The Capital

Kampala is the capital city of Uganda, which is located on latitude 0 degrees 19'N, Longitude 32degrees 35 E.It covers area of 189 square Km. Land area is 176 Square Km and lies 1180m above sea level. The average annual rainfall is 12-150cm while the mean annual temperatures are 17 degrees minimum and 21.9degrees minimum respectively. It is divided into 5 divisions, 99 parishes and 811 sub-parishes. The citys population is approximately 1.5 million.

Kampala city is the commercial and administrative capital of Uganda. It lies on a plateau, spread over more than twenty rolling hills (although history has it that colonialists described Kampala in likeness to London and ancient Rome as "a very beautiful,legendary city built on seven hills" The legendary seven hills being Mengo, Lubaga, Namirembe, Old Kampala, Kibuli, Nakasero and Makerere). It is a diverse city, ranging from the modern, colonial and Indian buildings in the centre, to the scenic, ever-green hills and wetlands in outlying areas, to the mighty Lake Victoria to the South.

The main languages spoken by the city residents are Luganda, English, and Swahili in that order. But all indigenous languages of Uganda are used in the cosmopolitan city.

Kampala District is mainly industrial, but its suburbs produce agricultural products such as potatoes, cassava, beans and green vegetables. Poultry and animal husbandry form part of the city's smallscale cottage industries.

The Central Business District (CBD) is Kampala's commercial heartland where most of the business activity takes place. Major hotels, banks, markets, shops, offices and leisure sports are located here. Many city residents live in the central area but the majority stays in the suburbs.

Kampala has a temperate climate, with annual temperatures averaging 17 degrees (minimum) and 21 degrees (maximum) Celsius.

History

The history of Kampala, like that of many other cities in the world, derives from both folklore and historical fact.

According to folklore, much of the area where present-day Kampala stands was dominated by wetlands and rolling hills. This made it an ideal habitat for the Impala and other members of the antelope family.They grazed on the slopes of the hills and came down to the wetlands for water. The palace of the Kabaka (king) of Buganda, located on one of the hills, overlooked this landscape rich in Impala. He turned it into his hunting grounds.Folklore merged with history when the British Empire builders arrived at the end of the 19th century. "Impala" was the English name for that particular antelope family. So the British referred to the area as the "hill of the Impala".The Baganda, eager to adopt foreign words into the local language, translated "hill of the Impala" into Luganda as "kasozi k' Impala" (pronounced "ka Impala"and eventually "ka mpala"). So whenever the Kabaka left his palace to go to hunt his favourite game,royal courtiers would say "the Kabaka has gone to Kampala to hunt". The name stuck. In 1890, Kampala was declared the headquarters of Uganda's colonial administration.