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CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE RISE OF POLITICAL COMPLEXITY IN WESTERN UGANDA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2000

PETER ROBERTSHAW  and
DAVID TAYLOR
PETER ROBERTSHAW
Affiliation:
California State University–San Bernardino
DAVID TAYLOR
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
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Abstract

The histories of pre-colonial states in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa have engaged scholars for more than a century. First encountered by Europeans in the 1860s during the search for the source of the Nile, these states and their rulers inspired both admiration and frustration in their visitors. On the one hand, explorers were impressed by the power of the rulers and the complexities of their bureaucracies, but on the other, they were annoyed by the apparent vacillation of the monarchs in responding to their demands. From the historian's perspective, these initial encounters soon led to questions about the origins and longevity of these states. Stories of origins were encapsulated in myths and legends that missionaries began to record around the turn of the twentieth century, while efforts to elicit lists of kings who had ruled each state introduced African leaders to European-style historiography.

Type
Early Ugandan Kingdoms
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , March 2000 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank the Royal Society, National Science Foundation (SBR-9320392), the British Institute in Eastern Africa, and the National Geographic Society for support of their archaeological and palaeoecological fieldwork, which underpins much of this paper. The Uganda National Council for Science and Technology issued permission for the fieldwork. Fieldwork was conducted in collaboration with several bodies, most notably the Uganda Department of Antiquities and the Departments of Botany and History, Makerere University, and with the assistance of numerous colleagues, including Ephraim Kamuhangire, Andrew Reid, Ruth Young and Rob Marchant. We thank them all, colleagues and students. A fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities also permitted Peter Robertshaw to devote more time to this research. We thank Andrew Reid and Edward Steinhart for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper and Carey Van Loon for the preparation of the map.