Black African residents of the upper Nile still cherish the memory of the mysterious light-skinned people - Bachwezi
As the legends say, these people came to Uganda from the north, built stone towns and villages, laid canals for irrigation, cut trenches in some places in the rocks and holes like mines up to 70 meters deep. The Bachwezi surprised the locals with their knowledge and abilities. According to legends, they easily flew over lakes, climbed steep cliffs, cured all diseases, reported events that happened "a long time ago."
One of the first mentions of the Bachwezi tribe is associated with the formation of the kingdom of Bunyoro Kitara around the 13th century AD. There are many hypotheses where the Bachwezi came from: either from the capital of Ancient Abyssinia, Aksum, or from Ancient Mesopotamia, from Cyprus, and even were aliens. The Bachwezi ruled the kingdom for almost 150 years, and in the XIV century they disappeared. The huge state was divided: the principalities of Ankole, Buganda and Batoro appeared. At the same time, two high-ranking families (their descendants began to be called Tutsis) moved to the south. So in the XVI-XVII centuries the state of Rwanda arose, and at the end of the XVII century Burundi was formed. The dominance of the rulers of Buganda in the Inter-Lake District increased under Sup II and his successor Mutes I, who had up to 400 large warships on Lake Victoria, which instilled even greater fear in the enemy than the ground forces. Buganda was rich in vassals, slaves, land, cattle and by the middle of the 19th century monopolized trade on the coast of the Indian Ocean.
But legends about a powerful light-skinned tribe that arose out of nowhere and went nowhere have been passed from mouth to mouth for centuries. Therefore, it is not surprising that the arrival of the first Europeans in 1862 caused a whole range of feelings in the Ugandan population - from fright to awe. After all, they were mistaken for the legendary bachwezi!
The Bachwezi left behind buildings, the ruins of which have survived to this day. After the sudden disappearance of this people, archaeologists discovered strange objects that in time belonged to the era of the existence of Biggo-bya-Mugenyi, but in appearance they did not at all correspond to the products that were made by the tribes inhabiting Uganda.
In the middle of the last century, inmates of the central prison of Uganda, located in Luzira, a suburb of the capital of Uganda, Kampala, dug a trench under the foundation for the construction of auxiliary premises. The pick of one of them unexpectedly hit a solid object that turned out to be a sculptural image of a human head. The find turned out to be part of a ceramic figure. Fragments of the torso and limbs were unearthed nearby. The head of the figure turned out to be strange: a chin protruding forward, a long nose, a hairstyle reminiscent of a judge's wig, and a semblance of a pillow on the crown.
Archaeologists and researchers in Uganda could not attribute this find to any known culture in Africa. Professor Lwanga-Lunigo has suggested that this figure may have been part of a hitherto unknown cult of the inhabitants of the coast of Lake Victoria. But while the lakeside area is home to some of the most important places of worship in traditional religion, research has failed to clarify the statue's origins. And the local Baganda tribe has practically no human images.
Ugandan historian Michael Nsim-bi believes that the figurine came to Luzira from the coast of the Indian Ocean. Archaeologists at the place where the "Luzira man" was found discovered many shards of pottery. Some of the shards, according to scientists, are the same age as the statue - five to six centuries. Scientists drew attention to the similarity of these shards with fragments of pottery found at the beginning of the 20th century in another mysterious place - Biggo bya Mugeny. Here are the ruins of ancient fortifications on the southern bank of the Katong-gi River in western Uganda. Until now, there are rings of deep trenches dug in solid rock. Their total length is six kilometers. As the legends say, Mugenyi was one of the habitats of the Bachwezi.
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The first mention of Biggo-bya-Mugenyi appeared in the Office Gazette, a publication of the Uganda Protectorate, on May 15, 1909. The note said that the inhabitants associate the origin of the fort with supernatural forces. According to the tradition that still exists today, the trees and bushes growing there are considered sacred: those who dare to cut them down will perish. Not a single local will pass by this place at night or during the rain. No one has lived near the ruins for a long time.
Biggo's first excavations were carried out in the early 1920s. It was then that the fragments of pottery were found, which were sent to the British Museum. Nearby, scientific expeditions have discovered the remains of irrigation structures, which, apparently, were erected by highly qualified builders. Wayland compared them to the remains of irrigation structures on the island of Sri Lanka, which are more than two thousand years old.
But the most interesting find came in the 1930s. An elderly peasant woman was weeding a garden and came across a cylindrical clay object. She took him to the village chief, who took him to the National Museum. The cylinder was small: fourteen centimeters high and eight in diameter. Its clay surface is dotted with bulges and holes. It is still not known by whom this item was made and for what purpose.
Mystery tightly envelops the so-called Walumbe burrows on the Tanda hill, seventy kilometers from the Mugenyi fort. In the language of Luganda, “valumbe” means death. Legend has it that one day the sky god Gulu became angry with Valumba and drove him to earth. And he sent his brother Kaikuzi in pursuit to kill the unwanted one. Descending, Valumbe discovered the pursuit. Then he decided to hide from Kaikuzi and began to dive into the ground. Dives - Kaikuzi is behind him. And Walumbe appears from the ground in a different place. Kaikuzi did not catch up with him, and death remained with people. After that crazy race on Tanda Hill, more than two hundred holes appeared. Now dense thickets cover this hill, and without a guide you can easily sink into the ground. The holes are arranged one after the other in a specific order. All of them are approximately one and a half meters in diameter. Their depth is from three to seventy meters. Holes are dug in the rock and extend perpendicularly downward. Similar holes have been found in other parts of Uganda. Their age has not been determined, although locals assume that they have existed "for a very long time." The burrows resemble mining mines in shape.
But what could the ancient tribes be looking for here? Only in a few hills, where such holes have been found, there are hints of minerals, and in very small quantities.
Back in 1934, E. Wayland suggested that there was a connection between Biggo-bya-Mugenyi and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, a fortified city located in what is now Zimbabwe. He compared the plan of the Ugandan buildings with the Zimbabweans, and it turned out that they have a lot in common: the same semicircular or semi-elliptical fence of small courtyards adhered to the walls of the central building, the same methods of wall construction. The scientist's optimism might not be entirely justified. During subsequent excavations at Biggo bya Mugenyi, shards of pottery were found, very similar to the remains of utensils found in Great Zimbabwe. And the most striking thing: in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, a cylinder similar to that found in Biggo was found! Moreover, a similar cylinder was previously found during excavations in … Cyprus!
Zimbabwe - Uganda - Cyprus … Was there ever a connection between them? And where did the "Luzira man" come from? There is no answer yet. Africa keeps many secrets, but is reluctant to part with them.