Empire of Kitara

The Empire of Kitara or Chwezi Empire meaning (Empire of the sunlight, or Empire of the Moonlight) is believed to have formed when the Kingdom of Aksum disintegrated around 940 CE into the kingdoms of Makuria, the Damot, and the Shewa, Another kingdom broke away in the south to form the Empire of Kitara.

Kitara historical sites

According to oral tradition, in the area of the Great Lakes of Africa was ruled by two dynasties called the Batembuzi and their successors the Bachwezi who ruled for about 560 years until finally succumbing to a Luo invasion in 1500 CE, leading to the empire's fragmentation. The Chwezi dynasty is thought to have been related to the Tembuzi through King Isaza, the last ruler of the Batembuzi dynasty, who married Nyamate daughter of Nyamuyonga King of the underworld. This union produced King Isimbwa who later fathered Ndahura in Runyakitara or known in Rwanda as Ndahiro, and in Buganda as Ndaula. the first of the Chwezi dynastic kings.

At its zenith or it’s height the Empire of Kitara's borders encompassed what corresponds to modern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi, south-western Ethiopia, western Tanzania, western Kenya, eastern Congo (DRC), south-eastern Central African Republic, and north-western Mozambique.