Kampala, often referred to as Kampala District, is both the capital and largest city in Uganda. Like many urban cities, Kampala is divided into different sectors, otherwise known as boroughs: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Lubaga Division. In addition to these boroughs, the city is seeing rapid growth in the surrounding Wakiso District. The population of this newest district more than doubled in only one decade (2002 to 2014), bringing the population of that area alone to over 2 million (and growing).
The city is rich in history: as far as 1881 it was already known as the capital of the important Buganda Kingdom. Several monuments and historic buildings survived and still exist today, and they include the Parliament and Court of Justice. The rest of the city was rebuilt, not by choice. The authorities, rather, were forced to rebuild following the Uganda-Tanzania war which took place in the 1970s. The city now boasts modern hotels, banks, malls, universities and other educational institutions, as well as hospitals and mosques, among many other buildings of importance.
The city is known as a city of hills, having started with seven hills, like the city of Rome, and featuring other, countless rolling hills that characterize the landscape and the skyline of Kampala.
In addition to the hills, Kampala is made up of rainforests and has a predominantly rainforest climate: as such, the city has two wet seasons per year; August to December as well as a shorter rainy season from February to June. The shorter season has also the heaviest rain fall, with over 169 millimeters of rain, city-wide.
The city’s population is made up of a diverse group of ethnic groups due to a rich political and economic landscape. The population is progressive and ahead of other areas of Uganda when it comes to issues such as Inter-tribal marriage, and multi-ethnicity is definitely a thing in Kampala, with many different religions observed and a few different languages spoken: among them English, Swahili, and Luganda.