TRAINING AFRICAN SURVEYORS IN UGANDA

Abstract

Under the Buganda Agreement, which was made in 1900 between the British Government and the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, approximately 9,000 square miles of the kingdom of Buganda were divided into numerous estates, which were allocated to the various reigning chiefs and people of importance at that time. The British Government agreed to survey these estates, most of which were one square mile in area; thus, the term “Mailo” as applied to the land owned by the Baganda, came into use. Since the original Mailo survey, which was completed in 1935, many of the estates have been subdivided. The land has been sold piecemeal, gifted and bequeathed, so that plots now exist which are even less than one acre in area and some in and near large townships are as small as half an acre. The task of the Survey Department is a gargantuan one and, in 1949, it was estimated that there were some 150,000 outstanding surveys.