Uganda Emigration and Immigration

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Online Sources

• 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at Findmypast - index & images ($)
• 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for Uganda
• 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.

British Overseas Subjects

• UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969, index ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Uganda, index & images ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Uganda , index & images ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, Uganda, index & images ($)

Uganda Emigration and Immigration

"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country.
Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Finding the Town of Origin in Uganda

If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Uganda, see Uganda Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Immigration into Uganda

• Uganda is named after the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country, including the capital Kampala. The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country.
• In the 1860s, while Arabs sought influence from the north, British explorers searching for the source of the Nile arrived in Uganda. They were followed by British Anglican missionaries who arrived in the kingdom of Buganda in 1877 and French Catholic missionaries in 1879.
• The British government chartered the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) to negotiate trade agreements in the region beginning in 1888.
• In 1893, the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the British government. Beginning in 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the UK, which established administrative law across the territory.
• In the 1890s, 32,000 laborers from British India were recruited to East Africa under indentured labour contracts to construct the Uganda Railway.
• Most of the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724 decided to remain in East Africa after the line's completion. Subsequently, some became traders and took control of cotton ginning and sartorial retail.
• Uganda gained independence from the UK on 9 October 1962.

Emigration From Uganda

• Uganda Diaspora refers to about 1.5 million Ugandans (according to the UN Human Development Report of 2009) who left Uganda from the early 1970s—during the dictatorship reign of Idi Amin (to escape persecution and death)--to the current time "in search for better social and economic opportunities."
• In early August 1972, the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country's Asian minority. At the time of the expulsion, there were about 80,000 individuals of Indian descent (mostly Gujaratis) in Uganda, of whom 23,000 had their applications for citizenship both processed and accepted. Although the latter were ultimately exempted from the expulsion, many chose to leave voluntarily.
• Many of those expelled were citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies and 27,2021 emigrated to the United Kingdom. Others went to Commonwealth countries such as Australia, South Africa, Canada, and Fiji, or to India, Kenya, Pakistan, Sweden, Tanzania, and the United States.

Records of Uganda Emigrants in Their Destination Nations

One option is to look for records about the ancestor in the country of destination, the country they immigrated into. See links to Wiki articles about immigration records for major destination countries below. Additional Wiki articles for other destinations can be found at Category:Emigration and Immigration Records.

United States Emigration and Immigration Canada Emigration and Immigration Australia Emigration and Immigration South Africa Emigration and Immigration Canada Emigration and Immigration Fiji Emigration and Immigration India Emigration and Immigration Kenya Emigration and Immigration Pakistan Emigration and Immigration Sweden Emigration and Immigration Tanzania Emigration and Immigration