Mwanga II of Buganda

He was born at Nakawa in 1868. His father was Muteesa I of Buganda, who reigned between 1856 and 1884. His mother was Abakyala Abisagi Bagalayaze, the 10th of his father's 85 wives. He ascended to the throne on 18 October 1884, after the death of his father.[2][3] He established his capital on Mengo Hill.

King Mwanga on stained glass at Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine.

Mwanga came to the throne at the age of 16. He increasingly regarded the greatest threat to his rule as coming from the Christian missionaries who had gradually penetrated Buganda. His father had played-off the three religious traditions - Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims - against each other and thus had balanced the influence of the powers that were backing each group in order to extend their reach into Africa. Mwanga II took a much more aggressive approach, expelling missionaries and insisting that Christian converts abandon their faith or face death. A year after becoming king he executed Yusufu Rugarama, Makko Kakumba, and Nuuwa Sserwanga, who had converted to Christianity on 31 January 1885.[2][3] On 29 October 1885, he had the incoming 37 year old Anglican archbishop James Hannington assassinated on the eastern border (Busoga) of his kingdom.[2][3]

For Mwanga, the ultimate humiliation was the male Catholic pages of his harem resisting his sexual advances. According to tradition, the king was the centre of power and authority, and he could dispense with any life as he wished. It was unheard of for mere pages to reject the wishes of a king. Given those conflicting values, Mwanga was determined to rid his kingdom of the new teaching and its followers. Mwanga therefore precipitated a showdown in May 1886 by ordering converts in his court to choose between their new faith and complete obedience to his orders and kingdom.[4]

It is believed that at least 30 Catholic and Protestant neophytes went to their deaths.[3] Twenty-two of the men, who had converted to Catholicism, were burned alive at Namugongo in June 1886 and later became known as the Uganda Martyrs. Among those executed were two Christians who held the court position of Master of the Pages, Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe and Charles Lwanga.[3] They had repeatedly defied the king by rescuing royal pages in their care from sexual exploitation by Mwanga.[3]

These murders and Mwanga's continued resistance alarmed the British, who backed a rebellion by Christian and Muslim groups who supported Mwanga's half brother and defeated Mwanga at Mengo in 1888.[2] [3] Mwanga's brother, Kiweewa Nnyonyintono, was elevated to the throne. He lasted exactly one month and was replaced on the throne by another brother, Kabaka Kalema Muguluma. However, Mwanga escaped and negotiated with the British. In exchange for handing over some of his sovereignty to the British East Africa Company, the British changed their backing to Mwanga, who swiftly removed Kalema from the throne in 1889.[3] He later converted to Christianity and was baptised as a Protestant.[3]

On 26 December 1890, Mwanga was to sign a treaty with Lord Lugard, granting certain powers over revenue, trade and the administration of justice to the Imperial British East Africa Company. These powers were transferred to the crown on 1 April 1893.[3]

On 27 August 1894, Mwanga was forced accept Buganda to become a Protectorate. As a result, on 6 July 1897, he declared an anti-colonial war on the British and launched an attack but was defeated on 20 July 1897, in Buddu (in today's Masaka District). He fled into German East Africa (modern-day Tanzania), where he was arrested and interned at Bukoba.[3]

He was deposed in absentia on 9 August 1897. Tenacious and anti-imperialist as he was, he escaped and returned to Buganda with a revolutionary army that was determined to free Buganda of colonial influence, but was again defeated on 15 January 1898. He was captured, tortured and in April 1899 was exiled to the Seychelles. While in exile, he was coerced into the Anglican Church by way of forced baptism and was given the name Danieri (Daniel). He spent the rest of his life in exile but his anti-imperialist resolve was never broken. He remained deeply resentful about the conquest of his own people by the British and urged them to keep up the struggle against a European rule. He died in the Seychelles on 8 May 1903, aged 34 or 35 as a result of torture by British soldiers and starvation. On 2 August 1910, his remains were repatriated and buried at Kasubi.[1][5][3]

Mwanga is on record as having married 17 wives:[5]

1. Damali Bayita Nanjobe
2. Naabakyaala Dolosi Mwaan'omu Bakazikubawa
3. Esiteri Nabunnya
4. Naabakyaala Eveliini Kulabako, Omubikka
5. Naabakyaala Loyiroosa Nakibuuka, Kaddulubaale
6. Naabakyaala Samali Namuwanga, Sabaddu
7. Nabweteme
8. Nakijoba Nabulya (Elizabeeti Oliva Kyebuzibwa born of Mwanje Bikaali)
9. Bezza Batwegombya
10. Naabakyaala Ntongo, Kabejja
11. Naabakyaala Nabisubi, Omuwanga
12. Namirembe
13. Lakeeri Mbekeka
14. Nalwooga, Omuyigiriza
15. Elizaabeeti Buteba
16. Nattimba Binti Juma
17. Amalemba Tutsi

Mwanga II fathered several sons and daughters from his 16 wives including Daudi Chwa II of Buganda: [5]

1. Prince (Omulangira) Kagolo, whose mother was Damali Bayita Nanjobe. He was killed by his uncle Kalema, in 1889.
2. Prince (Omulangira) Mulindwa, whose mother was Nabweteme
3. Prince (Omulangira) Nganda, whose mother was Lakeeri Mbekeka
4. Prince (Omulangira) Abdallah Mawanda whose mother was Lakeeri Mbekeka. Perceived as a potential agitator during the reign of Chwa, he was appointed as one of the British Agents to Kigezi in South Western Uganda.
5. Daudi Chwa II of Buganda, who reigned from 1897 until 1939. His mother was Eveliini Kulabako.
6. Prince (Omulangira) Yusuufu Suuna Kiweewa, whose mother was Esiteri Nabunnya. He was born at Mengo, Uganda on 16 February 1898 and was educated at Mengo High School and King's College Budo. Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in October 1914. He served in the Great War from 1915 until 1919. Promoted to Lieutenant in the 7th Territorial Battalion on 25 May 1939. He served in the Second World War in Eastern Africa and in North Africa, from 1939 until 1940. Retired on 18 March 1940. He was implicated in the Buganda riots of 1949 and exiled to the Ssese Islands, where he died in 1949.
7. Prince (Omulangira) Tobi, whose mother was Nabisubi
8. Prince (Omulangira) Nayime?, whose mother was Loyiroosa Nakibuuka
9. Princess (Omumbejja) Najjuma Katebe, whose mother is not mentioned
10. Princess (Omumbejja) Anna Nambi Nassolo, whose mother was Samali Namuwanga
11. Princess (Omumbejja) Mboni Maliamu Kajja-Obunaku, whose mother was Nattimba. She was educated at Saint Monica's School in Zanzibar.

"I do not want to give them my land. I want all Europeans of all nations to come to Buganda, to build and to trade as they like."

• Mwanga's message to Euan Smith, British Consul in Zanzibar, 1890[6]

"I am Mutesa's son, and what Mutesa was in Buganda that I will also be, and against those who will not have it so I shall make war."

• Mwanga to Karl Peters, 1890[7]

"The English have come; they have built a fort; they eat my land; they have made me sign a treaty; they curtail my powers; and I get nothing from them in return."

• Mwanga after signing treaty with Captain Frederick Lugard, 1890[8]

"Abalangira timba buli afuluma amira munne." [Princes are like pythons they swallow each other.]

• Mwanga after defeating the Muslim faction, 1893[9]

"When I die it will be the end of the kingdom of Buganda. Europeans will take over (eat) this country of mine."

• Mwanga before joining forces with Kabalega, 1898[10]

In early 2023, a social media trend emerged in Uganda and worldwide, featuring the name 'Kabaka-Mwanga.' The trend originated from a video shared on Ugandan social media platforms, in which a young boy from the suburbs of Uganda used the phrase as an exclamatory statement. This trend sparked renewed interest in the historical figure of Mwanga, a former Kabaka (ruler) of the Buganda Kingdom. The phenomenon captured the attention of both older Ugandans familiar with Mwanga's legacy and younger generations who were previously unaware of him.[21] [22]

• Kabaka of Buganda
• Uganda Martyrs
• Muteesa Iof Buganda
• Kimera of Buganda

• Ashe, R. P. (1889). Two Kings of Uganda: Or, Life by the Shores of Victoria Nyanza. S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.
• Kaggwa, Sir Apollo K, Basekabaka be’Buganda [translated by MM Semakula Kiwanuka]. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1971.
• Kiwanuka, M. S. M. (1969). "Kabaka Mwanga and his political parties." Uganda Journal, 33(1), 1-16.
• Lwanga-Lunyigo, Samwiri (2011). Mwanga II : Resistance to Imposition of British colonial rule in Buganda, 1884-1899. Wavah Books.

• List of Kings of Buganda Archived 2013-06-15 at the Wayback Machine
• The vilification of Kabaka Mwanga