Bachwezi

The Bachwezi were remembered in Great Lakes oral traditions as a dynasty of the legendary Empire of Kitara, west of Lake Victoria. Tradition traced the line to the hunter Isimbwa and the founder Karubumbi, with capitals at Mubende and then Bigo bya Mugenyi, whose ditches and banks have been dated to roughly 1300 to 1500.

The Bachwezi were said to be master blacksmiths and cattle lords; their best-remembered kings were Ndahura, who vanished on a southern campaign, and Wamara, the last of the line. Under Wamara the dynasty lost the loyalty of its people and, according to legend, abandoned Kitara, making way for the Luo-speaking Babiito clan who founded Bunyoro.

Historians treat the Bachwezi as a local Bantu aristocracy, and the Rutara peoples still venerate them as ancestor spirits. Bunyoro, Buganda and neighboring kingdoms long claimed their legacy to legitimize their rule.