The Land System of the Buganda Kingdom

In this note, we firstly trace the changes in the land system mainly in the Buganda kingdom in Uganda since the begining of British colonization in the late ninteenth century till the abolition of kingships by establishment of the (Republican) Constisution in September 1967. Secondly, we consider the significance and the role of the land system of the Buganda kingdom during the colonial period. The Uganda Agreement which was signed in 1900 was the earliest one and had become the foundation of other agreements between the Buganda kingdom and the British colonial government until the abolition of kingship. The first aim of this agreement was to define the relation between the two governments and the political and the legal roles of the kingdom. The second aim was to decide the basic land policy on the Buganda kingdom. The intention of Johnston who made this land policy would have been to remove the confusion and the complexity which the ‘communal’ or ‘tribal’ land tenure system had. In a ‘traditional’ African society, the land tenure system was interwoven with the political system. The colonial government, however, codified the land ordinances or the land agreements and systematized the land ownership. It was a conversion from the ‘traditional’ political system of the kingdom of which power based upon the ambiguous and illusory myths to the ‘modern’ political system of a state of which power laid down law. Throughout the colonial piriod, the land system which closely related to the ordinances or the agreements which guaranteed the existence of the kingdom and the Native Court were the origin of the power of the king and the Native Government. These two political institutions were the most important institutions for the both governments of the kingdom of Buganda and of the British colonial authority which wanted to rule ‘indirectly’ through the government of the kingdom

Agriculture · Archaeology · Colonialism · Democracy · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Kingdom · Land law · Land tenure · Monarchy · Political economy · Political science · Political system · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · State (computer science) · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · Land Rights and Reforms · Law

• African People in the Twentieth Century

  Lucy Mair, Lucy Philip Mair•African People in the Twentieth…•1965

  Añadir item

• Land Policy in Buganda

  Elizabeth Hopkins, Henry W West et al.•ASA Review of Books•1978

  Añadir item

• Subsistence to Commercial Farming in Present-day Buganda

  Polly Hill, Audrey I Richards et al.•The Economic Journal•1974

  Añadir item

• Buganda and British Overrule, 1900-1955

  Gwendolen M Carter, David Low et al.•International Journal Canada s…•1961

  Añadir item