The area of Uganda includes Lake George and Lake Kyoga; parts of Lake Victoria, Lake Edward, and Lake Albert; and the Nile River from its outlet at Lake Victoria to Nimule on the Sudan frontier. The land surface is remarkably diversified, with elevated plains, vast forests, low swamps, arid depressions, and snowcapped peaks, the highest of which is Margherita Peak (5109 m/16,762 ft) in the Ruwenzori Range in the southwest. Much of the south is forested, and most of the north is covered with savanna.

Despite being located along the equator, Uganda has a mild, equable climate, mainly because of its relatively high altitude. The temperature ranges from about 16° to 29° C (about 60° to 85° F). The average annual rainfall varies from some 760 mm (some 30 in) in the northeast to about 1520 mm (about 60 in) near Lake Victoria.

Uganda's most important natural resource is its rich soil, which provides the basis for the diverse agricultural economy of the country. In addition, Uganda has exploitable deposits of gold, copper, tin, and tungsten and ample waterpower resources for producing hydroelectricity.

Uganda has a wide variety of plant life, from the mvuli tree and elephant grass of the Uganda plateau to the dry thorn scrub, acacia, and euphorbia of the southwest. The country also provides a habitat for many animals, some of which are protected in national parks. The chimpanzee inhabits the rain forests, and species of antelope (including the eland and hartebeest), and the elephant, rhinoceros, lion and leopard, are found in the grasslands.

Almost all of the inhabitants of Uganda are black Africans. About two-thirds of the people speak a Bantu language; they live in the southern half of the country and include the Ganda, Soga, Nyoro, Nkole, and Toro ethnic groups. Most of the remaining people speak a Nilotic language; they live in the north and include the Acholi, Lango, and Karamojong ethnic groups.

According to the provisional results of the 1991 census, Uganda had a population of 16,582,674. The 1995 estimate was 20,405,000, giving the country an overall population density of about 85 persons per sq km (about 219 per sq mi). Uganda's growth rate in the early 1990s was about 3 percent.

Uganda's capital and largest city is Kampala (population, 1991 provisional, 773,463), which is located near Lake Victoria. Other cities include Jinja (60,979), Mbale (53,634), Gulu (42,841), Entebbe (41,638), Soroti (40,602), and Mbarara (40,383).

About 60 percent of Uganda's inhabitants are Christian, and approximately 5 percent are Muslim. Most of the rest of the people follow traditional religions. English, the official language, and Swahili, a language of commerce, are widely spoken. Numerous indigenous languages are also used.

The British educational system has been influential in Uganda, and missionary schools have played an important role in educating the people. In the late 1980s about 2.6 million pupils attended some 7900 primary schools in Uganda, and some 240,000 students were enrolled in more than 900 secondary, technical, and teacher-training schools. Uganda's leading institutions of higher education are Makerere University (1922) and Uganda Technical College (1954), both located in Kampala.

Uganda's chief libraries are the National Reference Library and the National Library of Medicine, both housed at Makerere University. The Uganda Museum, located in Kampala, displays materials on archaeology, ethnology, music, and science. A geological and a zoological museum are both in Entebbe.

The Ugandan economy is largely dependent on agriculture. A good deal of the farming is at the subsistence level. The principal cash crops, cotton and coffee, are dependent on a fluctuating world market. In addition, political considerations have sharply curtailed economic cooperation with its East African neighbors, Kenya and Tanzania. Unsettled internal political affairs in the 1970s and 1980s hurt Uganda's economy as well, as did drought conditions in the north beginning in the late 1970s. Yet Uganda's economy has great potential. The country has significant natural resources, including ample fertile lands, regular rainfall, and mineral deposits. The gross national product (GNP) in the early 1990s was estimated at $6 billion, or about $300 per capita.

The Uganda workforce was estimated at about 8.1 million in the early 1990s. More than 80 percent of the workers were engaged in farming, largely on a subsistence basis.

Crop farming and livestock raising are the primary occupations in Uganda. Coffee is the main commercial crop and constitutes more than 90 percent of the yearly value of exports. Other major exports are cotton and tea. Annual farm production in the early 1990s included bananas and plantains (8.7 million metric tons), cassava (3.8 million), sweet potatoes (1.8 million), sugarcane (920,000), maize (595,000), millet (593,000), beans (402,000), and sorghum (375,000). Livestock included some 5.1 million cattle, 3.4 million goats, 2 million sheep, and 20 million poultry.

Uganda produces hardwoods, chiefly mahogany, for export. The annual cut in the early 1990s included about 15.7 million cu m (about 554 million cu ft) of wood, more than 87 percent of which was used as fuel. The major bodies of water in Uganda are commercially exploited, and the fish is consumed locally. The catch in the early 1990s was about 254,900 metric tons; major species landed include tilapia and Nile perch.

Mining has made a negligible contribution to Uganda's economy since the near cessation of copper mining in the early 1980s. Small amounts of tungsten, salt, phosphate rock, and limestone were extracted in the early 1990s. Uganda also has reserves of tin, beryllium, and gold, but they have not yet been exploited.

Much of the manufacturing industry of Uganda is centered in the Jinja-Kampala-Tororo area and is related to the processing of the country's agricultural output. In the 1960s such basic goods as textiles, shirts, footwear, processed food, beer, soft drinks, and matches began to be manufactured on a larger scale. Uganda's economy is recovering from the political turmoil of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with production of building and construction materials and a variety of consumer goods resuming.

In the early 1990s Uganda annually produced about 782 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Almost all of the power was generated in hydroelectric facilities, especially the large Owen Falls project on the Victoria Nile near Jinja. Other hydroelectric plants are on the Kagera and Kiruruma rivers.

The unit of currency is the new Uganda shilling (1195 shillings equal U.S.$1; 1994), issued by the Bank of Uganda, which was founded in 1966. Several foreign banks operate in the country, in addition to a number of domestic state banks.

The cost of Uganda's imports generally exceeds the value of its exports. In the early 1990s annual exports earned about $180 million and imports cost about $610 million. The leading export by far is coffee; cotton and tea also are of some value. Leading imports include transportation equipment, petroleum, primary and fabricated metal, machinery, paper and paper products, food, and cotton textiles. Major trade partners for exports are the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain; the most important trade partners for imports are Kenya, Great Britain, and Italy. Because of Uganda's lovely scenery, tourism was an important industry before the political turmoil of the 1970s and the 1980s curtailed visits by foreigners. Uganda, with Kenya and Tanzania, was a member of the East African Community, an organization designed to foster economic cooperation and development, until it was dissolved in 1977 after much conflict among its three members.

Uganda has about 6230 km (about 3870 mi) of paved roads, as well as some 22,100 km (some 13,730 mi) of other roads. The country is served by 1241 km (about 771 mi) of operated railroad track and is linked by rail with the Indian Ocean via Kenya. Ships on Lake Victoria link Uganda with Kenyan and Tanzanian ports. The national air carrier is Uganda Airlines; the main international airport is at Entebbe.

The government operates Radio Uganda, which broadcasts in English, French, Arabic, and several African languages, and a national television system that serves an estimated 187,000 receivers. The official government daily newspaper is New Vision, published in Kampala.

Uganda's modified parliamentary form of government was suspended after a 1985 coup. A new constitution, enacted in October 1995, officially prohibits political parties until the year 2000, but allowed for nonparty presidential and legislative elections in 1996.

Before the 1985 coup the leader of the principal party in the National Assembly became Uganda's president. Under the 1995 constitution the president is directly elected for five years, with no term limit.

The unicameral National Assembly of 126 popularly elected members was dissolved after the 1985 coup. The National Resistance Council was established in 1986; following elections in 1989, the council consisted of 210 elected and 68 appointed members. Under the 1995 constitution a new legislative body is scheduled to be elected by popular vote in June 1996.

While parliamentary government functioned, the leading political organizations were the Uganda People's Congress (founded 1960), which favored mildly socialist policies; the Democratic Party (1953), a moderate grouping; the Uganda Patriotic Movement (1980), concerned particularly with ending civil violence in the country; and the Conservative Party (1979). Since 1986 Uganda has upheld "no-party" politics.

The highest tribunals of Uganda are the Court of Appeal and the High Court. The country also has magistrates' courts.

Uganda is divided into 39 districts. The districts are grouped into four geographical regions.

The Ugandan army was reorganized in the early 1980s. Discipline remained lax, however, and the government acknowledged in 1984 that unauthorized troop activities had caused the deaths of thousands of civilians. The regular army was absorbed into the National Resistance Army after the latter took power in January 1986. The army had about 70,000 members in 1993. In 1994, however, in an effort to reduce the military budget, 10,000 soldiers were given an early pension.

A composite of four kingdoms and many tribes, Uganda was a focal point of European rivalry before being ceded to Great Britain in 1890.

In the 1500 years before the Europeans arrived, the lake region of Africa, with its temperate climate and good soil, was a crossroads for invasions of Bantu agriculturists and Nilotic cattle herders. A fusion of these peoples occurred, and by the 15th century Bunyoro, the first of the great kingdoms, was founded. During the next two centuries its armies brought much of central Uganda under its control. These areas were ruled by governors subordinate to the great king of Bunyoro. In the late 18th century, during a period of conflict, the governor of Buganda declared his independence, and the new kingdom quickly became the major lake state. Two smaller kingdoms, Ankole and Toro, also became independent of Bunyoro. Each of these, with variations, modeled its society and political system on the earlier state. Buganda was ruled by a semidivine king (kabaka) who was advised by a council of great nobles (lukiko), and the land was divided among the nobility and farmed by the peasants. Cattle were symbols of power and were owned by the nobility. The state was defended by a standing and conscript army obedient to the king's desires. Although powerful, Buganda never completely dominated the other kingdoms and scattered Bantu groups.

The first Europeans to visit Uganda were the British explorers John Hanning Speke and James Grant when they were searching for the source of the Nile in 1862. They were followed by Samuel White Baker and Charles George Gordon commanding Egyptian troops. The Anglo-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley, welcomed by Kabaka Mutesa I (reigned 1852-1884), reported the king's eagerness to understand Christianity. Soon both Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries were working in Buganda. Within a decade the factions they created caused a civil war. Once isolated, the region became by 1890 a major object of the European nations' scramble for African territory. Britain, after securing German recognition of its rights, moved to secure Buganda. Frederick Lugard, working for the British East Africa Company, ended the civil disturbances, and his successors used the Bugandan army to help conquer the other kingdoms and tribes. By 1896 a British protectorate administration had extended its authority over most of the region, and the name Uganda was adopted. Final details concerning the administration of Uganda were settled by a series of agreements in 1900, the most comprehensive of which guaranteed special status to Buganda, including the continuation of its social and political system. Britain's almost 70 years of rule in Uganda was thus a centralized European bureaucracy superimposed on a federation of kingdoms and tribes. This worked well until the independence movements of the 1950s, when Buganda demanded separation from Uganda. Only after Kabaka Mutesa II was exiled for two years in 1953 was it possible to proceed with developing a united government.

After much experimenting, a federal constitution was promulgated in April 1962. The Uganda People's Congress won the elections, and Milton Obote became prime minister. Independence was granted in October 1962. Dissension continued, however, and in May 1966 Obote sent the army into Buganda and drove the kabaka into exile. He then proclaimed a new republican constitution, which formally abolished the kingships, and became Uganda's first president of a unitary government. Bugandan recalcitrance, a falloff in the economy, and charges of corruption led to an army coup in January 1971. Power devolved upon the army commander, Idi Amin, who began eight years of misrule. He increased the size of the army, eliminated his political opponents, and began a reign of terror directed at the people of Buganda, Obote's Lango tribe, and their neighbors the Acholi. He also expelled approximately 70,000 Asians from the country. By 1978 Uganda was bankrupt, and the government was dependent on massive loans from Arab states friendly to Amin. Uganda went to war with neighboring Tanzania in late 1978, and Tanzanian forces allied with Ugandan rebels drove Amin from the country early the following year. Three provisional presidents served before elections under a new constitution were held in December 1980. Obote's party was successful, and he became president once again of a changed Uganda. Once thriving, the nation had become an economic disaster, with an inflation rate of more than 200 percent, no consumer goods, few jobs, rampant thievery, famine in the north, and no effective government in the countryside. In 1982, after Tanzanian troops had been withdrawn, antigovernment guerrillas became active, and thousands of young men were arrested, suspected of being guerrillas. Thereafter, more than 100,000 Ugandans were killed or starved to death.

A July 1985 coup overthrew the constitutional government; Obote fled the country and settled in Zambia. He was succeeded by National Resistance Army leader Yoweri Museveni after four days of fighting in Kampala in January 1986. Since Museveni's ascension to power, Uganda's economy has prospered. Foreign investment has increased and many Asian Ugandans have returned to open businesses. However, political expression has been hindered. In March 1994 Ugandan voters elected representatives to serve on the Constituent Assembly, responsible for rewriting the constitution. Supporters of Museveni won a majority of seats. The constitution was enacted in 1995. Since the 1980s many people in Uganda have died from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). By 1990 AIDS had reached epidemic proportions in the country. In 1993 Uganda had 43,875 reported cases of AIDS and an estimated 10 percent of the population infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

The early 1990s saw an upsurge in terrorism in northern Uganda by rebel groups seeking Museveni's overthrow. In 1995 and early 1996 hundreds of Ugandan soldiers and civilians were killed in attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army, a Christian fundamentalist rebel faction led by a former faith healer. Despite unrest and dissent in the north, the home of Museveni's political enemies, nonparty presidential elections proceeded as planned in May 1996. Museveni won 74 percent of the vote in Uganda's first presidential elections in 16 years. Opposition candidates, forced to run unaffiliated with a political party and limited to one month of campaigning, claimed the vote was unfair, but the elections were widely endorsed by international observers.