Traders

Traders who came from Europe formed a trading company to administer Uganda. The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) was formed to carry out legitimate trade.

It was supposed to rule Uganda on behalf of Britain. Traders came to Uganda because of the following reasons. Traders wanted to get raw materials for their home factories in Britain. 

Many factories had been built and there were for need a lot of raw materials. They wanted to get market for their goods. 

A lot of goods were being manufactured so they wanted to find new places where they would sell their goods. They also wanted to stop slave trade. Missionaries were not happy with the evil of slave trade. Traders introduced legal trade to replace slave trade. 

Arabs 

The main reason why Arabs came to Uganda was to trade. They brought new goods and took away some. Goods brought into Uganda included:- guns, cloth, beads, daggers, glass, earrings, knives, pangas and axes. Goods that Arabs took out from Uganda included:- slaves, ivory gold, animal skins and turtle shells.

Positive contributions of the Arabs

They introduced: 

i) Islamic faith and system of administration. The sharia (islamic law) and Islamic titles like sheikh were adopted by 

local rulers. 

ii) Art of building using stones. New styles of building using stones and bricks. 

iii) Wearing of tunics. The local people started dressing in Arabic form. Men started wearing kanzus, turbans, caps and sandals and women wore long silk dresses and veils. 

iv) New crops. These were foods of Atlantic origin such as rice, wheat and sugarcanes. 

v) Cowrie shells as a form of currency (money). Mosques and Qur'an schools were built to help in the spread of the new faith. Islamic teachers were also trained. 

The new culture came with a new language called Kiswahili, which is a mixture of Bantu and Arab cultures. It is now a medium of communication in East Africa.

Arabs on the other hard, had some negative influence on Ugandans as well. They promoted slave trade in Uganda which led to the suffering of many people, loss of life, loss of property and decline in agriculture. There was also decrease in the population in many areas where people were captured local people as slaves. 

Indians Indians came to East Africa to build the Uganda Railway. These were called the Indian coolies, Those who remained behind carried out trade in Uganda.The contributions of Indians included; 

Building shops. Many shops in different parts of Uganda were established to sell both manufactured goods and food stuff. 

Building sugar factories and planting sugar cane on plantations. For example at Kakira and Lugazi. They established estates, schools, hospitals, markets and roads in the areas where they operated their factories. 

Madhivan built Kakira sugar works while Nanji Khalidas Mehta built Lugazi sugar factory.

Aldina Visram was the first Indian to open up a shop at Old Kampala in Uganda. The Indians also introduced coin money called Rupees which replaced cowrie shells. The two forms of money replaced barter trade. People used to exchange goods and services.

 Exercise

1 . How did Lugard promote colonial rule in Uganda? 

2. Explain why Gerald Portal declared Uganda a British protectorate.