come with me. This is the story of Uganda. Bunyoro and a number of tribes in proximity to or along the Nile such as the Belongo, Acholi, Lugbara and Magunda had been in contact with outsiders from as far away as Egypt dating as far back as the 1840s. Buganda's first recorded interaction with foreigners came in 1844 during the reign of Kalakasuna II. When Arab caravans from Zanzibar reached the northwestern shores of Lake Inyanza on the hunt for ivory, a highly coveted commodity at the time, on the international market. With the Arabs came Islam, the first alien religion introduced to the region. Islam, however, did not take off from Buganda until the ascent of Kalaka Mutesa to the throne in 1856 and his subsequent proclamation that he was a Muslim. Mutesa himself could not have predicted the magnitude of this announcement. Buganda converted to Islam in droves in an effort to align themselves with the crown. Not to mention the pride and honor that came along with being aligned with the crown. Many Buganda yearned to be literate. Literate natives were often the frontmen of any dealings with foreigners. They were more fiscally savvy and as such made away with larger bottom lines than their illiterate counterparts. Upward social mobility in the kingdom was now more attainable for as long as one was literate. Early Muslim converts were the first beneficiaries of literacy. Arab crusaders had been diligent about teaching their converts how to read and write. So presently, more or less, anyone who was literate in the kingdom was a Muslim. When a significant number of Buganda could now read and write, a new social class of literates, who referred to themselves as the Abbasomi, was established. These people were held in such high regard by the kingdom and as such it goes without saying that they were the envy of many commoners. Everyone wanted to be a member of the Abbasomi. By 1870, most of Buganda's most influential gentry and many of its royals, including the Kabaka, identified as Muslims. Islam was now the de facto state religion. The search for the source of the Mao would lead to an influx of European explorers to the region in the late 1850s and 1860s. Of all the early European visitors to Buganda, none's impact was as consequential as John Rollins, also known as Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh-American journalist who worked for the New York Herald. In 1869, Stanley was commissioned by the New York Herald to find David Livingston, a Scottish missionary-turned-explorer. Livingston had not been heard from for over three years after setting out to Central Africa to find the source of the Mao. There had been conflicting reports on whether Livingston was dead or alive, and several search parties had been commissioned to track him. Stanley found Livingston in a very poor state of health in Ujiji, a village along the banks of Lake Tanganyika, in November of 1871. The expedition had clearly taken a toll on his health. Per Stanley's account, he tried to convince Livingston to abort the mission, or even take a break from it until he got back to good health, but Livingston was not to be convinced. He was steadfast and resolved not to leave Central Africa until he had answered the old-age question of where the source of the Mao lay. Just two years after this encounter, well after Stanley had left Central Africa and returned to America to write about his adventures in Africa, David Livingston died. European obsession with finding the source of the Mao only intensified after Livingston's death. Several explorers were commissioned to head to Central Africa and pick up where Livingston had left off. Among these explorers was Henry Morton Stanley. Morton's employer, the New York Herald, had joined forces with the Daily Telegraph from London, and together the two newspapers threw their hat in the ring to find the source of the Mao. They could not think of anyone better for the mission than Henry Morton Stanley. When Stanley arrived in Uganda in 1874, Mutessa was embroiled in a feud with his Muslim subjects, many of whom had made it clear that they were now more eligent to Islam than they were to the kingdom, or to Mutessa for that matter. A new form of Islam from Khartoum had permeated Uganda, and surprisingly, despite its extremity in comparison to the form of Islam that existed before it and Uganda traditions, many Uganda were drawn to it and began upholding its doctrines and imposing them on to others. With the auspices of their Khartoum teachers, Islam-era Muslims took issue with many aspects of how Islam was being observed in Uganda. Kabaka Mutessa and Uganda's institutions as a whole were not beyond reproach. They thought Uganda's version of Islam was watered down, and wanted Sharia to be proclaimed as the law of the land, and Islamic observance made mandatory. They became a constant thorn in Mutessa's side. They even forbid fellow Muslims from attending prayers at the Lubidi, where Mutessa had assumed the role of Imam, and infidelly insisted had no right to lead Friday prayers. The unadulterated disrespect and insubordination Mutessa was now faced with was way too much for him to bear. His own pages at the Lubidi had been infiltrated, and were now getting out of hand. Islam had become an existential threat to his rule, challenging all aspects of his governance. Like a flip of the switch, Mutessa went from proclaiming that he was a staunch follower of Islam, to being vehemently against it, and threatening draconian measures against those who practiced it. As a stern warning, Mutessa's men rounded up upwards of 1,000 Muslims, and marched them to Namagongo. A fraction of the men were tied down on large logs, in front of a large crowd of spectators, and lit ablaze. Some records indicate that as many as 70 men were burnt alive that day, while other accounts suggest that that number might have been much, much higher. This event marked the first time on record in the region that people were killed because of their faith. Such was the environment in Buganda when Henry Morton Stanley arrived. Previous to Mutessa's headaches dealing with his Muslim subjects, Stanley took the liberty to speak to Mutessa about Christianity, in an effort to convince him that Christianity would be much more conducive for governance. Long story short, Stanley convinced Mutessa to invite and welcome Christian missionaries to Buganda. By some accounts, Mutessa's invitation to Christian missionaries was done not so much because he thought Christianity was better suited for the kingdom, but because he thought it would lead to an influx of Europeans to his kingdom, which would in turn help him get more guns and ammunition, which he desperately needed to fend off Buñuelo, and to keep the New Era Muslims and their Khartoum influencers in check. Be that as it may, Mutessa's thumbs-up to Stanley's request would open the gates of Buganda to whites from all walks of life, Christians and non-Christians alike, and have a major influence on the course of history. In his famous letter, published in the Daily Telegraph on November 15th of 1875, Stanley eulogized the kingdom of Buganda as the most hopeful field for a missionary endeavor. He went on to reveal that Mutessa had been receptive to the idea of Christianity, and that he had in fact put out an invitation to Christian missionaries to come to his kingdom. This news was received with immense excitement by the Church Missionary Society. With no delay, the CMS pounced at the opportunity and prepared itself to establish a mission in Buganda. Within a year and a half of Stanley's letter, on June 30th of 1877, the first CMS Anglican missionaries arrived in Buganda. Just two years later, a group of French Roman Catholic priests, led by Father Laudel and Brother Damas from the White Father Society of Africa, arrived. The Church Missionary Society and the White Father Society of Africa were at each other's throats from the onset. The beef between Protestants and Catholics that had persisted in Europe for centuries had now found its way to Buganda. The tension was only exacerbated by the fact that both groups of missionaries were targeting the same groups of people during their conversion campaigns. Buganda was becoming more and more unruly for the Kabaka, as the new religions vied for converts. Now more than ever, commoners were disobedient and disrespectful towards the Kabaka. It appeared that the arrival of Christian had only fanned the flames of insubordination towards Matesa in Buganda. And within months of their arrival, Matesa was already regretting having invited them to his kingdom. When Matesa died in 1884, he was succeeded by his son Wanga, who was no more than 16 years of age. Christian missionaries were excited about the new possibilities of Buganda, hanging their hats on Wanga's youth and hoping that he would be a lot more impressionable than his father was, and much more receptive to Christianity. They, however, would be in for a rude awakening. Wanga's actions would prove that he probably despised his new religions more than his father did. While he was barely a teenager, he had lived long enough to see with his own two eyes the insubordination and divisiveness his new religions had brought about, and have witnessed firsthand how unruly and uncontrollable the Christians had gotten during the last few years of his father's reign. He had vowed to challenge his new religions, and not to let them get in the way of him governing his kingdom. Wanga's first entanglement with Christians came in 1885, less than a year after he had taken the throne, when he ordered the killing of a missionary named James Hannington, who attempted to cross into Buganda through Usoga. An oracle in the not-so-distant past had foretold that the biggest threat to the kingdom of Buganda would come from the east, through Usoga. To be fair, in Wanga's perspective, he was only getting ahead of the threat, and protecting his kingdom. Some of his subjects, however, vehemently disagreed, and went as far as confronting Wanga, and chastising him over Hannington's killing. Joseph Mukasa Valikudembe, the Catholic leader, was very outspoken about Huntington's killing, and took every opportunity to let the Kabaka know how he felt. Valikudembe was particularly aggrieved, because he had gone to bat for Huntington, and attempted to persuade Wanga to spare him. When the news of Huntington's murder reached Valikudembe, he was incensed. His annoyance drove him into a rage that had him behaving erratically and recklessly, taking the liberty to mouth off against Wanga, and speak very disparagingly against him. Not surprisingly, Wanga took exception to Valikudembe's behavior. The oracle had spoken, and Wanga had heeded. Wanga genuinely believed that by killing Huntington, he would avoid the fate the oracle had foretold would befall Puganda, and that he was acting in favor of the general goodness of the kingdom. It boggled his mind that Valikudembe was vehemently against him, when all he was doing was trying to get ahead of the problem, in an effort to protect his kingdom. Making matters worse, Valikudembe continued practicing Catholicism, even after Wanga had officially banned Christianity. It should come as no surprise that this annoyed Wanga. Brimming with anger, Wanga called for a meeting with the Luchiko to consult with its members and determine how to best deal with Valikudembe. Most members of the Luchiko were already in the know of Valikudembe's behavior, and were also disturbed by his lack of decorum and his subordination towards the Kavaka. It did not take much convincing for the Luchiko to come down with a decision condemning Valikudembe to death. On November 15th of 1885, Valikudembe was apprehended and executed. Taken as a measure to instill fear in the hearts of those who dared to go against the Kavaka's directives, Mukasa's beheaded body was burned in clear view of the public on the banks of the Natchezbo River. Not long thereafter, Wanga ordered the arrest of the Christian converts, now under the stewardship of Charles Wanga, Mukasa Valikudembe's successor. These Christians had contravened Wanga's orders and continued practicing their religions devoutly, even after the execution of Valikudembe. Worse yet, they had no respect for authority, and the only orders they willingly heeded to now were from the missionaries and from their religious leaders. Their insubordination was too much for Wanga to bear. He had had it with them, and felt the urge to send a stern message. To this end, on June 3rd of 1886, as many as 32 of the converts were rounded up and marched to Namagongo, where they would be burnt alive in a public execution. June 3rd is now a recognized public holiday in Uganda, known as Uganda Martyrs' Day. It is worth noting that, while some historians, including Michael Tweddle, have suggested that Wanga ordered the killing of the martyrs, after many of them had refused to engage in homosexual acts with him, these claims are unsubstantiated, and appear to have become a topic of discussion several decades ensuing the death of Wanga, in what appears to be a case of revisionist history, and British propaganda intended to fool Uganda into despising Wanga, and glorifying the British for their ensuing dealings with Uganda. It is curious why these allegations, which proved to be immensely disparaging and dismarching of Wanga, albeit several decades after his death, were not common knowledge at the time the martyrs were killed. For two years, in 1886 and 1887, followers of the three alien religions, Muslims, Catholics, and Protestants, armed themselves to the teeth and established formidable paramilitary units, resolved to secure the future of their respective religions in the kingdom. Stockpiles of guns and ammunition were acquired courtesy of the Christian missionaries and Arab traders. Weapons were furnished to the sects by their respective crusaders. The CMS provided arms to the Protestants, the White Fathers provided guns to the Catholics, and the Arabs sourced guns to the Muslims. Such was the situation in Uganda, and Wanga was not only privy to it, but he in fact encouraged it. Since many of these regiments were manned by youth, Wanga must have calculated that he would have a lot of influence over them, and that with their support he could finally get a more solid grip on power in the kingdom, and force older chiefs to finally acknowledge and respect him. Most of the youth recruits, however, had their own ulterior motives for joining these regiments. Many of them were fortune seekers and adventurers, with some membership as the new avenue to progress, and as such were not shy about putting their own personal motives and aspirations ahead of those of the kingdom. They were disrespectful, impudent, and generally lacked a sense of decorum. It was clear that the liberty Wanga had afforded these paramilitary units had gone to their heads, as they seemed to do whatever they wanted with impunity. Things struck home for Wanga when one of the paramilitary units attacked his maternal grandparents' house, ransacking it and leaving its tenants traumatized. The impudence was brazen, and a sign of how unhinged and out of control these paramilitary units had gotten. Needless to say, Wanga was irate, with a major itch to exact revenge against the unit that did this. To his chagrin, however, it was right about now that he came to the realization that his personal military could not stand up to any of these religious militias, and as such, he could not impose his will to the extent that he wanted. Uneasy about what might be brewing, an extremely paranoid Wanga at once decreed the immediate banishment of all religious paramilitary units from Buganda. His announcement, however, came too little too late. The three religious paramilitary units had already been in negotiations with each other, and had in fact already formed a coalition determined to usurp him. No sooner after Wanga's announcement, on September 10th of 1888, the paramilitary units launched an ambush on Wanga, deposing him summarily in what some historians have referred to as a bloodless coup. With Wanga gone and out of sight, the religious factions now busied themselves with appointing a new administration, a task that would prove to be contentious in the initial stages, as each of the factions wanted one of their own at the helm. Somehow, however, the three factions came to terms on how best to proceed. The Christian factions took a back seat to the Muslims, agreeing to appoint Muslims to most of the top positions in the kingdom, including the Kabaka ship. On September 10th of 1888, Wanga's eldest brother, Prince Mutevi Chuewa, Nyonyintono, was crowned Kabaka. Chuewa's reign, however, was short-lived. Within a month of his ascent to the throne, the very Muslims who put him in power had had enough of him. A coup was waged, and Chuewa was removed from the throne. Such was the vitriol his usurpers had for him that they chased after him and hacked him to death. The problem with Chuewa, ironically, was that he had allowed too much religious freedom. Some Muslims had taken offense to the fact that he allowed the Catholics and Protestants to freely practice their religions. The Catholics and Protestants had won over a lot more converts than the Muslims in his short tenure. Shortly after deposing Chuewa, the Muslims banished Christian missionaries from Buganda and established an administration that was exclusively Muslim. They replaced Chuewa with his half-brother, Kalema Rashid Moguloma, on October 21st of 1888. Unlike Chuewa, Kalema was circumcised, and this gave Muslims a sense of assurance that they could trust him. Kalema's regime gave Muslims hope that Buganda was trending towards becoming an Islamic state. His supporters, one in Syria, instituted the law of the land, and to this end, Kalema obliged as soon as he took the throne. His vision was to implement a version of Sharia modelled after the Sultanate of Zanzibar. This aspiration, however, did not sit well with most Buganda. Many feared that their liberties would be infringed upon if such a system was implemented. Moreover, any traditional customs, and make no mistake, there were many, that did not align with the doctrines of Islam, were deemed sacrilegious, and were to be banned. The decree that all men in the kingdom get circumcised sent shockwaves throughout Buganda, and left many non-Muslims in a state of panic. Kalema's despotic tendencies, and ambition to institute what many thought would be draconian laws and regulations, instilled a lot of fear in the hearts of Buganda, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and led to an exodus of people from Buganda like had never been experienced in the kingdom. Many fled to Ankole, where the Omugabe Ntadi warmly received them, while others fled to Walingawe Island, not too far from the mainland, to join Kawaka, Mwanga. In Ankole, the exiled Ganda were under the leadership of Apolokagwa, while those in Walingawe were under the leadership of Semeika Konguru. Together, the exiled Ganda, traditionalist inclusive, schemed to fight the Muslims in unison, and bring back normalcy to Buganda. They kowtowed to Mwanga, and requested that he be so gracious as to accept an olive branch from them, and accept their proposition that he and his men should join them in their fight against his brother, Kalema, on the promise that they would place him back on the throne should their coup succeed. When word of the imminent attack got around, and Kalema got wind of it, he resolved to get ahead of the attack and destroy its masterminds and their followers before they could get to him. Acting on impulse, he went after and assassinated anyone and everyone he thought might have an affiliation to, or have sympathy for, Mwanga. His own family members and fellow royals were not beyond the reach of his vindictiveness. Many Ganda princes and princesses were rounded up and burned to death at Kalema's orders. His deceased brother, Chewewa's wives were not spared either during his rampage. They were apprehended and killed at Kalema's orders. Meanwhile, the opposition to Kalema's government grew and became more willing to risk it all to confront Kalema and unseat him from the throne. The more Ganda fled Buganda, the more the opposition had recruits to pick from and bolster their regiments. Emboldened by the strength they now had in numbers, the Christians and traditionalists advanced upon Buganda, besieging the kingdom. Kalema was dethroned and forced to scamper off to Banuro on October 5th of 1889. With the auspices of Kavalega, Kalema planned on waging a redemption war against Mwanga and taking back the throne. Meanwhile, Mwanga was returned to the throne. As had been done by the Muslims when they were at the helm, the Christians also went about establishing an administration that was predominantly and exclusively Christian. The alliance between the Protestants and Catholics, however, was unstable, and it was only a matter of time before it started unraveling at the seams. There were signs that the Protestant and Catholic alliance was not as strong going back to when the two groups were exiled. Not only had they stayed at separate camps, but even when they marched upon Buganda to oust Kalema, they remained segregated, with their troops aligning themselves with regiments of their religious affiliation. It was at a time of unprecedented infighting and division that overseas interest in conquering Buganda came. A disturbing number of Buganda had turned on the crown and were now more allegiant to outside influences than they were their own kingdom. The extent of Mwanga's influence and dominion over his kingdom had been majorly curtailed, and who exactly was calling the shots was indeterminable. It was with this backdrop that the IBEAC made its introduction to the people of Buganda. How exactly the IBEAC knew that Buganda was embroiled in turmoil and ripe for takeover is curious. What's undeniable, however, is that the IBEAC had kept tabs on the happenings in Buganda and knew that the time was now to make their move. Who exactly the company's informant was from within the kingdom is left for conjecture, but given the happenings in Buganda at the time, and given that the IBEAC was an English entity and saw where the CMS missionaries, it is not a stretch to conclude that the CMS missionaries might have been passing on intelligence to the IBEAC. Be that as it may, it was not until the Germans showed serious interest in taking control of this sphere of the African continent that the British Parliament suddenly heeded William MacKinnon's empirical proposition in East Africa and granted him a charter to establish the IBEAC. The company was structured to operate as a private entity, even though a good percentage of its funding came from the British government. Acting as a British proxy and headed by a decorated British soldier in Frederick Lugard, who had served in Afghanistan, Sudan, and Burma, the IBEAC arrived at Buganda's doorstep in December of 1890. Lugard and the IBEAC had arrived in Buganda unannounced, and the company of no more than 100 Sudanese and Swahili soldiers. Lugard wielded a Maxim gun, a weapon of the likes the locals had never seen, capable of shooting up to 600 rounds per minute from as far away as four kilometers. This weapon alone must have made him feel invincible. While most visitors were respectful to Buganda, and it was within decorum that they would send a messenger ahead of their arrival to seek the Kavaka's permission, Lugard sought no such permission. He also did not come bearing gifts, as was customary when outsiders visited the kingdom. This blatant exhibition of disrespect for Mwanga was in part because of the narratives that were being peddled in Europe about him. The killing of Bishop Hannington and the Christian converts not too long thereafter had left a bitter taste in the mouth of many Europeans. While the Protestant faction, now officially under the leadership of Abolhagwa, was welcoming to Lugard, the Catholics in Mwanga had major reservations. The Protestants must have had insider information about the IBEAC. They must have known that the IBEAC would be supportive of them, given that the company was British, and the British were known to be Protestants. Being that the CMS was a British entity, chances are that they were in communication with the IBEAC well ahead of its arrival to Buganda, and had reassured their followers that the odds would be heavily flipped in their favor upon the arrival of Lugard. Mwanga and the Catholics, on the other hand, were not as enthused about the IBEAC's impending arrival. The very reasons that excited the Protestants about the IBEAC's arrival were also the very reasons that worried the others. Despite these concerns, on December 26th of 1890, Buganda entered into a protection treaty with Lugard and the IBEAC. The IBEAC assumed the responsibility of protector of the kingdom, and Lugard assumed the position of military administrator. Considering how disrespectful Lugard had been, it's curious that Mwanga would agree to sign such a treaty. The stipulations of the treaty, and the events surrounding its signing, beg the question, did Mwanga sign the treaty with Lugard clear-eyed, or was he under some form of duress? Among other things, the authority to control the trade within the kingdom now lay with the IBEAC, and was no longer within the Kabaka, nor the Luchiko's purview. Taxes were to be paid to the IBEAC, and no longer to the crown. The Kabaka could not wage war, nor dish out punishment to his adversaries, without first consulting with Lugard. In fact, the Kabaka was expected to completely be dependent on Lugard for protection. There was even a stipulation within the treaty that forbade Mwanga from engaging in any form of trade for firearms. So here lay Buganda, with an estimated population of 2.5 million people at the time, now under the protection of Lugard, and his contingent of 100 mercenaries, and the IBEAC. By the time Lugard arrived in the region in 1890, Caballego had completely transformed Bunyaro. Bunyaro had repositioned itself as the most prominent kingdom in the region, economically, politically, and militarily. Bunyaro's military strength instilled immense fear and paranoia in the hearts of its neighbors. The IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBEAC, and the IBE Meanwhile, in Uganda, the weak Protestant and Catholic coalition only continued to crumble and deteriorate. It is worth noting that the inability to see eye-to-eye between these two Christian groups predated the arrival of Christian missionaries to Uganda. The two had been at each other's throats since Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Thesis, outlining 95 of his objections against the Catholic scripture. Several European nations that were once staunch Catholic strongholds started seeing massive shifts from Catholicism to Anglicanism in the mid-to-late 16th century. Many wars were fought all throughout Europe between the Protestants and Catholics, most notably the Thirty-Year War in Germany that lasted from 1618 to 1648, in which some estimates suggest that the populations of the affected regions declined by more than 50%. While the differences between the two Christian sects had pre-existed the Muslim reign in Uganda, they were not considered to be irreconcilable by either party, and in fact, they had been set aside momentarily when the two sects combined forces and deposed Kalema. The Catholics and Protestants had not only fought gallantly in unison to remove Kalema and the Muslims from power, but they also had even managed to come to terms on how to structure a government that was all-inclusive, promoting and advocating each party's interests. What was agreed upon was a power-sharing scheme in which the positions within Uganda's hierarchy were to be assigned in an alternating sequence between the Protestants and Catholics. For example, since the Kavaka was a self-proclaimed Catholic, the second-in-command, the Katikyto, was to be a Protestant. The third-in-command would be a Catholic, the fourth a Protestant, and so forth, in this order. Both parties were initially content and satisfied with this scheme of governance. This, however, was short-lived. When a significant number of chiefs who had once proclaimed to be Protestants started converting to Catholicism to align themselves with Kavaka Mwanga, who had also proclaimed himself a Catholic, the Protestants started questioning the fairness of this scheme. They had lost a great deal of representation in the Luchiko and Sazaz as a result of officials converting from Anglicanism to Catholicism. Feeling short-changed, the Protestants appealed to the IBEAC to institute changes. They suggested that a rule be implemented, making it such that, if a chief who identifies as a Protestant decides to convert and become a Catholic, he will not only be stripped of his chieftaincy and replaced by a Protestant, but he will also be required to vacate his village and migrate to a Catholic village. The IBEAC initially appeared to be neutral, refusing to meddle in these affairs and offering no direction. Meanwhile, the tension between the two Christian groups continued to grow and get out of hand. It soon became hard for Protestants and Catholics to live in harmony within proximity with each other. Brawls between members of the two sects had become a common thing by 1891. They had a visceral hatred for each other. The tension crescendoed in January of 1892 after the death of a Protestant, apparently at the hands of a Catholic. While the details of the death are up for debate, what is certain is that the Protestants were outraged and wanted to avenge the loss of one of their own. It was amid this turmoil that Lugard finally showed his hand, openly throwing his support behind Apollo Cabois and the Protestants. Emboldened by Lugard's support and his provision of precision firearms, the Protestants declared war against the Catholics. The Protestants set up their base at Namirembe, while Mwanga and the Catholics took positions at Terubaga and Mango Hills. Lugard and his Nubian mercenaries found themselves actively involved in the fighting that ensued. Yet again, Lugard's Maxim gun would prove to be a weapon to be reckoned with. Lugard would later gleefully write about his experience and how he fired off his Maxim gun towards advancing Catholics, who for a moment appeared to have the advantage, and killing five to six Catholics at a time, and how by virtue of the devastation and havoc wreaked by the Maxim, the Protestants were able to seize control of the kingdom, notwithstanding being majorly outnumbered by the Catholics. Mwanga and his Catholic loyalists withdrew from the battleground and went on the run, with Lugard and the Protestants nipping at their heels in hot pursuit. Mwanga and his Daihatsu loyalists were forced to board their canoes and set out for Balingawe Island in Lake Victoria. Back on the mainland, Lugard set Mwanga's Lugiri and neighboring huts and structures ablaze. When the dust had settled, by summer counts, upwards of 700 Ganda Catholics had been killed. The Protestants, on the other hand, had not incurred anywhere as many deaths. This event marked the beginning of Protestant dominance in Buganda. The Protestants were initially resolved to be the sole possessors of political power in the kingdom. They had no intention of sharing political office with the Catholics, let alone the Muslims and traditionalists. The White Fathers, however, threw a wrench in these plans. They were indignant that their converts lost the Battle of Mango, and consequently, they took every opportunity to bring light to Lugari, and his colleague, Captain William's, atrocities in Buganda, and how they turned their Maxim gun on the Roman Catholics. As an attempt to salvage his reputation and convince his critics in Europe that things were still as they were when he first came to the region, Lugard saw to it that the exiled Muslims and Catholics returned to Buganda. He also somehow managed to convince a reluctant Mwanga, who he had been in negotiations with, albeit through liaisons, to return to the throne by mid-1892. Following the war, Buganda's land was carved up and allocated along religious lines. The Protestants were awarded nearly 60% of Buganda's land. They were also given the right to use the land for their own purposes. They were also given the right to use the land for their own purposes. They were also given the right to use the land for their own purposes. The Protestants were awarded nearly 60% of Buganda's land. They took Kampala and all the surrounding counties. The Catholics were relegated to Budu, while the Muslims retired in Busujju, Butambala, and Gomba. Stanislaus Mwanga was appointed Catholic Catechito. Apul Kagwa retained his position as Catechito, but he was now the Catechito of the Protestants. And Semeika Kongulu was appointed Chimbugwe. After several weeks of negotiations, Lugud managed to convince Mwanga to return to the throne. Mwanga's reinstatement as Kawaka came right before Lugud was set to leave the Great Lakes region and embark upon the long voyage back to Europe. Lugud had garnered a lot of flak and criticism in England for having facilitated sectarianism in Buganda, and his decision to arm the Protestants with precision firearms. Lugud's reinstatement of Mwanga to the throne was done to give the impression to folks in Europe that things were still as they were before his arrival. A treaty placing Buganda under the protection of the IBEAC through 1894 was signed on March 30th of 1892. The treaty was signed in the presence of several witnesses. Lugud, the resident, signed on behalf of the IBEAC, while Kawaka Mwanga signed on behalf of Buganda. The treaty was reportedly translated to Luganda and read out aloud to the Kawaka and the witnesses, as many of them could not read nor write. A simple X on the signature line was deemed sufficient. Mwanga signed the treaty by simply marking the signature line with an X, and so did Buganda's witnesses, who included Apologabwa, the Katikido, and several others. It is important to note that the terms of the treaty did not favor Mwanga. Why Mwanga would agree to sign such a treaty, essentially stripping him of all his powers, is mind-boggling. Even some of Lugud's fellow countrymen back in England had raised eyebrows, curious as to what Lugud had done to convince Mwanga to agree to the terms of the treaty. The matter was even once a topic of discussion in the British Parliament. Mr. W. E. Gladstone was noted for his outspokenness on the matter. He suspected that Lugud had extorted the signatures from Mwanga. The Civil War in Buganda was expensive, so much so that it drove the IBEAC to near bankruptcy. The IBEAC at one point even seriously considered abandoning its mission in the kingdom. It was so broke. In desperation, the IBEAC turned to the British Parliament. The IBEAC, in response to Mr. W. E. Gladstone's request, In desperation, the IBEAC turned to the British Parliament and requested for a subsidization. It threatened to abandon the mission if funding was not forthcoming, going as far as withdrawing its resident, Frederick Lugud, from Buganda in May of 1892. The British, however, were still not convinced that what they stood to gain from Buganda was worth the expenditure. They were not sold on the idea that the juice was worth the squeeze. Besides, they were engaged in several other empirical endeavors across the globe, which they thought would be much more lucrative. When Lugud returned to Britain in mid-1892, he launched his own campaign advocating for Britain's official colonization of Buganda. He purported that the people of Buganda themselves had appealed to him to beg the British to colonize them. To help drive this point, Lugud arrived in Britain with two letters he alleged were written by Kabaka Mwanga. The first letter was addressed to Queen Victoria, while the second was addressed to British citizens. The letters thanked the Queen for having entrusted Lugud and the IBEAC with protecting Buganda. Mwanga apparently confessed that while he had not trusted the IBEAC at the onset, he had since come around and now sees the good the Company has done for his kingdom. He supposedly praised the IBEAC for having brought about peace in the kingdom. Thanks to Lugud's efforts to subdue the Muslims and to keep Kavalega in check. Mwanga allegedly went on to beg the Queen not to remove the IBEAC from Buganda, fearing that there would be arnagy in the kingdom if the Company left. He allegedly also requested that Captain Lugud be returned to Buganda, to complete the good work he had already laid a foundation for. It's curious, however, how Mwanga could have written the letters Lugud claimed he had written, considering he couldn't even write his own name when he entered treaties with Lugud, resorting to simply marking the signature line with an X. Public opinion in Britain was divided. Some kind-hearted Brits believed that a robust British presence in the region was necessary to help curb slave trade, which they had heard was pervasive in the region. Others contended that the high cost of administering Buganda did not justify its pursuit by the British. The IBEAC's cost to administer the kingdom was estimated at £40,000 annually, which was a steep price to pay in those days, especially for a place many did not expect could ever turn a profit. And then there were those who listened to Bishop Alfred Tucker of the Church Missionary Society and subscribed to his narrative. Alfred Tucker had served as the Anglican Bishop to East Equatorial Africa since 1890 and was a big proponent of Britons' official colonization of Buganda. Tucker was concerned that Buganda would descend into war and that the Protestants' lives would be in peril if the IBEAC vacated the kingdom. The Protestants were severely outnumbered by the others, who included the Catholics, the Muslims, and the traditionalists, and Tucker feared that the IBEAC would be leaving the Protestants out to dry if it abandoned its mission. With the support of the Church Missionary Society, Bishop Tucker took it upon himself to raise funds on behalf of the IBEAC so that the company could remain active in the region and continue its mission in Buganda. The CMS launched a fundraising campaign across Britain, soliciting those who were willing to listen to donate whatever they could. There was no amount that was too small. This way, within a matter of weeks, the CMS had raised enough money to keep the IBEAC in Buganda through December of 1892. In August of 1892, Lord Salisbury and his government fell and was replaced by Lord Gladstone. Like Salisbury before him, Gladstone was also initially staunchly against the notion of involving the British in any imperial endeavors in the Great Lakes region. With time, however, he eventually capitulated to pressure from such enthusiasts as Rosemary, the British Foreign Secretary at the time and future Prime Minister, and provided the IBEAC with a subsidy that would sustain its operations and keep its agents in Buganda until March of 1893. Despite Lugard's desires to return to Buganda and continue serving as a resident, he was assigned to other missions and never returned. It should be noted that the public opinion of Lugard back home in Britain was not the best. As a result of this, Lugard was forced to leave the IBEAC and was forced to return to his home country, England. The public opinion of Lugard back home in Britain was not the best. Many were suspicious of Lugard's claim that Mwanga had willingly signed the Treaty of Protection and thought that the only way Mwanga may have signed the treaty was if it was put under duress by Lugard. In December of 1892, the British appointed Gerard Porto, the British Special Commissioner to East Africa. Under his directives, Porto was ordered to conduct an assessment of Buganda and report back to the Crown as to whether Buganda would be worth pursuing as a colony. Porto arrived in Buganda on March 17th of 1893. Just weeks after his arrival on April 1st of 1893, Porto lowered the Imperial British East Africa Company's flag at Mangal and raised the Union Jack. This was a significant gesture as it laid the foundation and paved the way for Buganda's official transfer from the IBEAC to British rule. Interestingly, many Buganda failed to recognize the significance of this moment. Many were of the impression that they had been under British rule all along, having thought that the IBEAC flag that had been hoisted at Mangal when Lugard arrived in the Kingdom was in fact the British flag. A little over two months after his arrival, on May 29th of 1893, Porto signed a provisional treaty with Kabaka Mwanga, which unofficially secured Buganda as a British protectorate. The signing was witnessed by the Catechist of Buganda, Apolo Kagwa, and the eventual Commissioner and Consul General of Uganda, Ernest Barclay. This treaty was similar to the ones that Kabaka had allegedly signed with Lugard. The treaty, however, was merely a stopgap. The British government had not given Porto the permission to enter a treaty on its behalf with Buganda. He had only been commissioned to determine the feasibility of officially colonizing Buganda. His decision to sign a protectorate treaty with Buganda was done so at his own volition and was in fact a violation of his marching orders. Porto did not stay long in Buganda. He left for Britain just a day after he had signed the treaty with Mwanga, leaving Captain Macdonald, whose initial commission was to investigate Lugard and the events surrounding the 1892 Skafro as the acting Commissioner. He returned to Britain intent on championing the official colonization of Buganda. He, however, would fall ill and die from complications of typhoid before he could officially present his case to Parliament. His assessment of the situation, however, did not go to waste. In the days leading up to his passing, he had provided documents to Parliament recommending that Buganda be officially colonized. He had advised that he feared that other European powers would take over Buganda if the British left. He went on to advise that a Commissioner be appointed and that the Commissioner be provided with a team of individuals to ensure peace and to deal with any Europeans who visited the kingdom. He also delivered two letters to Parliament, one from Alfred Tucker, the Anglican Bishop of Istigotorio, Africa, and the other from Bishop Hurth, of the Catholic White Fathers. In the first letter, Bishop Tucker requested that the British government take over the responsibility of governing Buganda. Tucker claimed that if the British left Buganda, it was inevitable that the kingdom would slip back into a state of religious turmoil. He feared that the foundation the CMS had established in Buganda, to spread Anglicanism, would crumble if religious turmoil returned. In his letter, Bishop Hurth of the White Fathers, who was a member of Parliament, In his letter, Bishop Hurth of the White Fathers also advised the British to remain in Buganda. He remarked that while blacks are not inherently stupid, their bad leadership is often the cause of their suffering. He went on to assert that bad leadership was the reason there had been rampant infighting in Buganda. He recommended that Europeans with a strong belief in equality be deployed to Buganda to administer the kingdom, and to ensure peace. Nearly five months after Porto's death, on June 19th of 1894, Archibald Primrose, the 5th Earl of Roseberry, the former British Foreign Secretary, who just two years prior had fought so hard in Parliament for the official colonization of Buganda in support of the CMS, and had recently replaced Gladstone as British Prime Minister, appeared before the British Parliament and declared Buganda a British protectorate. A little over two months after Primrose's proclamation, on August 27th of 1894, Kabaka Mwanga Ndewuchiko were informed that Buganda was now officially a British colony. Despite a short stay in Buganda, Porto made time to mediate negotiations between the Ganda Catholics and Protestants. Bishop Alfred Tucker of the CMS and Bishop John Joseph Hearth of the White Fathers were also highly involved in these negotiations. Several concessions were made, one of the most significant of which was the decision to allocate more land to the Catholics. Following the 1892 Christian scuffle, the Catholics had been relegated to Butu, and nowhere else despite their large following. It goes without saying that they felt shortchanged. To make things right and lessen the tension, the Protestants acquiesced to the Catholics' demands and agreed to allocate more land to them. In addition to Butu, which was already a Catholic stronghold, the Catholics were also given Buwekula, Mawukweta, and parts of Sese Islands. The allocation of more land to the Catholics, in addition to the appointment of a Catholic catechulal who would serve as a nominal co-catechulal to Apolokar Gwa and Stanslas Mugwanya, would eventually lead to improved relations between the Catholics and Protestants and a reduction in turmoil. Not surprisingly, the Muslims also decided to try their hand at agitating for more land to be assigned to them. Their demands, however, would fall on deaf ears. Feeling aggrieved, they decided to strong-arm their way into having more land allocated to them. This, however, turned out to be ill-advised. They were in over their heads, thinking they stood a chance against the Protectorate. And sure enough, by some accounts, it took Captain Macdonald, the Acting Commissioner, and Sameika Konguru a mere thirty minutes to hand them a whooping so severe it stuck them dead in their tracks. In the aftermath, several leading Muslims, including Prince Mbogo, who had taken over the leadership of the Muslims after the death of his brother, Kabaka Kalima, were captured. In November of 1893, Henry Colville was appointed the Commissioner to Buganda, succeeding James Macdonald, who had served as the Acting Commissioner since Gerard Porto's departure in May of 1893. The Protectorate's administration was in a state of paranoia, concerned that their Sudanese mercenaries might no longer be as loyal as they once were. In reaction, Colville was dispatched to Buganda with a few British soldiers who were fluent in Arabic. By getting rid of interpreters and communicating directly with the Sudanese, the British hoped that they would be better positioned to address any issues that might arise more immediately. The Protectorate's uneasiness had come about following the Muslim Rebellion of 1893, after a Sudanese mercenary had tacitly proclaimed his brotherhood for the Ganda Muslims, when he asserted that he considered an assault on the Muslims as a direct attack on himself. Worried that this was not an isolated sentiment, and that many of the Sudanese might in fact sympathize with the Ganda Muslims, the Protectorate now more than ever felt like they needed to keep closer tabs on the Sudanese. Like the others who came before him, Colville came to the Great Lakes region, determined to take down Bonyaro once and for all. In December of 1893, a heavily armed Colville marched into Amparo. His force consisted of eight European officers, 400 Sudanese, and upwards of 15,000 Buganda. Yet again, his Ganda contingent was under the command of Zumaika Kongulu, and interestingly, they were accompanied by George Pilkington and a few other CMS missionaries. Colville had expected Kabalega to put up some semblance of resistance at the Kaffur River, and surely in his capital Amparo. He was surprised to find that no such resistance was forthcoming. Kabalega knew he stood no chance if he dug in and stood his ground. One time too many doing so against the British Protectorate had proven to be a futile undertaking. Ahead of Colville's arrival, Kabalega had ordered his subjects to evacuate the capital, Amparo, and take to the natural caves in Katasija, which he had hoped would serve as a perfect bunker to retaliate. While the caves gave some form of protection, they would prove not to be as strong of a blockade as Kabalega had hoped. And sure enough, after days of intense fighting, Kabalega and his Abarushra were driven out of Katasija and forced to go on the run. And sure enough, after days of intense fighting, Kabalega and his Abarushra were driven out of Katasija and forced to go on the run. While Kabalega was beaten, Kabalega was not broken, and he was very determined to go down swinging. As a change in strategy, Kabalega decided to divide his army into smaller units, each with its own commander and operating autonomously. The units were deployed all over Bunyoro and strategically along known British supply routes to attack British caravans on the move. Small-scale hit-and-run attacks became the new norm in Bunyoro's war against the British. It soon became difficult for the British to move a few meters away from their garrisons without being attacked. Bunyoro presently embraced guerrilla warfare, now realizing that it was the only tactic that would give them a fighting chance against the British. Kakungulu and his men made away with 3,000 goats, 60 heads of cattle, 40 guns, 10 tusks of ivory, and a great deal of ammunition. A significant amount of land in southern Bunyoro was also taken as part of the spoils. The land was put under the stewardship of Kakungulu to serve as a token of appreciation from the British for his valour in the battle. The new territory, together with ivory tusks, slaves, guns, and cows that he continued to acquire while Chimbugwe, made Kakungulu a man of immense wealth. Serving in part as a display of his newfound wealth, in October of 1894, Kakungulu married Princess Nakadema, Mwanga's sister, and threw a wedding reception the likes of which, in extravagance and immensity, had never been seen in Buganda. A sizeable chunk of Bunyoro's land was promised to be awarded to Buganda by Colonel Colville on behalf of the British government for their support against Cavallega. The promised land would eventually be officially transferred to Buganda by Colville's successor, Ernest Barclay. Dubbed the Lost Counties, the land became an issue of intense contention between Buganda and Bunyoro ever since. The land was distributed to the Protestants and Catholics, further normalizing their hierarchical positioning within the protectorate. In Barclay's own words, on November 19th of 1896, the day the land was officially transferred to Buganda, I proceed to explain the distribution of these territories between two religious parties as made by Colonel Colville, would be maintained. Namely, the district marked as South Bunyoro, bounded to the north by the Ngusi River, to the west by the south-east shore of Lake Albert, to the south by Mozizi River, and to the east by Chetumvi River, would go to the Catholics. And the territory lying to the east thereof, this bounded to the north by the Khufu River, and to the east by the Nile, and to the south by Buganda, would go to the Protestants. End quote. CMS missionaries wielded a lot of influence, and their opinions swayed how the British went about governing the protectorate. Nearly all the administrators the British installed in Buganda could not speak Swahili, let alone Luganda, and consequently, they were highly dependent on CMS missionaries, and in rare occasions the White Fathers, for translations. The role of Christian missionaries in facilitating the conquest of the peoples of the Great Lakes region should never be underestimated. They tied along with Lugand upon his arrival, and with Macdonald, and then Colville, and with every British administrator and commissioner that followed. George Pilkington was one such missionary. Pilkington accompanied Colville and Kakonglu to Bunyoro in 1893. One cannot help but ponder the extent of Pilkington's involvement in this invasion. Was he simply there to serve as a translator and to spread the gospel, or was he ever compelled to pick up a gun at any point and fight alongside Colville and Kakonglu? Some historians have suggested that many of these early Christian missionaries to the region were semi-political. Whatever information they had, they passed on to the Protectorate. Many plots by native Gunda were foiled by intelligence provided to the Protectorate by these missionaries. Not even the Catholic confessional guaranteed that one's deepest secrets and confessions would be held in confidence. Meanwhile in Muganda, Kabaka Mwanga had been reduced to a mere figurehead in the early to mid-1890s. He was now a nominal leader, with no say on how his kingdom operated. His opinion no longer carried the weight it once did. Even when a scheme to fight the Bobomo was drafted in early 1893, Mwanga requested that he be part of the planning and fighting. It was denied by the acting British Commissioner, Captain Williams. The battle against the Bobomo was very brutal and destructive. The battle against the Bobomo was very brutal and destructive. Captain Williams at McDonald's brought two Maxim guns in tow and literally mowed down the Bobomo. Per Kakonglu's chronicler, such was the enormity of the slaughter that not only were certain sections of Lake Victoria all blood, there were so many dead bodies bobbing up and down in the water that their heads resembled a multitude of upturned cooking pots. The attack on the Bobomo was commanded by Simei Kakonglu, and the spoils of the plundering expedition, which included slaves and cattle, were not even provided to Mwanga for redistribution as was customary. Captain Williams apparently forbade Kakonglu and his men from doing so, under the pretext that Mwanga had played no part in the fighting. It was now clear that Mwanga had no power. Real power now lay in the hands of the Commissioner. Worse yet, Mwanga's own subjects, the likes of Apolokabwa, Simei Kakonglu, Stan Slas Mugwanya, and others within the hierarchy of leadership of Burgunda, seemed to wield more power than him. The Sudanese Mutiny of 1897 was the first big threat to the Protectorate's administration. The Sudanese had had enough of being given the runaround when it came to being compensated for their services by the British. They had not been paid for much of the year, and were now getting the sense that the British were taking advantage of them, and that they might never get paid. Things boiled over in October of 1897, when a regiment of Sudanese turned their guns on the Protectorate, killing Arthur Thurston, a relatively new commander of the Uganda Rifles, and taking possession of a Maxim gun. The news of what was happening in Busoga shuddered the Protectorate's administration to the core. The Sudanese had been the linchpin and the enforcer of the Protectorate's agenda since Lugard's arrival. Desperate to put an end to the mutiny, the Protectorate sent for reinforcements to be deployed to the region from the British Indian Army. Indian troops were seasoned at putting out such uprisings. They had recently been deployed to Egypt and to Sudan, and performed very well there. The British Indian administration immediately dispatched over 400 officers to the Protectorate. The Indian seasoning and experience was evident from the onset. They would hit the ground running upon their arrival, draining the thousands of Uganda troops who had already been deployed to Busoga. After just a few days of intense combat, the Protectorate managed to dislodge the mutineers from Chief Luba's territory in Mayuge. When the dust had settled, as many as 500 mutineers had been killed. The Protectorate had also suffered many casualties. Over 280 of its troops had been killed, of which a whopping 56 were Indian, and seven were British. Not long thereafter, in November of 1898, Indian troops were officially incorporated into the Uganda Rifles as permanent officers. Meanwhile, with a few die-hard loyalists, Mwanga had gone about plotting a coup against the Protectorate. By some accounts, Mwanga had even commissioned Charles Stokes, a missionary-turned-gunrunner, to help him acquire guns. Stokes, however, had been captured by the Belgians in Congo during a gunrun and executed in 1895. Little is known about how many gun Stokes acquired from Mwanga, and whether Mwanga commissioned another gunrunner after Stokes's murder. Be that as it may, by mid-1897, Mwanga believed he had stockpiled enough weapons and mobilized enough of his loyalists to finally take on the Protectorate and its gunner-agents. In the cover of darkness, on July 6th of 1897, an emboldened Mwanga sneaked out of his palace in Mango and set out for Budu, the Catholic stronghold where most of his die-hard loyalists had assembled. In Budu, Mwanga would link up with upwards of 14,000 men ready to risk their lives on his behalf, of whom an estimated 3,000 were armed with firearms. Unbeknownst to Mwanga, his plans had already been foiled, and the Protectorate was already on to him. It appears that one of his loyalists had unwittingly revealed Mwanga's impending attack during a Catholic confessional. Not surprisingly, Fr. Henry Stracher tipped off Major Ternan, the interim commissioner and consul general, about Mwanga's plan as soon as he got wind of it. Ternan did not take Stracher's warning lightly. He took immediate action to brace the Protectorate for a counter-attack on Mwanga. Within a few days, he had mobilized upwards of 7,000 troops to help repel Mwanga, of whom ironically, although not too surprising by now, upwards of 95% of them were of Aganda. It was clear from the onset that Mwanga and his men had bitten off way more than they could chew. For one, they were significantly outgunned. All 7,000 of Ternan's troops were armed with precision firearms, not to mention Maxim guns and other modern weaponry of the time. Moreover, the Protectorate's army was much more formidable now than ever, and would be a force to be reckoned with. The formation of the Uganda Rifles in September of 1895 had brought about structure and discipline, which translated to better organization when it came to recruiting and training. Needless to say, Mwanga's uprising was squashed within a matter of days. Mwanga and his men were repelled and driven out of Uganda in late July of 1897. A panicked Mwanga was chased after and forced to run south, crossing the Fagura River into present-day Tanzania, which was under German control at the time. To his chagrin, the Germans did not want him in their territory, and when they heard of his presence, they sent men to capture him and take him prisoner. He would remain in German custody for five months. Somehow, in January of 1898, Mwanga managed to escape from the Germans. Mwanga set up camp in Kochi, a neighboring kingdom south of Uganda that had been annexed into the Protectorate just two years prior, and went back to their drawing board, resolved to take down the British by all means necessary. Meanwhile, Kabalega had found refuge in Mwanga, in a province under the leadership of a chief named Adora. As he went about contemplating his next move, Kabalega was approached with a proposition by the Sudanese missionaries that he could not refuse. Itching to exact revenge on the Protectorate, the Sudanese had reached out to Kabalega and suggested that they should combine their forces with his and take on the British as a united front. With the Protectorate's troops nipping at their heels after their mutiny in Busuga had been squashed, the Sudanese had squirreled off due north and found refuge not too far away from where Kabalega and his surviving loyalists had hunkered down. As a testament to how good the intelligence they had been getting on his whereabouts from the Protectorate was, they knew what general area Kabalega was in, and eventually they were able to find him. They found him resigned in despair and in a state of desperation, willing to listen to any ideas to help him keep hope alive. Needless to say, it did not take much convincing for Kabalega to get on board with the Sudanese in the talks that ensued. Without hesitation, he agreed to their proposition. The Sudanese arrival was an immense boost to Kabalega's fighting will and determination to take back his kingdom. What they lacked in numbers, the Nubians made up for with their experience in combat. They were much more seasoned fighters than most of Kabalega's men, and better yet, they had served shoulder-to-shoulder with the British and knew their tactics. Meanwhile, another unprecedented union, albeit one that was not as surprising considering the happenings in the region at the time, was in the works and on the cusp of being locked in. Upon escaping from German captivity, Tabaka Mwanga had swallowed his pride and reached out to Kabalega with the proposition that they should bury the hatchet with each other and coalesce against their shared agitator, the British. This is how hopeless and desperate the situation had gotten. Just a decade prior, no one could have ever imagined that these two great rulers, who were sworn enemies, could ever have amicable dealings with each other, let alone entertain the idea of coming together for a common cause. But yet, here they were, at their wit's end, both exiled from their respective kingdoms, and ironically, both being subjugated by the same tormentor. Even after Kabalega had integrated the Sudanese into his army, he still was not confident that his army was strong enough to square up against the British. Up until now, there had been no love lost between Mwanga and Kabalega. The two great rulers had had a visceral hatred for each other for decades. Until the mid-1890s, when the British finally got a stranglehold on both kingdoms, Uganda had been fending off repeated attacks from Banyaro. Ironically, the British had found their way to Uganda on an invitation sent out by Kabaka Mutesa to Christian missionaries in 1875. By some accounts, Mutesa hoped the missionaries would provide him with guns, which he hoped would finally give him a leg up over his adversaries, the most feared of whom was Banyaro. He could not have predicted that within two decades of their arrival, the British would not only have vanquished Banyaro, but they would have also taken down his own kingdom, and would now be reigning supreme over the entire Great Lakes region. With this backdrop, by some accounts, Kabalega blamed Uganda for the British problem both his kingdom and Uganda were now burdened with. Despite this, the Great Omukama invoked the ancient adage, the enemy of my enemy is a friend, and agreed to bury the hatchet with Mwanga. For the first time on record, the Omukama of Banyaro and the Kabaka of Uganda, albeit both usurped from their respective thrones at the time, would combine their forces to fight a common enemy. When word got back to Mwanga that Kabalega was just as eager to form a coalition, a sense of excitement and reinvigoration permeated his diehard loyalists. They had been holding their breaths, awaiting Kabalega's reply for a while now, and word that he had agreed to unite against the British raised their spirits. Kabalega and his allies, the Ugandans and the Kabaka of Uganda, were now on the brink of annihilation. Kabalega's allies, the Ugandans and the Kabaka of Uganda, were now on the brink of annihilation. Kabalega and his allies, the Ugandans and the Kabaka of Uganda, were now on the brink of annihilation. Fired up, Mwanga and his men wasted no time beginning their march due north towards Banyaro. In Banyaro, Mwanga was welcomed by two of Kabalega's Muscalin chiefs, Ireta and Chikukule, who were presently engaged in a battle with the British. They had been at it with the British since the early months of 1897. Mwanga and his men's arrival was a welcomed development. Their arrival gave Banyaro a slight advantage over the protectorate's forces, to the extent that, towards the end of January of 1898, the combined forces had made some inroads against the British. Against all odds, they had handed the British a few severe beatings, and even managed to take back control of a few territories. At one point, they had even forced the British to retreat, and withdrew from Banyaro altogether. The British, however, by now, were so invested in Banyaro that they were not about to roll over and give up on this fight that easily. They had every intention of returning to the battleground. And lo and behold, within weeks, they were back to Banyaro, and back with vengeance. The Maxim gun yet again was a weapon the two great chiefs in Mwanga had no answer for and could not overcome. They suffered many deaths and casualties in the battles that ensued. By the end of March of 1898, the momentum these three warriors had gained had been brought to a screeching halt, and the British had taken back control of much of the kingdom. Between June and July of 1898, the 27th Bombay Light Infantry rigorously patrolled northern Banyaro and cleared the area of Ireta, Chikukwe, and Mwanga's forces. Mwanga and the remnants of his men were forced to cross the river Nile into Owango, where they would join with Cavalega, who had found asylum in a province under the leadership of Chief Adora. Mwanga's decision to link up with Cavalega in Lungo would prove to be improvident and ill-advised. By meeting in Lungo, the two rulers had effectively cut themselves off from the rest of the protectorate and cornered themselves, and in so doing made it easier for the British to besiege them and fight them in containment without fear that they could elude capture and slip back into their respective kingdoms. The British were unrelenting, steadfast in their resolve to take out Cavalega and Mwanga once and for all. They knew full well that eliminating the two rulers would serve a major blow to the morale and fighting spirit of their diehard loyalists. They had calculated that with Mwanga and Cavalega out of the way, the path to imposing and solidifying their rule on Buganda and Banyaro would be much less turbulent. To this end, in March of 1898, the British sent reinforcements and ramped up their hunt for the two great rulers. Lieutenant-Colonel John Thorold Evitz was deployed to the protectorate with 400 Indian troops from the Bombay Light Infantry under his command to chase after and capture Cavalega and Mwanga. Evitz set out for Lang'o as soon as he got to the protectorate. Setting up camp not too far from where he had gotten intelligence that Cavalega and Mwanga were hiding. Two contingents of Ganda troops, one led by Samaika Kongulu and the other by Luandaga Chembukwe, were also deployed to Lang'o to support the hunt. The attack couldn't have been launched at a worse time for Mwanga and Cavalega. Mwanga and Cavalega's coalition had been dealt a severe blow recently, in December of 1898, when the leader of the Sudanese mutineers, Bilal Amin, who had been an integral piece in the negotiations that led up to the Sudanese joining forces with the two great rulers, was killed on the battleground. Bilal's death put the coalition in a precarious situation, as he was the glue that kept many of the Sudanese connected to the coalition. Not surprisingly, many of the Sudanese soldiers who had been operating under his command lost their morale to fight and abandoned the mission after his death. Meanwhile, the protectorate kept closing in on Mwanga and Cavalega. Acting on a tip from a Lang'o informant, on the morning of April 9, 1899, Evitz, Kongulu, and Luandaga ambushed Mwanga in Cavalega's camp. The two great rulers were caught by surprise, rudely awakened by the sounds of gunshots and commotion within their camp. By some accounts, Mwanga immediately surrendered, raising the white flag as soon as it realized that they were completely surrounded and stood no chance. The proud of Mukama, however, dug in and held his ground. Staying true to bonafide Banyara warrior customs, he was steadfast not to go down without a fight, determined never to be captured alive. With his son Jassi by his side, Cavalega fired back at the protectorate's forces as they advanced upon him. The returning fire from the protectorate's forces, however, was way too much for them to bear. Not only were they severely outgunned, but they were also exceedingly outmanned. Worse yet, Cavalega and Jassi were completely surrounded, under siege with zero escape routes in sight. Unable to shoot their way out of the situation, they were eventually backed into a swamp in Kangai, Dokolo. Here, the fugitive's brave fight would finally come to an end after sustaining some serious injuries. The great of Mukama had been struck by a bullet in his right arm and another in his left hand, which rendered him incapable of holding his gun. Jassi had also been struck. His injuries, however, were much more severe than his father's. He was barely clinging on to life. Debilitated and defeated, the Mukama and his son were apprehended, and together with Mwanga, who had surrendered almost as soon as they realized that they were under siege, were taken captive. Unlike Cavalega and Jassi, Mwanga was nearly unscathed. Shortly after their capture, the captives were marched to Kampala, escorted by a large contingent of Uganda rifles led by Samaika Kongulu and Andrea Luandaga. The Omukama was carried on a stretcher for most of the journey, while the Kavaka and the rest of the prisoners followed along on foot at gunpoint. Jassi would succumb to his wounds on the march to Kampala. The capture of the two great rulers was the nail in the coffin on the struggle for sovereignty against the British in the Great Lakes region, marked the beginning of a new era in which the British had major influence on who the future rulers of these preeminent kingdoms would be, and how they governed. In Uganda, they had appointed Mwanga's infant son, Dawudi Chwa, the Kavaka, in 1897, right after Mwanga had declared war against the protectorate. And in Munyara, they had appointed Josia Katayimboa, one of Cavalega's sons, the Omukama, in 1898, after false claims that Cavalega had died. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .