Matatu park, Kampala

History of Uganda

Uganda has had a turbulent history, notorious in the seventies when it was seldom out of the world's press with the rise of Idi Amin. Many people were killed and tortured and the economy suffered terribly.

Sir Winston Churchill once described it as 'the pearl of Africa'. Today much of Uganda has recovered and is prospering. The tourist industry is doing well and wildlife is returning to the National Parks.

But it hides a haunting secret. The north has been held in the clasps of a brutal civil war for 19 years.This has led to, according to a senior UN official, one of the world's worst humanitarian crisis, 'which goes largely unoticed by the rest of the world'.

Historical Events which have shaped Uganda

1862 -

 John Hanning Speke went to Uganda in 1862 followed by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley in 1875.

1884 -

 The king (Kabaka) of the Buganda, Kabaka Muteesa 1 died in 1884 and was succeeded by his teenage son Mwanga.

1886-

 Mwanga had 32 people burned to death in 1886 owing to their religious beliefs.
  Germans relinquished their claim to Uganda.

 

 Mwanga was captured and sent into exile in the Seychelles where he died in 1903. The British placed his infant son Daudi Chwa on the throne.

1894 -

Uganda became a British protectorate in 1894.

1962 -

Milton Obote led Uganda to independence in October 1962 with the promise of Buganda’s autonomy.

1966 -

Obote led a coupe, in 1966, with the assistance of his army chief, Idi Amin and ruled as a harsh dictator.

1971-

 Idi Amin then staged a coup in January 1971, after an argument with Obote. Obote fled to Tanzania,
  Led by Idi Amin, Uganda's once developed economy disintegrated. People were tortured and murdered

1972 -

 In 1972 Amin expelled almost all of Uganda's 50,000 Asians and seized their property

1978 -

Amin ordered the invasion of the Kagera Salient of Tanzania in 1978, as a diversion from his problems at home.

1979 -

 Tanzania and the Ugandan National Liberation army (the exiled Ugandans) captured Kampala in 1979.

1980 -

In 1980, Milton Obote returned from Tanzania and staged a fixed election.
  He used his four-year rule in a military effort to destroy his challengers, resulting in vast areas of devastation and greater loss of life than during the years of Amin's rule.
  The secret police were re-established and there was a vast slaughter of humans and animals.

1985 -

In July 1985, Tito and Basilio Okello staged a coup and Obote fled the country to Zambia taking much of the national treasury with him.
  Tito Okello ruled for several months, but fled the country as the National Resistance Army, a southern movement headed by Museveni.

1986 -

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was proclaimed president in January 1986.

1993 -

Museveni granted legal recognition to the old kingdoms of Southern Uganda and in 1993 the British educated son of Muteesa, Ronald Mutebi, returned to the throne of the Toro tribe.

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