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Location: Eastern Africa, west of Kenya
Geographic coordinates: 1 00 N, 32 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 236,040 sq km
land: 199,710 sq km
water: 36,330 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Oregon
Land boundaries:
total: 2,698 km
border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 765 km,
Kenya 933 km, Rwanda 169 km, Sudan 435 km, Tanzania 396 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons
(December to February, June to August); semiarid in northeast
Terrain: mostly plateau with rim of mountains
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Lake Albert 621 m
highest point: Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley 5,110 m
Natural resources: copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone,
salt, arable land
Land use:
arable land: 25%
permanent crops: 9%
permanent pastures: 9%
forests and woodland: 28%
other: 29% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 90 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
Environment - current issues: draining of wetlands for agricultural
use; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; poaching is widespread
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life
Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification
Geography - note: landlocked
Geography
Republic of Uganda is situated in East Africa.Population, is estimated
to be 19.8 million.Area compromising of 238,461 square kilometres
or 92,046 square miles.Uganda shares borders with Kenya, Sudan,
Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zaire.Capital of Uganda is Kampala. Major
Towns, compromises of Jinja, Mbale, Tororo, and Soroti .
Physical:The western Rift Valley runs along the Zaire border. Lake
Victoria borders the south and east of Uganda and there are also
many other lakes including Lakes Albert, Edward, Kwania, Cyoga and
Bisina. The Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile are the main rivers.
Climate
Elevation and distance from the sea control the climate of Tanzania.
On the mainland coastal strip along the Indian Ocean, the climate
is warm and tropical, with temperatures averaging 27° C (80° F)
and rainfall varying from 750 to 1400 mm (30 to 55 in).
The climate on the islands is generally tropical, but the heat
is tempered by a sea breeze throughout the year. The annual mean
temperature for the city of Zanzibar is 29° C (85° F) maximum, and
25° C (77° F) minimum; for Wete in Pemba, 30° C (86° F) maximum
and 24° C (76° F) minimum. Most rain falls from December through
May. Tanzania also can experience substantial fluctuations in rain
amounts from one year to the next.
Uganda is a thickly populated country in east-central Africa. The
Africans in Uganda belong to several ethnic groups. English is Uganda's
official language, but the people speak many African languages.
Uganda has magnificent scenery, including snow-capped mountains,
thick tropical forests, and semidesert areas. Lakes cover more than
a sixth of Uganda.
Part of Lake Victoria, the world's second largest freshwater lake,
lies in the country.
Uganda achieved independence from the UK in 1962. The dictatorial
regime of Idi AMIN (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some
300,000 opponents; guerrilla war and human rights abuses under Milton
OBOTE (1980-85) claimed another 100,000 lives.
During the 1990s the government has promulgated non-party presidential
and legislative elections.
Uganda
GEOGRAPHY
Size: 241,139 square kilometers, including 44,000
square kilometers of open water or swampland.
Topography: Mostly plateau that slopes gently
toward north, with central downwarp occupied by Lake Kyoga. Mountains
on east and west. Highest peak of Mount Stanley is Margherita (5,113
meters). Approximately one-half of Lake Victoria (10,200 square
kilometers) lies within Uganda and is source of Nile River.
Climate: Equatorial climate, moderated by altitude.
Rainfall varies from more than 2,100 millimeters around Lake Victoria
to about 500 millimeters in northeast. Vegetation heaviest in south;
thins to savanna and dry plains in northeast.
Data as of December 1990
Uganda
PHYSICAL SETTING
Location and Size
Uganda is a landlocked country astride the equator, about 800 kilometers
inland from the Indian Ocean . It lies on the northwestern shores
of Lake Victoria, extending from 1 south to 4 north latitude and
30 to 35 east longitude.
Uganda is bordered by Tanzania and Rwanda to the south, Zaire to
the west, Sudan to the north, and Kenya to the east. With a land
surface of 241,139 square kilometers (roughly twice the size of
the state of Pennsylvania), Uganda occupies most of the Lake Victoria
Basin, which was formed by the geological shifts that created the
Rift Valley during the Pleistocene era. The Sese Islands and other
small islands in Lake Victoria also lie within Uganda's borders.
Data as of December 1990
Uganda
Land Use
In the southern half of the country, rich soil and rainfall permit
extensive agriculture, and in the drier and less fertile northern
areas, pastoral economies are common. Approximately 21 percent of
the land is cultivated and 45 percent is woodland and grassland,
some of which has been cleared for roads, settlements, and farmland
in the south. Approximately 13 percent of the land is set aside
as national parks, forests, and game reserves. Swampland surrounding
lakes in the southern and central regions supports abundant papyrus
growth. The central region's woodlands and savanna give way to acacia
and cactus growth in the north. Valuable seams of copper, cobalt,
and other minerals have been revealed along geological fault lines
in the southeast and southwest . Volcanic foothills in the east
contain phosphates and limestone.
Data as of December 1990
Uganda
Mountains
Southern Uganda lies at an altitude of 1,134 meters above sea level
. The plateau that stretches northward from Lake Victoria declines
gradually to an altitude of 914 meters on the Sudan border. The
gradually sloping terrain is interrupted by a shallow basin dipping
toward the center of the country and small areas of tropical forest,
which mark the western border with Zaire.
Both eastern and western borders are marked by mountains. The Ruwenzori
Mountains (often called the Mountains of the Moon) form about eighty
kilometers of the border between Uganda and Zaire. The highest peaks
of Mount Stanley, in the Ruwenzoris, are snowcapped . Foremost among
these are Margherita (5,113 meters) and Alexandra (5,094 meters).
Farther south, the northernmost of the Mufumbiro volcanoes reach
4,132 meters on Mount Mahavura; 3,648 meters on Mount Mgahinga;
and 3,477 meters on Mount Sabinio, which marks the border with Rwanda
and Zaire.
In eastern Uganda, the border with Kenya is also marked by volcanic
hills. Dominating these, roughly 120 kilometers north of the equator,
is Mount Elgon, which rises from the 1,200-meter plains to reach
a height of 4,324 meters. Mount Elgon is the cone of an extinct
volcano, with ridges radiating thirty kilometers from its crater.
Rich soil from its slopes is eroded into the plains below. North
of Mount Elgon are Kadam (also known as Debasien or Tabasiat) Peak,
which reaches a height of 3,054 meters, and Mount Moroto, at 3,085
meters. In the far northeast, Mount Zulia, Mount Morungole, and
the Labwor and Dodoth Hills reach heights in excess of 2,000 meters.
The lower Imatong Mountains and Mount Langia, at 3,029 meters, mark
the border with Sudan.
Data as of December 1990
Uganda
Lakes and Rivers
Uganda is a well-watered country. Nearly one-fifth of the total
area, or 44,000 square kilometers, is open water or swampland. Four
of East Africa's Great Lakes--Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga, Lake Albert,
and Lake Edward--lie within Uganda or on its borders. Lake Victoria
dominates the southeastern corner of the nation, with almost one-half
of its 10,200-square-kilometer area lying inside Ugandan territory.
It is the second largest inland freshwater lake in the world (after
Lake Superior), and it feeds the upper waters of the Nile River,
which is referred to in this region as the Victoria Nile.
Lake Kyoga and the surrounding basin dominate central Uganda. Extensions
of Lake Kyoga include Lake Kwania, Lake Bugondo, and Lake Opeta.
These "finger lakes" are surrounded by swampland during rainy seasons.
All lakes in the Lake Kyoga Basin are shallow, usually reaching
a depth of only eight or nine meters, and Lake Opeta forms a separate
lake during dry seasons. Along the border with Zaire, Lake Albert,
Lake Edward, and Lake George occupy troughs in the western Rift
Valley.
Leaving Lake Victoria at Owen Falls, the Victoria Nile descends
as it travels toward the northwest. Widening to form Lake Kyoga,
the Nile receives the Kafu River from the west before flowing north
to Lake Albert. From Lake Albert, the Nile is known as the Albert
Nile as it travels roughly 200 kilometers to the Sudan border. In
southern and western Uganda, geological activity over several centuries
has shifted drainage patterns. The land west of Lake Victoria is
traversed by valleys that were once rivers carrying the waters of
Lake Victoria into the Congo River system. The Katonga River flows
westward from Lake Victoria to Lake George. Lake George and Lake
Edward are connected by the Kizinga Channel. The Semliki River flows
into Lake Edward from the north, where it drains parts of Zaire
and forms a portion of the Uganda-Zaire border.
Spectacular waterfalls occur at Murchison (Kabalega) Falls on the
Victoria Nile River just east of Lake Albert. At the narrowest point
on the falls, the waters of the Nile pass through an opening barely
seven meters wide. One of the tributaries of the Albert Nile, the
Zoka River, drains the northwestern corner of Uganda, a region still
popularly known as the West Nile although that name was not officially
recognized in 1989. Other major rivers include the Achwa River (called
the Aswa in Sudan) in the north, the Pager River and the Dopeth-Okok
River in the northeast, and the Mpologoma River, which drains into
Lake Kyoga from the southeast.
Data as of December 1990
Uganda
Climate
Uganda's equatorial climate provides plentiful sunshine, moderated
by the relatively high altitude of most areas of the country. Mean
annual temperatures range from about 16° C in the southwestern
highlands to 25° C in the northwest; but in the northeast, temperatures
exceed 30° C about 254 days per year. Daytime temperatures average
about eight to ten degrees warmer than nighttime temperatures in
the Lake Victoria region, and temperatures are generally about fourteen
degrees lower in the southwest.
Except in the northeastern corner of the country, rainfall is well
distributed. The southern region has two rainy seasons, usually
beginning in early April and again in October. Little rain falls
in June and December. In the north, occasional rains occur between
April and October, while the period from November to March is often
very dry. Mean annual rainfall near Lake Victoria often exceeds
2,100 millimeters, and the mountainous regions of the southeast
and southwest receive more than 1,500 millimeters of rainfall yearly.
The lowest mean annual rainfall in the northeast measures about
500 millimeters.
Data as of December 1990
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