Article Outline
Uganda, landlocked country on the equator in East Africa. The country contains a varied landscape of savanna, dense forests, and tall mountains, as well as almost half of Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, and the primary source of the Nile River. Uganda is an ethnically diverse nation with a deeply ingrained intellectual and artistic culture. Poor but developing, Uganda’s economy is predominantly agricultural. Uganda was the site of several powerful kingdoms, most notably Buganda and Bunyoro, before the arrival of European colonists in the late 19th century. Uganda became a British protectorate in 1894, and its present borders were established in 1926. It gained independence from British rule in 1962. In the 1970s and early 1980s the nation suffered two bloody dictatorial regimes, under Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and two wars. In 1986 Uganda came under the control of pragmatic leader Yoweri Museveni, who introduced democratic and economic reforms. Kampala is Uganda’s capital and largest city.
Uganda is bordered by Kenya to the east; Sudan to the north; Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the west; and Rwanda, Tanzania, and Lake Victoria to the south and southeast. Uganda has a total area of 241,038 sq km (93,065 sq mi).) The country measures 625 km (388 mi) east to west and 638 km (396 mi) north to south.
Uganda is a country of remarkable physical contrasts. It forms a plateau declining gradually from 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in the south to 750 m (2,460 ft) in the north. The southern portion is a forest zone, although much of it has been cleared for farms. Much of the north is open savanna (grassland with sparse trees and shrubs), though it also contains semidesert. There are small areas of bamboo and rain forests. The Western Rift of the Great Rift Valley, a series of cracks more than 5,000 km (3,000 mi) in length along which the Earth’s crust is splitting apart, runs through western Uganda. Mountains rise on the eastern and western borders of Uganda, 13 of which are more than 4,100 m (13,500 ft) tall. The Ruwenzori Range, on the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo, contains seven peaks that are covered with snow year-round. The highest is Margherita Peak of Mount Stanley, at 5,109 m (16,762 ft) tall, the third tallest mountain in Africa. Glaciers on Ruwenzori peaks are only 60 km (40 mi) from tropical forests and 100 km (60 mi) from dry savannas. Except for the Ruwenzori Range, which was formed by an uplift of Earth’s crust as it split along the Western Rift Valley, all of Uganda’s mountains are volcanic in origin. Earthquakes, occasionally quite severe (up to 7 on the Richter scale), are common in the Western Rift Valley.
Most lakes and rivers in Uganda form a drainage basin for the Nile River, whose principal source is Lake Victoria in the southeast. The Nile winds through Uganda and exits from the north of the country into Sudan. The other large lakes are Lake Albert, Lake Edward, and Lake Kyoga. The Nile is partly navigable in Uganda. Boats cannot pass through the Bujagali Falls near Lake Victoria nor through Kabalega Falls, near Lake Albert, where the Nile passes through an opening less than 6 m (20 ft) wide.
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