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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Reign of Kabaka Nakibinge of Buganda: Myth or Watershed?
Author:Reid, RichardISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:History in Africa
Volume:24
Pages:287-297
Language:English
Geographic term:Uganda
Subjects:Buganda polity
traditional rulers
History and Exploration
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3172031
Abstract:Reliable data relating to Buganda's pre-1800 past has come to historians in the form of a thin trickle. Students of more ancient Ganda history have been compelled to rely on the accounts by literate Ganda composed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The idea that Buganda was governed by a Western-style royal dynasty, with a chronologically structured succession list, was first put in writing by J.H. Speke (1863). Over the ensuing forty years this kinglist was gradually lengthened and virtually set in stone. Authors like C.C. Wrigley (1996) argue that the Ganda kinglist was manipulated to meet the challenges of the colonial period. This is illustrated by the case of 'kabaka' Nakibinge who, according to Wrigley, was not a historical character in any sense. The present author attempts an alternative account of Nakibinge's reign, assuming that he did in fact exist and reigned in the first half of the 16th century. He argues that on one level, Nakibinge appears to represent the end of Buganda's early history, a period characterized by mythical rulers. Likewise, his reign may be seen to represent the beginning of the kingdom's 'modern' history, in which military and economic trends crucial to the kingdom's long-term development can be discerned. Notes, ref.
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