Kampala

Kampala, city, southern Uganda, capital of the country, located near Lake Victoria. The bustling city is Uganda’s intellectual and business center. Industries include flour and sugar milling, cotton ginning, tanning, coffee processing, and the manufacturing of textiles, soft drinks, beer, cigarettes, and cement. Port Bell, a lake port about 10 km (about 6 mi) to the southeast, is connected with Kampala by road and rail. Kampala is the site of government buildings, of the National Theatre, and of the Uganda Museum (founded in 1908), which has exhibits of traditional culture, archaeology, history, science, and natural history. On Old Kampala Hill a tablet marks the site of a fort established by the British in 1890, and on Kasubi Hill are tombs of the kabakas (kings) of Buganda. Also in the city are Makerere University (1922), the Uganda Martyrs University (1993), and Ndejje University (1992). Mengo, to the southwest, was the traditional capital of the kingdom of Buganda, formally dissolved in 1967. Kampala succeeded nearby Entebbe as capital when the country became independent in 1962. Population (2002) 1,208,544.