Traders
Traders who came from Europe formed a trading company to administer Uganda. The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) was formed to carry out legitimate trade.
It was supposed to rule Uganda on behalf of
Britain. Traders came to Uganda because of the following reasons.
Traders wanted to get raw materials for their home factories in
Britain. Many factories had been built and there were for need a lot of
raw materials. They wanted to get market for their goods.
A lot of goods were being manufactured so they wanted to find new
places where they would sell their goods. They also wanted to stop
slave trade. Missionaries were not happy with the evil of slave trade.
Traders introduced legal trade to replace slave trade.
The main reason why Arabs came to Uganda was to trade. They brought new goods and took away some. Goods brought into Uganda included:- guns, cloth, beads, daggers, glass, earrings, knives, pangas and axes. Goods that Arabs took out from Uganda included:- slaves, ivory gold, animal skins and turtle shells.
Positive contributions of the Arabs
They introduced:
i) Islamic faith and system of administration. The sharia (islamic law) and Islamic titles like sheikh were adopted by local rulers.
ii) Art of building using stones. New styles of building using stones and bricks.
iii) Wearing of tunics. The local people started dressing in Arabic
form. Men started wearing kanzus, turbans, caps and sandals and women
wore long silk dresses and veils.
iv) New crops. These were foods of Atlantic origin such as rice, wheat and sugarcanes.
v) Cowrie shells as a form of currency (money). Mosques and Qur'an
schools were built to help in the spread of the new faith. Islamic
teachers were also trained.
The new culture came with a new language called Kiswahili, which is a
mixture of Bantu and Arab cultures. It is now a medium of communication
in East Africa.
Arabs on the other hard, had some negative influence on Ugandans as
well. They promoted slave trade in Uganda which led to the suffering of
many people, loss of life, loss of property and decline in agriculture.
There was also decrease in thepopulation in many areas where people were captured local people as slaves.
Indians
Indians came to East Africa to build the Uganda Railway. These were
called the Indian coolies, Those who remained behind carried out trade
in Uganda.The contributions of Indians included;
Building shops. Many shops in different parts of Uganda were established to sell both manufactured goods and food stuff.
Building sugar factories and planting sugar cane on plantations. For
example at Kakira and Lugazi. They established estates, schools,
hospitals, markets and roads in the areas where they operated their
factories.
Madhivan built Kakira sugar works while Nanji Khalidas Mehta built Lugazi sugar factory.
Aldina
Visram was the first Indian to open up a shop at Old Kampala in Uganda.
The Indians also introduced coin money called Rupees which replaced
cowrie shells. The two forms of money replaced barter trade. People
used to exchange goods and services.
1 . How did Lugard promote colonial rule in Uganda?
2. Explain why Gerald Portal declared Uganda a British protectorate.