Buganda

Buganda grew from a small kingdom on the northern shore of Lake Victoria into a major power of the Great Lakes. Its ruler, the kabaka, governed through chiefs and a court established on one of the kingdom's hills. Traditions name Kintu as the first kabaka, and tell how he won the hand of Nambi, daughter of the sky deity Ggulu. Banana gardens supplied the kingdom's people, while the lake offered a route to its islands and neighbouring shores.

From the seventeenth century, Buganda expanded beyond its early heartland and strengthened its royal government. Much of its growth came at the expense of Bunyoro, its powerful neighbour to the north and west. The kingdom's chiefs and court helped extend the kabaka's authority over newly incorporated territories, while royal palaces moved between defensible hills as different rulers chose their seats.