The Bugandan people represent the Bantu kingdom of Buganda, a Modern Age civilization in Civilization VII.
The Bugandans' civilization ability is River Raids, which grants 
Culture when pillaging buildings and improvements equal to the yield or healing gained. It also grants the Amphibious keyword to all land units, allowing them to attack from embarkation without penalties and to embark and disembark freely. Their associated wonder is the Muzibu Azaala Mpanga and their unique components are as follows:
- Unique units: Abambowa (military), Mwami (civilian)
- Unique improvement: Kabaka's Lake
- Unique civics: 'Nnalubaale, Blutabaalo, Nyanza
Intro[]
From the lakes, with war-canoe and spear, rifle and kingly authority, the Baganda of Buganda come. Let all kneel before the throne of the kabakas.
From the shores of Nnalubaale – Lake Victoria – were launched the deadly war canoes of Buganda. By the late 19th century, Buganda was the most populous place in Africa’s interior, with man-made lakes, a well-ordered city, and envoys from all the surrounding people seeking the king’s ear. And well they should – Bagandan raids were a terrifying force.
Strategy[]
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Civilopedia entry[]
Uganda, Ganda, Buganda, Baganda – these are all terms related to the Bantu land in eastern Africa. Uganda refers to the country in the present day, Ganda refers to its spoken language, Buganda to the kingdom preceding Uganda, and Baganda to its people. The Baganda live in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the area around Lake Victoria (Nyanza). This is a relatively arid region in present-day Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, near the Rift Valley, where humanity’s ancestors originated.
Buganda’s story starts with Aksum, an ancient state where Ethiopia is today. Aksum collapsed at the very end of the first millennium CE. As a result, the southern region formed their own empire: the Empire of Kitara (Chwezi). In local lore, the Chwezi were spirits with red skin and bronze weapons, originating somewhere to the north. This depiction recalls the ancient Egyptians, though the local people now attribute a supernatural origin to this group. In their classic origin myths, the powerful but arrogant Chwezi gave the local people of the region all sorts of technological benefits (e.g. bronze) and terrible curses (e.g. smallpox). They left sites such as Bigo – a series of earthworks originally thought to represent a fortification that may actually have been a marketplace surrounded by an anti-elephant wall.
The Chwezi ruled the land with skill, magic, and a magic cow. Prophecy claimed that the kingdom would survive as long as the cow lived. Naturally, the cow died, and the Luo people (of present-day Kenya) overran the Chwezi, taking their title sometime in the 1500s.
In broader strokes, this myth depicts a world system along the Nile, where trade flows from sub-Saharan Africa into the Mediterranean. Arab conquests disrupted this link as swift Arab ships used sea routes to trade with Africa along the Swahili coast, and east/west caravans crossed the Sahara. These routes cut off the Great Lakes, isolating Ethiopia, which was aggravated further by Ethiopia’s resistance to conversion to Islam. The Great Lakes fell into obscurity while eastern Kenya prospered – as did Mali, on the other end of that east/west caravan pipeline. The Chwezi rulers fell to the Bunyoro, who in turn fell to Buganda.
The mytho-history of Buganda is contested. British explorers presented one version, which was tainted with colonial assumptions and presumptions; local histories present another, this time mixed with myth. According to local history, a great serpent (Bemba) once ruled the land, but a man from the east (Kintu) gained assistance from a tortoise to slay the serpent and claim the kingdom. Kintu’s children learned the traditions associated with society (e.g. metalworking, law and punishment, etc), and the empire grew and prospered.
Anthropologists do not point to these stories as actual history but as justification for the diversity in clan groups within Bagandan society. Referring to oral history can answer moral or ethical questions – for instance, what do we do when there is no legitimate order? We can turn to the story of Walusimbi's election to chiefdom. We can think of oral history not as an accurate account (not only an accurate account), but as a reference point for life lessons.
The Bugandan Empire is considered an “assimilative state,” or a state that aims to gain converts to its ethnic group. This approach often puts societies in a bit of a bind. Ethnic groups seem primordial, but they typically function and grow by incorporating outsiders into their system. Unfortunately, slavery was key to this strategy. Buganda led war canoe raids on their neighbors to forcibly bring people back for labor…and sacrifice, according to some sources. In short, Buganda was a kingdom with relatively defined borders but had various relations of vassalage and predation with its neighbors (i.e. sources of slaves, sacrifices, and plunder).
In 1857, Sir Richard Francis Burton, an explorer and a critic of British colonialism, and John Hanning Speke went in search of the source of the Nile River. In so doing, the two entered into the Great Lakes region and encountered the Bugandan Empire at its height. Burton describes fleets of Bagandan war canoes embarking on plundering expeditions across Lake Victoria, detailing the hundreds of sacrifices that followed a successful raid (he remained six months and likely saw some of this).
Burton may have been a critic of colonialism, but his writings were responsible for one of the oldest (and most damaging) ideas about East African ethnicity. He contrasted a southern race of people with a northern one – the latter having more "refined" features (meaning more European), lighter-skinned, and more civilized, which reflected a racist understanding of the peoples of the world. This myth had a damaging synergy with colonialism and was responsible for colonial favoritism of “Nilotic” or northern peoples (e.g. Tutsi) while disparaging others (e.g. Hutu), which laid the seeds for later massacres in the region.
We think of colonialism as a violent overthrow, such as the treatment of the Aztec or the Inca. However, this wasn’t always the case. For the Bugandan king Mwanga, an alliance with (i.e. the establishment of a protectorate under) the British in 1892 was a way back into power. Kabakas (kings) gained influence and power from association with the British and instituted particular rules that degraded the legitimacy of the office to increase the opportunities for expansion and power, especially over their rivals in the Bunyoro kingdom (Bunyoro were the previous overlords). An alliance with foreigners offered a way to subvert local hierarchies and checks and balances – existing outside of the clan system made it easier to claim rule over all, instead of just one clan. The British liked this system so much that they placed Buganda and Baganda at the center of their colonial efforts, and Baganda became the face of British power in the area. Buganda became a sub-set, but a dominant one, of the colony of Uganda.
Cities[]
Trivia[]
- The Bugandan civilization's symbol is a cowhide shield with two spears crossed behind it, as depicted on the flag of Buganda.
- The Bugandan civilization ability refers to the raids conducted across Lake Victoria and up the Nile River during Buganda's wars of expansion.
Soundtrack[]
| Original Track | № | Based on | Credits | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Buganda (Modern Age)" | 36 | Ekitiibwa kya Buganda | Composed by Roland Rizzo Performed by FILMharmonic Orchestra, Prague |
4:10 |
Gallery[]
.jpg "Bugandan city in-game (Civ7).jpg (2.98 MB)")
.png "Muzibu Azaala Mpanga in-game (Civ7).png (3.6 MB)")
.png "Mwami in-game (Civ7).png (5.05 MB)")
.png "Abambowa in-game (Civ7).png (5.08 MB)")
.png "Kabaka's Lake in-game (Civ7).png (5.46 MB)")
.png "Bugandan Background (Civ7).png (1.18 MB)")
Videos[]
See also[]
- Bugandan in other games
External links[]
| Civilization VII Civilizations [edit] | |
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