Paper short abstract:

Colonies and their infrastructure were often built on the configurations of previous empires and kingdoms. This paper strips away the layers of history contributing to debates about the colonial state and those concerned with the historicity of infrastructure.

Paper long abstract:

Although colonies were ostensibly novel constructs, they were often built on the configurations of previous empires and kingdoms. Moreover, while it is often asserted that modern trade infrastructure is based on the colonial infrastructure that was created to bring goods from the interior to the coast of Africa, what is less often recognized is that was, in turn, layered upon precolonial infrastructure. This holds for the territory of modern-day Uganda. In fact, at the time of European arrival in Buganda in the mid-1800s, the region was part of different kingdoms (Buganda being the strongest at that moment) with a long-distance trading system made up of roads and trade centres (market towns), linking the Great Lakes Region to the East coast. When the British arrived and settled there, they 'recorded' what they found, and used both the competition among different kingdoms and that impressive road system for their own interests. British colonial power and the road system was therefore built upon a previous regional configuration. The use of Baganda troops and (partially) its administrative system to conquer and pacify the Eastern region, is part of that usage of existing structures of coercion and physical infrastructure, thereby demonstrating that the colonial power shaped the Protectorate by adapting local structures to its needs. This paper, which strips away the layers of history, contributes to larger debates about the foundations of the colonial state as well as those that are concerned with the historicity of infrastructure.