{UAH} THE BAHIMA PEOPLE:
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THE BAHIMA PEOPLE:
They make a small percentage of the overall population of Uganda, but Bahima have greatly influenced the history and politics of Uganda since they arrived here several centuries ago. They are thought to have arrived in Uganda about 1300s with their unique long-horned cow. Many studies have attempted to explain the origin of the Bahima people but no clear conclusions have been settled on.
(1) THE HORN OF AFRICA (ETHIOPIA-SOMALIA) THEORY:
Many historians have written that the Bahima, Bahororo, Banyamulenge and Tutsi are cousins who migrated to the Great Lakes region of East Africa from Ethiopia or Somalia between 1300- 1500. During their migration it is believed that they entered Uganda from the northeast and continued further southwards seeking new rangelands and finally settling in the present day South Western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern Congo and North western Tanzania. In fact many people have reported of the intriguing similarities between the Somali Gaajecel clan and the Bahima. This Somali clan of Gaajecel is called Xima or hima, they are reported to be very nomadic just like the Bahima of Uganda. Such findings have helped to strengthen the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia-Somalia) theory.
Additionally it has been widely reported that there is an absence of sickle cells disease in Bahima and Tutsi and, Somalis and Ethiopians. Could this explain that there are blood relations among them?
(2) WHITE PEOPLE THEORY: A renown British explorer Speke Hanning writing in 1863 in his book "Discovery of the Source of the Nile" said that Wahuma (Bahima) were White people who migrated to the Great Lakes region from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) "It appears impossible to believe, judging from the physical appearance of the Wahuma, that they can be of any other race than the semi− Shem−Hamitic of Ethiopia". (Hamitic is a historical term for a division of the Caucasian (European) race).
According to Speke, Bahima were in charge of the Kingdoms in the Great Lakes region. He believed that Bahima who, besides establishing a hierarchical system of governing the population, also brought with them a wonderful modern civilization. "….I found the Wahuma kings and Wahuma herdsmen holding with the agricultural Wazinza in Uzinza, the Wanyambo in Karague, the Waganda in Uganda, and the Wanyoro in Unyoro." He wrote further "…….In these countries the government is in the hands of foreigners, who had invaded and taken possession of them, leaving the agricultural aborigines to till the ground, whilst the junior members of the usurping clans herded cattle−−just as in Abyssinia."
While explaining why he thought the Bahima were of a white race, Speke wrote that in Abyssinia, a pastoral clan from the Asiatic side took the government of Abyssinia from its people and had ruled over them ever since, changing, by intermarriage with the Africans, the texture of their hair and colour to a certain extent, but still maintaining a high stamp of Asiatic feature, of which a market characteristic is a bridged instead of bridgeless nose.
Speke Hanning was the first white man to discover Lake Victoria and, also Lake Tanganyika with Burton, and was with Grant, the first European to cross equatorial Africa. He died 1864.
(3) LUO PEOPLE THEORY:
This probably is one of the latest attempts at trying to explain the tricky question of the origin of the Bahima/Batutsi. The theory claims that the Bahima/Batutsi are part of the Luo people who migrated to different parts of Eastern Africa from Bar el Ghazel during the Luo Migration several centuries ago.
Prof. B A Ogot a renowned Kenyan Historian wrote in 1999 that Bahima are a group of Luo people who had settled for sometimes around Agoro Hills Lamwo District located at the Uganda-South Sudan border. In this theory, the Agoro group was called the "Jo-Oma". Jo-oma is a Luo term meaning the Oma people or people under the leadership of Oma.
President Museveni's remarks about this subject have tended to portray Luo cultures as being dominant in Uganda. For example, while speaking in a land conflict conference at Munyonyo in 2008 he said "The kings of Bunyoro, Buganda, and Toro are Luos! If you ask a Muganda that what is "wankaaki"? They will tell you "Lubiri lwa Kabaka" (Kabaka's Palace). But we have to excuse them because they don't know History! This is a Luo word!" Museveni went on to say "It's only in Ankole that we stopped the Luo expansion. How can you have a Bantu name like Oyo, like this young boy of (the king of Toro), and Olimi the king of Bunyoro!?"
A DNA research done on the Rwandese Tutsi discovered 14% similarities between Tutsi and the Nilotic Luo.
Bahima have always lived for, on and around their famed long-horned cow to the extent that the cow has shaped their culture quite considerably. Economically the cow has been their main source of income, socially the cow has been used for bride price, politically they have used the cow to rule others, nutritiously their cow's milk has been their main diet, in fact it is a common practice for a young girl being prepared for marriage to be fed regularly on milk in order for her to become healthier, bigger and also to develop soft skin.
As I conclude this piece, it is important to note that most tribes in the present day Uganda arrived here centuries ago from two main origins: 1- The Bantu people migrated to Uganda from Central and West Africa. 2- The Nilotics migrated here from the Nile water areas of Sudan and Ethiopia. Ever since then Uganda has become a shared and cherished home for all of them culturally, and constitutionally.
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-- They make a small percentage of the overall population of Uganda, but Bahima have greatly influenced the history and politics of Uganda since they arrived here several centuries ago. They are thought to have arrived in Uganda about 1300s with their unique long-horned cow. Many studies have attempted to explain the origin of the Bahima people but no clear conclusions have been settled on.
(1) THE HORN OF AFRICA (ETHIOPIA-SOMALIA) THEORY:
Many historians have written that the Bahima, Bahororo, Banyamulenge and Tutsi are cousins who migrated to the Great Lakes region of East Africa from Ethiopia or Somalia between 1300- 1500. During their migration it is believed that they entered Uganda from the northeast and continued further southwards seeking new rangelands and finally settling in the present day South Western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern Congo and North western Tanzania. In fact many people have reported of the intriguing similarities between the Somali Gaajecel clan and the Bahima. This Somali clan of Gaajecel is called Xima or hima, they are reported to be very nomadic just like the Bahima of Uganda. Such findings have helped to strengthen the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia-Somalia) theory.
Additionally it has been widely reported that there is an absence of sickle cells disease in Bahima and Tutsi and, Somalis and Ethiopians. Could this explain that there are blood relations among them?
(2) WHITE PEOPLE THEORY: A renown British explorer Speke Hanning writing in 1863 in his book "Discovery of the Source of the Nile" said that Wahuma (Bahima) were White people who migrated to the Great Lakes region from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) "It appears impossible to believe, judging from the physical appearance of the Wahuma, that they can be of any other race than the semi− Shem−Hamitic of Ethiopia". (Hamitic is a historical term for a division of the Caucasian (European) race).
According to Speke, Bahima were in charge of the Kingdoms in the Great Lakes region. He believed that Bahima who, besides establishing a hierarchical system of governing the population, also brought with them a wonderful modern civilization. "….I found the Wahuma kings and Wahuma herdsmen holding with the agricultural Wazinza in Uzinza, the Wanyambo in Karague, the Waganda in Uganda, and the Wanyoro in Unyoro." He wrote further "…….In these countries the government is in the hands of foreigners, who had invaded and taken possession of them, leaving the agricultural aborigines to till the ground, whilst the junior members of the usurping clans herded cattle−−just as in Abyssinia."
While explaining why he thought the Bahima were of a white race, Speke wrote that in Abyssinia, a pastoral clan from the Asiatic side took the government of Abyssinia from its people and had ruled over them ever since, changing, by intermarriage with the Africans, the texture of their hair and colour to a certain extent, but still maintaining a high stamp of Asiatic feature, of which a market characteristic is a bridged instead of bridgeless nose.
Speke Hanning was the first white man to discover Lake Victoria and, also Lake Tanganyika with Burton, and was with Grant, the first European to cross equatorial Africa. He died 1864.
(3) LUO PEOPLE THEORY:
This probably is one of the latest attempts at trying to explain the tricky question of the origin of the Bahima/Batutsi. The theory claims that the Bahima/Batutsi are part of the Luo people who migrated to different parts of Eastern Africa from Bar el Ghazel during the Luo Migration several centuries ago.
Prof. B A Ogot a renowned Kenyan Historian wrote in 1999 that Bahima are a group of Luo people who had settled for sometimes around Agoro Hills Lamwo District located at the Uganda-South Sudan border. In this theory, the Agoro group was called the "Jo-Oma". Jo-oma is a Luo term meaning the Oma people or people under the leadership of Oma.
President Museveni's remarks about this subject have tended to portray Luo cultures as being dominant in Uganda. For example, while speaking in a land conflict conference at Munyonyo in 2008 he said "The kings of Bunyoro, Buganda, and Toro are Luos! If you ask a Muganda that what is "wankaaki"? They will tell you "Lubiri lwa Kabaka" (Kabaka's Palace). But we have to excuse them because they don't know History! This is a Luo word!" Museveni went on to say "It's only in Ankole that we stopped the Luo expansion. How can you have a Bantu name like Oyo, like this young boy of (the king of Toro), and Olimi the king of Bunyoro!?"
A DNA research done on the Rwandese Tutsi discovered 14% similarities between Tutsi and the Nilotic Luo.
Bahima have always lived for, on and around their famed long-horned cow to the extent that the cow has shaped their culture quite considerably. Economically the cow has been their main source of income, socially the cow has been used for bride price, politically they have used the cow to rule others, nutritiously their cow's milk has been their main diet, in fact it is a common practice for a young girl being prepared for marriage to be fed regularly on milk in order for her to become healthier, bigger and also to develop soft skin.
As I conclude this piece, it is important to note that most tribes in the present day Uganda arrived here centuries ago from two main origins: 1- The Bantu people migrated to Uganda from Central and West Africa. 2- The Nilotics migrated here from the Nile water areas of Sudan and Ethiopia. Ever since then Uganda has become a shared and cherished home for all of them culturally, and constitutionally.
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"War is nothing but a continuation of political intercourse, with a mixture of other means. Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
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