BUNYORO

East African kingdom that flourished from the 16th to the 19th century west of Lake Victoria, in present-day Uganda; it was established by invaders from the north. As cattle keepers the immigrants constituted a privileged caste ruling over the Bantu-speaking agricultural peasantry. The kingdom continued to expand under its priest-kings until about 1800, when it started to lose territory to its neighbour, Buganda. Bunyoro's last ruler, Kabarega, was deposed in 1894 by the British, who favoured Buganda; the kingdom was absorbed into the British protectorate in 1896.