Uganda, a British protectorate in East Africa, extending along the north-west shore of the Victoria Nyanza, and lying on both sides of the equator. It was first visited (in 1862) by Speke and Grant, and by Stanley was called the 'Pearl of Africa.' The country is partly mountainous, partly undulating, partly a plain, very fertile on the whole, and well wooded. The climate is mild and singularly uniform throughout the year, the variation being from 50° to 90° F. The Waganda, who may number three millions, are a warlike and highly intelligent people speaking a language of the Bantu stock, with well-developed native industries. At the request of King Mtesa, English Protestant missionaries settled here in 1877, and French Catholics followed in 1879. The Christians had much to endure from Mtesa's son, King Mwanga, by whose orders Bishop Hannington (q.v.) was murdered in 1885 on the borders of Uganda, and hundreds of Christians were burned. The presence of Arabs and Mohammedanism further complicated matters, and intestine struggles were not long in breaking out. Dr Peters tried to extend German influence hither, but the Imperial British East Africa Company regarded Uganda as being within the British sphere under the Anglo-German agreement of 1887, and that it was so was settled between England and Germany in 1890. In 1894 a British protectorate was proclaimed over Uganda proper, and in 1896 this was extended to include Unyoro and Usago, all under a commissioner resident at Port Alice on the Victoria Nyanza. By treaties in 1899-1900 the boundaries with the Congo Free State were adjusted, and the protectorate now includes all the countries between the British East Africa protectorate, the Congo Free State, Lakes Victoria and Albert Edward Nyanza, and Lake Albert. Its area is about 120,000 square miles, and the population is estimated at about 4,000,000. King Mwanga of Uganda rebelled in 1897, and, being defeated, fled to German territory; his infant son was recognised by the British government as ruler under a native council. In 1897 also part of the Soudanese troops in the protectorate mutinied, and were only suppressed after many months' severe fighting, in which several British officers were killed. The military force (Indian soldiers and Soudanese) has since been reorganised. The trade consists of ivory, cattle, wild coffee, and rubber. Roads have been constructed under the protectorate, and regular criminal courts established. The outside trade is expected to be greatly developed on the completion of the railway from Mombasa, of which about 470 miles (of the total of 580) were completed in 1900.
See STANLEY; Feikin and Wilson, Uganda (1881); the Life of A. M. Mackay (1890); Mrs Stock's Story of Uganda (1892); Lugard, Rise of our African Empire (1893); Portal, Mission to Uganda (1894); Ashe,
Chronicles of Uganda (1894); Colville, Land of the Nile Springs (1895); and Ansorge, Under the African Sun (1899).