A poster boy of the early 20th century (Daudi Chwa)

Sometimes the history behind a picture is more interesting than the picture itself. This picture of the Bugandan king Daudi Chwa II., who came to power as a one-year old boy in 1897, is from a book by the German missionary Johannsson. According to the author, this picture of the Bugandan king was to be found in many royal palaces of interlacustrine rulers at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Why did the picture a young king became so admired in region?

At the end of the 19^th century, the kingdom of Buganda emerged as the most powerful state in the region. It controlled most of the Lake Victoria, where their flotillas of hundreds of canoes became a feared instrument of regional power politics. Many chiefs regularly paid tribute to the Bugandas to avoid the raids by the Bugandans, but sometimes with only little success. The Bugandans often intervened in succession struggles of the neighboring kingdoms to extend their influence over the region.

The kingdom was not only a political, but a cultural center, too. Especially the culture of Bugandan court was a model that was followed by many chiefs in the region. One evidence is the adoption of titles like katikiro (Prime Minister) in the Southern region of Lake Victoria.

Under the rule of Mtesa (1856 to 1884), the kingdom became an important hub for the regional caravan trade. Traders from the coast arrived at the kingdom as early as in the 1840s. Under Mtsea's rule they established a permanent presence, many Bugandans converted to the Muslim faith. Even the king took lessons with Muslim scholars. Christian missionaries arrived in 1879. First it were Catholics from the White Fathers, later protestants from the UMCA (Universities Mission to Central Africa). Again, the new faith attracted many Bugandans. When Mtesa died in 1886, different factions fought for the throne. This was not uncommon in Bugandan history. What, however, was new, was that religion played an important role. This led to nearly ten years of civil war between Muslim and Christian factions. With British support, the Christian faction gained upper-hand. As soon as victory was secure, new fissions arose between Protestants and Catholics. Again the British support was decisive in granting victory for the Protestants. Many Catholics fled Buganda, mostly to Rwanda.

In 1896, the faction led by the katikiro Apollo Kagwa enthroned Daudi Chwa as the new king, but the power remained firm in the hands of the Prime Minister for many years.

The Rwandaan King Musinga (from the same book): Adopting the Bugandan model?

With the Anglo-German treaties of 1890, Buganda lost its access to the southern parts of Lake Victoria. When Germans arrived in the same year at the Lake, some chiefs asked the Bugandans for an alliance against the foreign intruders, but at that time Buganda was only a shadow of its former glory. The picture, however, shows that their influence, at least in matters of political representation, remained strong in the region even across colonial borders. During the First World War, this influence was restored to some degree, when Bugandan advisers were installed by the British at the courts of some kingdoms.