Dividing Uganda into Nilotic North and Bantu South is not correct

When I wrote that dividing Uganda into watertight Nilotic North and Bantu South was not entirely correct, some people sought clarification and elaboration. Earlier on some people had also raised the question whether the people of southern Uganda who are linguistically the same (Bantu-speakers) are also racially (or ethnically) the same.

For Uganda’s northern region one can safely use the Nilotic classification. For Buganda, Bunyoro and Toro one can also safely use the Bantu classification since intermarriage between Nilotic and Bantu peoples was so thorough that new communities emerged, adopted a common Bantu language and practiced mixed farming thereby ending the pastoralist and agricultural specialization between Nilotic and Bantu peoples respectively. However, in south west Uganda (Ntungamo and Rujumbura in particular) the situation is different.

Bantu people who speak Bantu language or Bantu Bantu-speakers (BBS) from Cameroon/Nigeria border arrived in southwest Uganda first through the Congo region. They practiced mixed farming of crops, short horn cattle, goats and sheep and poultry. They also manufactured a wide range of products particularly those based on iron ore. Centuries later, Nilotic Luo-speaking people with long horn cattle arrived in the area. Their ancestors came from southern Sudan. Although the Nilotic people (Bahima and Bahororo) adopted Bantu language, hence Nilotic Bantu-speakers (NBS), culturally and economically they remained distinct from Bantu Bantu-speakers (BBS). Separate identities were retained through a combination of strict restrictions on inter-marriage and specialized economic functions.

This distinction of Bantu Bantu-speakers (BBS) and Nilotic Bantu-speakers (NBS) is necessary so that when describing the people in southern Uganda we should not rely on language alone. While the people in the south speak the same Bantu language they are ethnically different as elaborated below.

First, on very rare occasions the Bahima/Bahororo king would give a Nilotic woman to a Bantu man to marry who had distinguished himself in some way for example as a good soldier. Otherwise intermarriage between the two groups was severely restricted until recently when Nilotic (Bahima/Bahororo) women began to marry elite Bantu (Bairu) men.

As a rule, Nilotic men (Bahima and Bahororo) never married outside their Nilotic ethnic group and still don’t. As a result, they have retained their Nilotic identity.

Second, Nilotic people continued to herd long horn cattle like their ancestors did avoiding cultivation which was imposed on Bantu-Bantu speakers (BBS). The latter were denied cattle ownership which had been part of their economic activities before the arrival of the Nilotic Luo-speakers from southern Sudan.

Thus, culturally and economically the Nilotic Bantu-speakers (Bahima and Bahororo) though living in the south of Uganda have retained their Nilotic identity. Because of this, it is incorrect to say that all Nilotic people live in the north. Although all people in the south speak Bantu language it is incorrect to assume that they belong to the same ethnic group. Bantu Bantu-speakers and Nilotic Bantu-speakers are two distinct ethnic groups.

The distinction is even more important when one adds a political and administrative function. Since pre-colonial days, the Nilotic Bantu-speakers have played important political and administrative roles such as chiefs during pre-colonial days and as administrative chiefs during colonial days under the British indirect rule system. Since Uganda’s independence in 1962, Nilotic Bantu-speakers have played important political roles as Members of Parliament and government ministers. Since 1986 Uganda has been led by President Museveni who is Nilotic from south Uganda. Thus Presidents Obote, Amin and Museveni are Nilotic people: two from the north and one from the south. Their ancestors came from southern Sudan.

Hopefully, Uganda’s north and south divide is now better understood and should help to avoid overgeneralization between Nilotic north and Bantu south.

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