In describing the Kingdom of Bunyoro,
Samuel Baker states that the people of Bunyoro "have become the most advanced nation in Central Africa; they are well clothed and clean in their persons, courteous and dignified in demeanor, and susceptible of enlarged political organization." Bunyoro consists of three classes of people: Iru,
Huma, and
Biito. The distinction between the Iru and Huma has never had the importance in Bunyoro, as it did in other kingdoms such as Ankole or Rwanda.
Empaako The Banyoro people have a strong cultural naming system (
praise names/pet Names) known as
Empaako. With the Empaako naming system, children are given one of twelve names shared across the communities in addition to their given and family names. Addressing someone by his or her Empaako is a positive affirmation of cultural ties. It can be used as a form of greeting or a declaration of affection, respect, honour or love. The Empaako names are: Amooti, Abbooki, Akiiki, Ateenyi, Adyeri, Atwooki, Abwooli, Araali, Apuuli, Acaali, Bbala, and Okaali.
Social Classes The
Iru are commoners who engage in farming and some cattle rearing. The Iru were Ironsmiths and provided tools and weapons to the Huma (who themselves did not practice smithing). Intermarriage between the Iru and Huma (Hima) in Bunyoro was never prohibited, and it has always been possible for Bunyoro of Iru (commoner) origin to rise to a high position in the state as many did in historical times. There is a Luo speaking community in the Kibanda county of the
Kiryandongo District of northern Bunyoro called the
Paluo (or
Palwo) or
Chope/Chopi. The Paluo were generally regarded as Iru by other Banyoro people. It was possible for Paluo families settling south into the Kitara heartland and assimilating its culture to become part of the Huma category. The
Huma are those engaged only in pastoralism. The name "Bahuma" comes from the verb "okuhuma", which means the "cacophony of sound made by a herd of cattle on the move, lowing, thudding of hooves, and cries of herdsmen". Although the Bahuma claimed and were accorded high status, they have always, as Bahuma, lacked major political importance and they have never been rulers in Bunyoro-Kitara but were herdsmen, who "attached themselves to the great chiefs as custodians of their herds".
Samuel Baker describes them: The Bahuma loved their cattle so dearly that
Gaetano Casati reports that after a Sudanese raid into Bunyoro that captured 10,000 cattle, the Bahuma preferred to serve the Sudanese as cattle keepers rather than be separated [sic] from their cows. Thus The Bahuma willingly followed the raiders with their families. The
Biito are the royal clan of Bunyoro and Tooro. The Babiito are originally descended from the Chwezi prince Kyomya and the Luo woman Nytworo. The Banyoro say, "the Babito are the children (Bana) of the Bacwezi, and the grandchildren (baijukuru) of the Batembuzi". When the Luo diviner Nyakoka left Kitara and entered northern Uganda, he encountered Kyomya's sons resting under a Bito tree, which is where the Bito clan gets its name from (although it is unknown what kind of tree a bito tree was).
Art Samuel Baker praised the crafts made by Bunyoro artisans. He said that the Banyoro "make good earthenware, they sew with needles of their own make, the eye of the needles being simply a fine end overlapped; their smiths are clever and use hammers instead of stones as in neighbouring countries and they draw fine brass and copper wire for ornamenting belts, knife handles".
Medicine European travelers in the
Great Lakes region of Africa during the 19th century reported cases of surgery in Bunyoro. Medical historians, such as Jack Davies argued in 1959 that Bunyoro's traditional healers were perhaps the most highly skilled in precolonial sub-Saharan Africa, possessing a remarkable level of medical knowledge. One observer noted a "surgical skill which had reached a high standard".
Caesarean sections and other abdominal and thoracic operations were performed on a regular basis with the avoidance of hemorrhage and sepsis using antiseptics, anesthetics and cautery iron. The expectant mother was normally anesthetized with banana wine, and herbal mixtures were used to encourage healing. From the well-developed nature of the procedures employed, European observers concluded that they had been employed for some time. Bunyoro surgeons treated
lung inflammations,
Pneumonia and
pleurisy by punching holes in the chest until the air passed freely.
Trephining was carried out and the bones of depressed fractures were elevated. Horrible war wounds, even penetrating abdominal and chest wounds were treated with success, even when this involved quite heroic surgery. Amputations were done by tying a tight ligature just above the line of amputation and neatly cutting off the limb, stretched out on a smooth log, with one stroke of a sharp sword. Banyoro surgeons had a good knowledge of anatomy, in part obtained by carrying out autopsies. Inoculation against smallpox was carried out in Bunyoro and its neighbouring kingdoms. Over 200 plants are used medicinally in eastern Bunyoro alone, and recent tests have shown that traditional cures for eczema and post-measles bloody diarrhea were more effective than western medications. Bunyoro's medical elite, the "Bafumu", had a system of apprenticeship and even "met at periods for conferences". In Bunyoro, there was a close relationship between the state and traditional healers. Kings gave healers "land spread in the different areas so that their services would reach more people". Moreover, "in the case of a disease hitting a given area", the king would order healers into the affected district.
Kabaleega is said to have provided his soldiers with anti-malarial herbs and even to have organized medical research. A Munyoro healer reported in 1902 that when an outbreak of what he termed sleeping sickness occurred in Bunyoro around 1886–87, causing many deaths, Kabaleega ordered him "to make experiments in the interest of science", which were "eventually successful in procuring a cure". ==Economy==