Jinja

About Jinja

Jinja is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda, located on the north shore of Lake Victoria near the source of the Nile River.

Jinja is in Jinja District, Busoga sub-region, in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is approximately 81 kilometres (50 mi) east of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda.

It sits along the northern shores of Lake Victoria, near the source of the White Nile, at an average elevation of 1,204 metres (3,950 ft) above sea level.

The city was founded in 1901 by British settlers. It was planned under colonial rule in 1948 by Ernst May, German architect and urban planner. May also designed the urban planning scheme for Kampala, creating what he called "neighbourhood units". Estates were built for the ruling elite in many parts outside the centre city. This led to the area's 'slum clearance' which displaced more than 1,000 residents in the 1950s.

In 1954, the construction of the Owen Falls Dam submerged the Ripon Falls. Most of the "Flat Rocks" that gave the area its name disappeared under water as well. Both the Baganda on the western side and the Busoga on the eastern side of the Nile called the area "the stones" which is "ejjinja...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.