kingdom · Horn and East Africa

Kingdom of Koki

1740 CE – 1896 CE (approx.)

A small kingdom west of Lake Victoria, founded by a prince of Bunyoro and absorbed into Buganda in 1896.

Origins

Tradition says Koki was founded around 1740 by Bwohe, a prince of the Kingdom of Bunyoro, who settled in the lands west of Lake Victoria in today's Rakai district. It lay between Buganda, Ankole and the Haya kingdoms.

Rule and society

Koki was a small farming and cattle-keeping kingdom, ruled by a king, or kamuswaga, through chiefs. From around 1800 it paid tribute to the Kingdom of Buganda while keeping its own dynasty, and it took part in the trade in ivory and iron goods around the lake.

Decline and legacy

In 1896 Koki's ruler agreed to incorporation into Buganda, and it became a county of the kingdom under the Uganda Protectorate, its ruler keeping the title kamuswaga. It remains part of the Buganda region today.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Kingdom of KokiKingdom of Buganda 1300 CE – 1967 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Koki. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-koki
MLA
“Kingdom of Koki.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-koki. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Koki.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-koki.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Koki’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-koki (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻