Two British explorers, soon follow. In 1862, British explorer John Hanning Speke becomes the first European to visit Buganda. In 1877, members of the British Missionary Society arrive in Buganda, and in 1890, Britain and Germany sign treaty giving Britain rights to what was to become Uganda. Uganda soon becomes a British protectorate, and in 1900 Britain signs agreement with Buganda, giving it autonomy and turning it into a constitutional monarchy controlled mainly by Protestant chiefs. In 1958, Uganda is given internal self-government, and is finally granted independence in 1962. A violent history follows Uganda’s independence, as a religious civil war between Protestants, Muslims, and Catholics vying for control breaks out. Uganda is a nation that emerged greatly divided by national, religious, and ethnic lines. These divisions, as well as political and economic instability is the framework for both historical as well as modern day slavery in …show more content…
As Uzoigwe discusses in his book, Uganda: The Dilemna of Nationhood, “To succeed, colonialism must keep its part of this bargain whose aim was to keep the masses quiet and the ethnic groups divided. In pursuing this policy, British colonial administrators found themselves deeply involved in the politics of various ethnic groups whose separateness, one from the other, they helped to exaggerate…”. After Uganda was granted political sovereignty, and made an independent nation free from British rule, it remained divided. There was not a sense of unity amongst civilians in Uganda, and tensions remained high between ethnic and religious