Dualism in Kampala: Squalid Slums in a Royal Realm

Abstract

Different land-tenure regimes have left their mark on the evolution and growth of urban dualism in Kampala. In 1894, when Captain Lugard established Uganda as a British protectorate, the Kabaka (king) of Buganda had his headquarters in the vicinity of the current city. Kampala then, as now, was characterized by undulating hills affording majestic hilltop views of Lake Victoria eight kilometres away. The Buganda region was highly politically organized with administrative institutions that the colonial state sought to preserve and use to spread their control throughout Uganda. Kampala thus became the colony’s capital.