The Rwenzururu Kingdom, located in the Rwenzori Mountain Region of the South Western part of Uganda spans into the Democratic Republic of Congo among the Bakonzo / Banande, Bamba and Basumba people who dwell in the mountain region.
A Banya Rwenzururu (The people of Rwenzururu) The term Banyarwenzururu refers to the people of Rwenzururu (Rwenzori Mountains). Banyarwenzururu also means the mountain covered with snow, which was mistakenly re-named by explorer H.M, Stanely as Ruwenzori – the Mountains of the Moon.
The Rwenzururu Kingdom is a monarchy of the inhabitants of and people descending from the Rwenzori Mountains. The Bakonzo/Banande, Bamba and Basumba are ethnic groups that originally lived and still live on and around the Rwenzururu Mountains. Currently, the Bakonzo alone are about 6,000,000 people with an estimated 1,000,000 on the Ugandan side of the Mountain and 5,000,000 on the Democratic Republic of Congo side and are more commonly known as Banande.
Both the Bakonzo and Banande belong to the Bayira community, a Bantu speaking people. On the Ugandan side the Bakonzo occupy the Rwenzururu Mountains cut across the District of Kasese, Kabarole and Bundibugyo. Those in Congo are found in North Kivu province with Butembo and Beni as their major towns. The Bamba who are sub-divided into Babwisi, Babutoku, Vonoma and Babila predominantly occupy the plains of Bundibugyo district.
The Basumba are divided and scattered in the plains of Bundibugyo district. They move to and fro in the Semliki valley of Bundibugyo district. Like any other group of people around the world living on mountains, the Bakonzo, Bamba and Basumba are courageous, industrious, self-reliant and hospitable.
As a hospitable society, the Bakonzo, Bamba and Basumba hosted and gave sanctuary to people of other ethnic groups who used to be persecuted by the ancient Kings of Bunyoro such as Kamurasi, Kyebambe, and Kabalega. Such groups were the Batooro, Batuku, Banyabindi, Basongora and Banyagwaki.
The Bakonzo bear themselves with great dignity, are conscientious about education and that wonderful core spirit of conservative African values and modest manners. They are relaxed yet hard working and very sociable, caring, respectful, loving, loyal, trusting and trustworthy.
There are a number of theories as to the history of the first Bakonzo but here you will read of the two most common. The Bakonzo claim to have been the first people to settle on Rwenzururu Mountains and believe to have been created by God just as Adam and Eve in Eden.
Legend on the other hand has it that the Bakonzo once lived on Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda and that during the Kintu migration, the Bakonzo came with Kintu and other peoples to Buganda and later migrated further to the western highlands of Mount Rwenzori which has a climate similar to that of Mount Elgon where they had originally lived. This is said to have been around A.D 1300.
The Initiation
The Bakonzo share some elements of culture with the Bamba, one such element was the initiation.
The purpose of initiation was to transform the initiates from childhood to adulthood. Therefore all the male children, before or after reaching puberty, had to undergo circumcision. This was conducted jointly by the Bakonzo and the Bamba. The ceremony would normally begin in Bwamba and then end in Bukonzo. The initiation ceremony was conducted after long intervals, often fifteen to seventeen years. It involved all male children from the age of three years.
The Economy
The Bakonzo are agriculturalists. They grow mainly casava, yams, matoke, potatoes and beans.
At a later time, they took up coffee and cotton growing. In addition, they reared goats, short-horned cows, sheep and fowls. Their short-horned cows were looted by Kabalega’s warriors from Bunyoro-kitara, and the rest died of cattle diseases brought by the long-horned cows of the pastoralists of the Bachwezi descent. Production was initially subsistence and they supplemented their produce by hunting and fishing on Lakes Edward and George.
The History of Rwenzururu Kingdom
The historical account dates back to the 18th century.
This was the time Bunyoro Kitara was a very strong empire attacking any territory in order annex more territory. Rwenzururu Mountains was one of the areas that were attacked several times. The Rwenzururu clan leaders kept on defending their subjects against Bunyoro Kitara expeditions.
The BanyaRwenzururu at this time were not ruled by one human being, they were just divided into clans. No one of the clan leaders could dare to subjugate fellow clan leaders because they considered themselves as one family of Kithasamba and descendants of Creator God – Nyamuhanga, who hated blood shade of innocent people.
Therefore, the role of the clan leaders was to defend innocent people, men, women and children against the attackers.
