James Baquet

Uganda is an eastern African country just to the west of Kenya. South Sudan is on its north, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on its west, and Rwanda and Tanzania on the southwest and southeast respectively. The southeastern corner of the country is largely occupied by Lake Victoria, the remainder of which lies in Tanzania on the south and Kenya on the east.

Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by area, and the second-largest fresh-water lake in the world (after North America’s Lake Superior); it is one of Africa’s so-called Great Lakes that lie around the East African Rift. In fact, about one-quarter of the surface area of Uganda is covered with lakes and rivers.

Despite its seeming distance from Egypt, Uganda is also in the Nile Basin, as that river finds one of its sources in the Great Lakes region. The country takes its name from the Buganda Kingdom, a sub-unit that takes up much of Uganda’s southern portion, including the area around the capital city, Kampala.

National languages are English and Swahili, but quite a number of vernacular languages are also used, including Luganda. The local variant of English, like “Chinglish” in China, “Singlish” in Singapore, and “Spanglish” in the American Southwest (where many speak Spanish) is teasingly called “Uglish.”

A protectorate of the British from 1894, Uganda gained its independence in 1962. Things have not always been tranquil since then, however; conflicts have been intermittent, and there has been a long drawn-out civil war in the north.

Uganda is one of the world’s poorest nations. In 2012, over one-third of the population lived on less than US $1.25 a day. The economy was primarily agricultural, with coffee as its main export (though it was exported primarily to other African countries), and tea, tobacco and cotton also produced. However, there has been considerable growth in the service sector.

Despite its war-torn past, Uganda is known for the friendliness of its people. Wildlife is a primary tourist attraction, as are boating and water sports around the Great Lakes.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. a distinct part of something else

2. lasting a long time, protracted

3. protected territory

4. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, etc.

5. devastated by war

6. peaceful

7. part that’s left over

8. jokingly, kiddingly

9. rafting, kayaking, fishing, etc.

10. stopping and starting, sporadic