Factors affecting settlement patterns

Settlement of different ethnic groups was influenced by a number of factors depending on certain conditions. These factors included; land, vegetation, climate, soils and water.

Land

People migrated and settled in areas which had fertile land. Large pieces of land enabled them to practice economic activities such as crop farming and rearing of domestic animals. In places where there was shortage of land, people were forced to move and search for new areas. Land Shortage also led to both internal and external conflicts. Some people today migrate to search for more land where they can cultivate and settle just as it was in the past.

Vegetation

Some people were pastoralists while others were cultivators. The areas which had plenty of pasture / grass attracted pastoralists for settlement especially the grasslands. Areas which had forests attracted cultivators. They cleared forests and natural vegetation to open up land for crop farming. Those areas had fertile soils. 

However, areas which had dense vegetation were left. Today, people have cleared most of the natural vegetation due to the high demand for more land for crop farming, grazing and settlement. As already mentioned above, the population has been gradually increasing since that period when the Bantu and Nilotes migrated.

Climate

Areas with poor climate such as hot and dry or where rainfall was unreliable, forced people to migrate. Those areas had a very smell population. Areas which had good climate with reliable rainfall attracted more people to settle there, for instance, the lake regions (interlacustrine region) had a large number of people compared to the North Eastern parts of Uganda. Even today areas around lakes and rivers are still densely populated because of the favourable weather and presence of fertile soils.

Soil fertility and water supply

Few people settled in areas with poor soils or where there was a swamp. People usually settled in areas which had fertile soils and well drained with plenty of water supply. Flooded areas and permanent swampy areas discouraged human settlement. The farmers were mainly attracted to well drained areas.

Areas of settlement 
The Bantu who were cultivators (agriculturists) settled around lakes, rivers and mountains. Lakes Victoria, Albert, George and Kyoga attracted large numbers of people because of the availability of constant water supply, presence of fertile soils around them and good weather. Slopes of mountains (Rwenzori, Elgon and Mufumbiro) attracted many cultivators because they had fertile soils suitable for agriculture.

Pastoralists settled in grassland areas of the West, North and North East which had plenty of pasture for their animals. However, when some pastoralists like the Iteso came in contact with the Bantu cultivators, they started practicing mixed farming. They grew crops and reared domestic animals as well.