Cultural Sites

The Cultural Heritage Sites of the ancient Basongora [Bachwezi] testify to the prehistoric origins and the presence of the community since before the Holocene period. Key sites range in age from 25,000 years old, to recent ones dated only 150 years old, and include such places as: Ishango on the shores of Lake Rueru [Lake Edward]; the Munsa Earth Works; Ntusi Earth Works; Bigo-bya-Mugyenyi; Rweisamba Hill; Kogyere Hill; Kinyampoma Hill; Nyakahuma Hill; Muramba Hills [Virunga]; Irangara Island; Kikorongo Crate Lake; Ngezi Palace at Kaihura [Kyenjojo-Mwenge]; and many more besides. 

Remarkable vestiges in the cultural sites include ancient kraal enclosures, royal tombs, ritual mounds, cattle burial sites, and a wide range of constructions, including moats, canals, and forts. These sites provide important testimony to the origins of the Basongora, and proof of the community's historic impact on African civilisation - especially in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

While each cultural site may be located in the legal territory of the community or state outside the limits of Busongora today, Busongora Kingdom considers it in the interest of the international community to inventory and preserve the sites for the benefit of future generations. 

Busongora Kingdom has established organs - the Royal Chwezi Academy, as well as the Chwezi Ecotourism & Conservation Trust - that are promoting research into the history and events associated with the ancient heritage sites associated with Basongora. The kingdom is also pursuing the means to conserve these sites for viewing by the public. Most of the sites are badly damaged from centuries of neglect and wilful destruction. Many more sites remain to be identified.

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