The Karagwe kingdom was part of the many
Great Lakes Kingdoms in East Africa. The kingdom reached its apex during the 19th century. The growth occurred during the early part of the 1800s with King Ndagara who came to power around 1820 and ruled until 1853 at which time he was replaced by King Rumanika. However, the ruler of the most northern
Haya Kingdom, Kiziba, belonged to a rival clan, the Bito, which also ruled
Bunyoro to the north. Their legends claimed that a hero by the name of
Ruhinda had created a single kingdom in the area and that his descendants, the Hinda clan, ruled the successor chiefdoms. The pastoralists, known as
Hima, had a distinct social supremacy in these kingdoms, particularly in Karagwe. This may have been due to their ability to convert cultivators into clients by lending livestock. Both classes of men, outlawing clan-to-clan blood feuds, appointing royal relatives as sub-chiefs and village headmen who resided on nyarubanja estates, waging a protracted and largely successful battle to control the Kubandwa cult mediums who predominated local religion, and setting up elaborate courts where each clan served a specific purpose. In contrast to
Ufipa, the villagers of Karagwe did not even choose their headmen or distribute land. The misery of its cultivators moved a number of the country's early visitors because it was Tanganyika's most
hierarchical and repressive society. The interlacustrine territory had been ruled by
Bunyoro up until the end of the eighteenth century, but Karagwe drove out a Nyoro force, whose monarch became known as Ntare the Nyoro-slayer. Lacking Nyoro's protection, the Bito kingdom of Kiziba turned to Buganda for assistance in fighting its Hinda neighbors. By 1800, the Baganda had assassinated the Hinda king of Kyamutwara at his court, and the Kingdom had been divided into four parts, with the Hinda ruling over Kianja and Bukara and the Hima-dominated Nkango ruling over Bugabo and Lesser Kyamutwara. Shortly after, the Ganda interfered in Karagwe and Ihangiro, another realm of the Hinda. The
Tutsi rulers of Buha had thrived in the eighteenth century but were now threatened by the rise of
Burundi, which would annex significant portions of
Buha in the early nineteenth century. This threat was felt further south as well. ==Economy==