The Oxford of Africa: How John Hanning Speke's Quest for the Source of the Nile Led to the Creation of Makerere University in Uganda (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798309487172)

I hope this book will be useful to the reader in understanding how Uganda, a small landlocked collection of kingdoms and villages in East Africa, unknown to the rest of the world, became the home of one of the top Universities in the world, globally fondly recognised as the Oxford of Africa in the 1960's while buffeted by non-stop national political turmoil and upheaval. The stories of Makerere University and its medical school are intimately linked to the political struggles dating from the arrival of the English explorer John Hanning Speke, the discoverer of the source of the Nile in 1862, and events unfolding during the British occupation, Uganda's independence and the subsequent regime changes through violent means, with the involvement of the British MI6, the US CIA, the Soviet Union's KGB, and Israel's Mossad, in a background of Western attitudes towards 'left-leaning' socialistic African leaders during the early African post-colonial era.

East Africa is the evolutionary cradle of modern humans and yet, along with other African regions, was exploited by Western colonial powers beginning with the "Scramble for Africa", and the massive expansion of transatlantic and trans-Indian Ocean slave trade before the eventual abolition of slavery. The colonialists, descendants of African ancestry, treated indigenous African peoples who were descendants of the same ancestors with great cruelty and disdain, manipulating African nations by supporting regime change, coups and dictatorships for short-term gain. In the midst of all this, there were outstanding, kind and dedicated expatriate academicians, scientists and doctors who created the university and medical school that became globally recognised, training the next generation of East Africans to become academic and medical leaders. I have highlighted a few such people in this book.

Uganda still has the potential to be an African leader again by restoring Makerere University and its medical school to their former glories through advanced education and research that was once its source of excellence and has made considerable progress in the last few years with generous help from advanced institutions in Western countries. I have profusely annotated this book, providing references for most of the details other than my own recollections. I have tried to verify facts as best as I could, given the constraints of viewing original documents and travelling to various countries to access their archives and libraries.

I have fond memories of Uganda and its people. While researching for this book, I became truly amazed at their accomplishments despite the recurrent violent overthrow of governments through regime change. Ugandans are survivors, and they are, deep down, kind, hospitable and gentle people, despite their misguided leaders and the atrocities that such "leaders" have committed to gain or retain power for personal profit. May they fulfil their dreams and become world players once again. They deserve it.

Author: Sultan Karim,Diponkar Banerjee
ISBN-13: 9798309487172
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 02/09/2025
Pages: 538
Format: Paperback
Weight: 3.78lbs
Size: 11.00h x 8.50w x 1.40d