Kampala city

The name Kampala originally referred only to Old Kampala Hill, where Fort Lugard was built. This hill became the first headquarters of the British colonial administration in what later became the Uganda Protectorate. Before the British arrived, Old Kampala Hill was a hunting ground for the Kabaka (King) of Buganda. It was home to many impalas, a type of antelope. When the British were given the hill by the Kabaka, they began calling it “The Hill of the Impala.” The Baganda people translated this into their own language as “Akasozi k’Empala,” meaning Hill of the Impalas. Over time, the name was shortened to “K’empala” and later became “Kampala.” As the British settlement expanded from Old Kampala Hill, near the Kibuga, the traditional capital of the Buganda Kingdom, the name Kampala gradually came to refer to the entire town. Today, it is the name of Uganda’s vibrant capital city.