Makerere University will celebrate a century of existence this week on October 6th, 2022.
As the institution gears up for the centennial celebrations, many historical moments have come to light.
Makerere University was established in 1922, and while her history is all over the internet, little is said about the origin of the name Makerere.
There are many myths about the origin of the name Makerere. In this article, we bring to you the two top most myths about the name Makerere.
There is a school of thought that links the name Makerere to the life of Kabaka Ssemakookiro Wasajja.
According to this myth, Ssemakookiro left his palace at Nakatema (present day Kasubi Hill) for a new location from where he would have a perfect Luzira side view of lake Victoria (by then Nalubaale).
The King would wake his servants early in the morning telling them that ‘nyanja elade’ (the lake had expanded).
The new location was then named Nyanja Elade. However, the servants were not happy with waking up early.
The servants had no choice but to obey the king and they would say it was because ‘kabaka ayagala mazzi makkerere’ (the king wants the early morning water).
The location was then changed from nyanja elade to Makkerere. Overtime, the place was renamed present day Makerere where Makerere University currently sits.
The second myth links the origin of the name Makerere to Kabaka Jjunjju.
In an article published by Daily Monitor on September 12, 2014 about the origins of the names of some Kampala suburbs,
the original name of Makerere was Nyanja Elade.
This used to be a good view of Lake Victoria, from Kabaka Jjunjju’s palace [1817-1819]. One morning while coming from Mugongo, present day Kyengera to meet one of his mistresses called Nalunga, daybreak found him at Nyanja Elade where the present Makerere Church of Uganda sits.
His palace was in Mulago. He felt embarrassed and said “Olwalelo gano makerere” (day has broken before I am back in the palace) hence the name Makerere.
