Fort portal

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Location of Fort Portal within Uganda

Location of Fort Portal within Uganda

Basic data
District Cabarole
Geographical location 0 ° 39 ′  N , 30 ° 17 ′  E Coordinates: 0 ° 39 ′  N , 30 ° 17 ′  E
surface ?dep1
population 42,671 (2005 estimate)
Population density ? Inhabitants / km²
medium height 1540  m
Precipitation 1440 mm / a
Time zone UTC +3
UN / LOCODE UG FPO
Telephone code (+256) 0483

Fort Portal is a city in western Uganda with 42,671 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Kabarole district .

history

At the Mpanga Market in Fort Portal, all kinds of consumer goods are offered.

The area around today's city was the heartland of the Kingdom of Toro . Due to ongoing attacks from the neighboring kingdom of Bunyoro , Omukama (King) Kasagama turned to the British colonial administrator Frederick Lugard in Kampala in 1891 to obtain British support against the threat to his country. Lugard granted this by gathering the Egyptian-Sudanese troops left behind by Emin Pasha when he gave up the province of Equatoria in the region, and with these he built and occupied a chain of forts in the border area. In return, Kasagama had to cede extensive rights to the British. Kasagama also promoted the settlement of British farmers, as he hoped it would provide lasting protection against the threat from neighboring peoples. This was in contradiction to the official British colonial policy, which provided no settlement for Uganda.

In 1893 Major Roddy Owen built a fortification made of wooden palisades on a hill above the Mpanga on Lugard's order . He named this Fort Gerry (based on the first name of the high-ranking British diplomat Sir Gerald Portal, who was then in Kampala ). After a larger settlement quickly formed under the protection of the fort, the place was temporarily called Kabarole , then - after the baptism of Kasagama - it was renamed Bethlehem , around 1900 in the Treaty of Toro (regulation of the rights of sovereignty between Kasagama and the British Empire) to be formally renamed Fort Portal by the special envoy Henry Hamilton Johnston in charge .

In 1914, the clubhouse of the new golf course was built on the ruins of the old fort. Large coffee and later tea plantations emerged around the city, which was dominated by the British settlers for a long time until they had to leave the country during the reign of Idi Amin .

present

View of Kasese Road crossing Fort Portal in a north-south direction

Fort Portal is the center of the former Toro Kingdom , which was culturally revived in 1993. To the south of the city are the Karambi Tombs , the tombs of the Toro royal family.

Due to the proximity to the Ruwenzori Mountains , the Kibale National Park and the Queen Elizabeth National Park , the place has some tourist importance. It is connected to Kampala and Mbarara via the Trans-African Highway 8, the Lagos-Mombasa Highway , and is an important center for trade activities in western Uganda. There is a large state hospital and two denominational houses. In 2005, Mountains of the Moon University was established as a university.

Population development

year Residents
1969 census 7,947
1980 census 26,806
1991 census 32,789
2002 census 40.993
2005 estimate 42,671

climate

January February March April May June July August September October November December year
Precipitation in mm 20th 75 125 190 130 85 60 110 195 210 165 75 1440
Ø min. Temperature in ° C 12 13 14th 14th 14th 13 13 13 13 14th 14th 12 13.3
Ø max. Temperature in ° C 27 27 26th 26th 25th 25th 25th 25th 25th 25th 25th 26th 25.6

Others

  • Gerald Portal never visited the place that bears his name. Roddy Owen founded Fort Portal, but has nothing to do with the Owen Falls Dam that bears his name.
  • The city council of Fort Portal commissioned a statue of the namesake in 2004 and had it erected in the city center - a probably unique event in post-colonial Africa.
  • Since the Bantu languages always describe place names made up of different terms in one word, the unofficial spelling Fortportal has become established in Uganda .

literature