History
Early History of Uganda
History of Jinja as quoted from Wikipedia
Before 1906, Jinja was a fishing village that benefited from being located on long-distance trade routes. The origin of the name “Jinja” comes from the language of the two tribes (the Bagandaand the Basoga) that lived on either side of the River Nile in the area. In both languages “Jinja” means “Rock”. In most of Africa, rivers like the Nile hindered migration, this explains the ethnic boundaries along the Nile as one moves north from the river’s source on the northern shores of Lake Victoria.
However the area around Jinja was one place where the river could be breached due to the large rocks near the Ripon Falls. Here, on either bank of the river, were large flat rocks where small boats could be launched to cross the river. These rock formations were also accredited with providing a natural moderator for the water flow out of Lake Victoria. For the original local inhabitants, the location was a crossing point, for trade, migration and as a fishing post.
This might explain why, despite this barrier, the two tribes have very similar languages, and the more powerful Baganda had an enormous influence on the Basoga. The area was called the ‘Place of Rocks’ or ‘The Place of Flat Rocks’. The word for stones or rocks in the language of the Baganda is ‘Ejjinja(Plural Amayinja), and in the Basoga dialect this became Edinda. The British used this reference to name the town they established – “Jinja”
In 1954,with the building of the Owen Falls Dam, (later renamed Nalubaale Power Station, the Ripon Falls were submerged. Most of the ‘Flat Rocks’ that gave the area its name disappeared under water as well. However a description of what the area looked like can be found in the notes of John Hanning Speke, the first European to lay eyes on the Source of the Nile:
- “Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I expected, for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep and four to five hundred feet broad, were broken by rocks; still it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours. The roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger fish leaping at the falls with all their might, the fishermen coming out in boats, and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made in all, with the pretty nature of the country—small grassy-topped hills, with trees in the intervening valleys and on the lower slopes—as interesting a picture as one could wish to see.”[1]
Cotton-packing, nearby sugar estates, and railway access all enabled Jinja to grow in size. By 1906 a street pattern had been laid out, and Indian traders moved in starting around 1910. The Indians were Catholic Christians and English-speaking, and originated in the former Portuguese colony of Goa on the west coast of India.
The town was founded in 1907 by the British, as an administrative centre for the Provincial Government Headquarters for Busoga region. This was around the time that Lake Victoria’s importance in transport rose due to the Uganda Railwaylinking Kisumu, a Kenyan town on the lake, with Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, 900 miles (1,400 km) away. British-American Tobacco Uganda (BATU) established atobacco processing factory in Jinja in 1928.
The town remained the capital of Busoga region, and in 1956, it was granted municipality status. Jinja was the industrial heart of Uganda between 1954 and the late 1970s – supported by power from the hydroelectric Nalubaale Power Station at the Owen Falls Dam, which was completed in 1954. The dam meant that Jinja enjoyed clean, potable water on tap and an unwavering electricity supply throughout the 1960s. There was also a new and highly efficient drainage system leading into capacious sewers that emptied directly into the River Nile. Cars began to appear in the 1960s, often as taxi services.
In the 1950s, Manchester-based Calico Printers Association, in association with the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC), constructed a large textile mill (Nyanza Textile Industries Limited), locally known as Nytil’. The textile mill utilised hydro-electric power from the Owen Falls Dam. By 1973 Nytil employed about 3,000 people and exclusively used Uganda cotton to spin, weave, and dye or print, to sell via its own retail chain, Lebel, throughout Uganda and Kenya. Genuine Nytil fabric was recognised by the “Silver Shilling” – a foil piece resembling a shilling which was inserted at one yard intervals along the edge of every cloth length produced. As Jinja grew, new roads were constructed, serving the many who lived outside the town. Each morning in the 1960s there would be a line of two-wheel traffic heading for the ‘sokoni’ or marketplace with cargoes of bananas or sacks of charcoal.
During the 1960s, Jinja, like other towns in Uganda, was subtly segregated. The white population was quite small and tended to live in mixed European/Asian (East Indian) neighbourhoods separated from African neighbourhoods. The European/Asian areas were generally by the lakeside with houses affording large gardens. Although Europeans and Asians lived here in close proximity the facilities of the nearby Jinja Club with golf, tennis, squash and a swimming pool; the Sailing club; Nile Rugby Club; and Nile Football Club were mainly enjoyed by Europeans.
At this time the Jinja Club famously had a golf local rule allowing a free drop (of the ball) if it came to rest in a hippo foot print. Although hippos were rarely seen on the course a number of the more savvy members still managed to take advantage of the rule.
European children studied at the Victoria Nile School, and were then sent to be schooled at Nairobi or in the United Kingdom. The Indians were the commercial and business class and lived in the rest of the town, and they greatly valued education. In 1968, the hugeJinja Secondary School had one white student and about half a dozen blacks, while the remaining 500 students were all Asian.
All Asians were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. Under Idi Amin’s bloody rule, it is said that so many bodies were dumped in Lake Victoria that they often blocked the hydroelectric intake channels at the Owen Falls Dam. Much of Jinja’s architecture is Indian-influenced. The detailed shop-fronts and buildings were poorly maintained after the Indians left. The local industries, abandoned by the expelled Asians were mismanaged into ruins after the Indians were expelled.
The 2002 national census calculated Jinja’s population to be approximately 71,213. In 2008, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics estimated the population of the city at 82,800.[2]
With an estimated daily commuter population of approximately 80,000 to 100,000, Jinja on any given business day, contains anywhere from 212,150 to 232,150 people.[3] The majority of the population are of Bantu origin. Lusoga is the main local language. Jinja has a large population of inhabitants who are defined as “working urban poor”. The average annual household income is estimated at US$100.
The Mayor of Jinja is Hon. Muhammad Kezaala Baswale. The city of Jinja has been twinned with Finchley, London, England since 1963.
