Kampala, is Uganda’s capital city. It got its name from one of the hills that make up the city. Old Kampala Hill was known by the British as the Hill of Impalas, akasozi k’empala, in Luganda, which is how the name ‘Kampala’ came to be. Old Kampala Hill became the administrative headquarters of the Protectorate, moving the centre of power from neighbouring Mengo Hill, although the British subsequently moved Uganda’s capital to Entebbe.
At independence in 1962, the capital was moved back to Kampala, which was a city built on seven hills: Mengo, Rubaga, Namirembe, Old Kampala, Makerere, Kololo and Nakasero. Mengo was the centre of power for the Buganda kingdom when the British arrived, Rubaga hill belonged to the Catholics and Namirembe Hill to the Protestants. The city has now spread over more than 21 hills.
Kampala has seen centuries of history. The kings of Buganda built their palaces on the hills of Kampala, and there are now 56 royal tombs. The Christian missionaries first came to Kampala in the 1870s, building churches and converting locals – a handful of whom died for their faith a few years later. Their shrines stand throughout the city.
As the capital, Kampala more recently hosted the regimes of post independence rulers Milton Obote and Idi Amin. Obote and Amin’s safe houses still exist, though the buildings themselves have been repurposed.
Visit Kampala’s historic sites on our Martyrs and Kings or Mini Kampala tours.