June 3 – Martyrs Day in Uganda

nPosted on June 3, 2019

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nThere’s no way a Martyrs Day can be anything but solemn – rather than the happier celebration Ugandans will be able to hold in a few days, on National Heroes Day. On this date in 1886, a lot of people were executed at the orders of Mwanga II, the King of Buganda. Actually, the King of Buganda was executing people over a two-year period, with the result of 45 martyrs being put to death.

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nWhy? you may ask. Well…the reasons were messy and at least somewhat uncertain, but they were partly political, partly religious, and partly because the king was angry when people disobeyed his orders. At that time and place (and many others, in the course of world history), the king didn’t have to justify killing his subjects – he could basically order the death of anyone, anytime, for any or no reason.

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nTurning to happier topics…

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nUganda has the source of the longest river in the world, the Nile, at Jinja. The latter is called the adventure capital of Uganda because of the white water rafting…

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nLake Bunyonyi is believed to be the second deepest lake in Africa, and it is special because of the 29 jungle-covered islands. Aren’t they pretty?

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nUganda is known for its mountain gorillas, because they are both magnificent and highly endangered – and because Uganda has about half of the world’s mountain gorilla population!

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nUganda also has other big mammals people like to visit Africa to see in the wild – AND a lot lot lot lot lot of birds! This nation is less than the size of Michigan – and has only a teeny-tiny percentage of Earth’s land mass – but it is home to about 11% of the world’s birds!!!

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nAlso on this date:

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nPlan ahead:

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• nJune holidays

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• nJune birthdays

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• nHistorical anniversaries in June

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• nJuly holidays

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• nJuly birthdays

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• nHistorical anniversaries in July

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