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Long before colonial rule, the region that became Uganda was linked by trade. Within the Great Lakes, people traded salt from Lake Katwe and Kibiro, iron tools, bark cloth, cattle and food. From the 1840s, Arab and Swahili caravans from the East African coast reached the court of Buganda, exchanging cloth, beads, copper and guns for ivory and, tragically, enslaved people. From the north, traders coming up the Nile from Khartoum reached Bunyoro and Acholi in the 1860s and 1870s.
Regional trade
Salt was one of the most valuable goods. The salt lake at Katwe, in today’s Queen Elizabeth National Park, and the salt springs at Kibiro on Lake Albert supplied large areas, and control of them helped make Bunyoro powerful. Ironworking was widespread, and hoes, spears and knives were exchanged for food and livestock. Buganda’s canoe fleets carried goods and people across Lake Victoria, and markets connected farming and herding communities. See our guide to the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom.
The coastal caravans
Caravans from Zanzibar and the Swahili coast travelled inland through Tanzania to the southern shore of Lake Victoria and on to Buganda, arriving by the 1840s. Kabaka Suuna II and then Mutesa I welcomed traders, who brought cotton cloth, glass beads, copper wire and firearms. In return they took ivory and enslaved captives, often from raids on neighbouring peoples. The traders also brought Islam and Swahili words and clothing styles, such as the kanzu. See our guides to the kanzu and how Islam reached Uganda.
From the north and after
From Sudan, traders and armed companies advanced up the Nile into northern Uganda, trading and raiding for ivory and slaves, and Egypt tried to extend its control south in the 1870s, resisted by Kabalega of Bunyoro. European explorers followed the same routes. These trade networks shaped the politics of the kingdoms and prepared the ground for colonial rule in the 1890s. The gorilla permit costs US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November. See our guide to the scramble for Africa.
Frequently asked questions
By the 1840s.
Cloth, beads, copper and guns for ivory and enslaved people; salt and iron regionally.
Lake Katwe and the Kibiro springs on Lake Albert.
Through Arab and Swahili traders at the Buganda court.
