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The Lango or Jo Lango (Lango people) live in the Lango sub-region (politically Northern Region, but geographically central Uganda), north of Lake Kyoga. Lango sub-region comprises the districts of Amolatar, Alebtong, Apac, Dokolo, Kole, Lira, Oyam, and Otuke. The Lango population is about 1.5 million according to the 2002 population census.
Lango will be used in the text instead of "Langi". Driberg used Lango, not "Langi" in his study "The Lango: A Nilotic Tribe of Uganda (1923)." Kihangire (1957), interviewed Lango elders for his dissertation, and "Langi" is not mentioned in the text, but Lango or Lango people. In addition, anthropologists and explorers who traveled the "Lango country (Uganda)" used Lango nation, Lango country, and Lango people to refer to "Lango people (Uganda)". Tosh (1978) states "until very recently, Lango was used indiscriminately in the ethnographic literature, and it appears that Langi is a relatively recent form." The word “tribe” is foreign, and there is no Lango word for “tribe”, so tribe will not be used in the text except ones in quotations.
Lango people speak a Western Nilotic (Luo) language like their northern Acholi and Alur neighbours, but share some clan names with the Ateker people. The Lango identify with the Luo speaking people, refuting the theory that they are Ateker. One possible explanation, the Ateker clans were overpowered or sought protection from the Lango warriors and were assimilated. According to Driberg (1923), Lango reached eastern province of Uganda (Otuke Hills) having traveled southeasterly from the Shilluk area, and that Lango language is similar with that of the Shilluk language. Driberg (1923) described Lango as superior people, sensible, with a distaste for witchcraft, high morality, brave and venturesome warriors, hardworking people, individualistic, independent and impatient of control (pg. 69). He experienced the latter as a colonial administrator in Lango.
Driberg's (1923) physical description of the Lango is colorful, "the Lango are long-limbed, orthognathous and dark skinned. They have narrow jaw as a rule, and their lips are much thinner and their nose better formed than is usual among the negro tribes. They are thin without the lanky appearance which characterizes the Acholi and Dinka and muscular without any disproportionate development. In contrast with the practice of Bantu tribes, the men do all the hard work of cultivation, and this together with the pursuit of hunting and fighting has resulted in a fine appearance of physical capacity, which is not belied by their powers of endurance and sustained exercise. One of the remarkable results of their energetic life is the excessive development of the iliac line...The Lango may with justice be called a handsome race, both men and women, though very degraded-looking specimens are occasionally to be found with more negroid features...It has been observed that they are dark-skinned, but reference should be made to the fact that there live at Apach for some obscure reason a number of much lighter-skinned Lango, and elsewhere the light-skinned type may occasionally be seen" (pg. 50).
Many scholars and anthropologists agree that Lango traveled southeasterly direction from the Shilluk area, and settled somewhere in the east (Otuke Hills) where Lango met the Ateker speaking group and Luo before moving to their present home. The movement fits the Luo mythology where Luo and Lango were neighbors somewhere in the east (Otuke Hills). According to the Luo mythology “Lwanda Magara” Lango and Luo were neighbors, and there were several wars and raids between the two, but also marriages between the two groups. The Luo warrior "Lwanda Magara" himself married many Lango women. When Lango arrived to their present home, they were already speaking a language close and related to other Luo languages. The south easterly movement of Lango from Ethiopia to their present home also fits the Shilluk mythology where Nyakango and his followers traveled up North after Nyikango separated from Dimo, and the other Luo peoples in wic pac, somewhere in Bahr el Ghazal. There is no mythology about the origin of Lango origin except oral history that they came from the east from “Got Otuke” (Otuke Hills).
1) The Shilluk military commander emerges by virtues of military powers and valour but has no administrative functions or authority just like Lango military.
2) The Lango paramount chief has under his authority clan chiefs (jagi), similar to Shilluk political organization.
3) The Shilluk and Lango are monolithic and believe in the Supreme Being (Jwok) Shilluk and (Jok) Lango who lives in the sky where people do no evil. Lango marriage, birth, naming, initiation to adulthood, death and religion/beliefs are similar to the Shilluk people (Gurtong Homepage, Kihangire 1957).
Lango people had a functional government before the British rule. Lango cultural government consist of Jago (English?), Rwot (Clan Chief), Awitong (English?), and Won Nyaci (Paramount Chief). The British government was aware of this, and used the counsel of these head of clans when they wanted something done. In Lango, there was no hereditary king or supreme chief as practiced in Buganda or Bunyoro. The Lango government system was through elected clan chiefs with authority over the people of their clans. Chiefs were hereditary in some clans, so when a Chief (Rwot) dies, elders from the clan would choose one of the child (son) to succeed him, (Kihangire, p.21).
Driberg described the Lango as "brave and venturesome warriors who have won fear and respect of their neighbors..." (pg.68). The Lango army was united under one military leader chosen from the war able men, and all must agree to be led by him. These military leaders would lead Lango army against other groups. Their authority ends when the war is over, and they all return to their clans and resume their daily occupation, and were not entitled to any special benefits. Famous military leaders were: Ongora Okubal who brought Lango to the present land, Opyene Nyakonyolo who succeeded Ongora Okubal, and was followed by Arim Oroba and Agoro Abwango. Agoro Abwango lead his men to fight the Banyoro and was killed in Bunyoro, (Kihangire, p.22).
The pre-colonial education were both formal and informal. Children are taught morality and how to address their relatives and respect other people by their mother or siblings. When they get older, boys are taught by father or male relatives, and girls by mother or female relatives. Games, folk stories, myths, proverbs, and riddles play very important role in Lango education. In addition to mimicking adults, children games foster a sense of domestic responsibility. The proverbs contain moral and social maxims, and riddles stimulate the activity of the mind, (Kihangire, 26).
Land in pre-colonial era was common land, and any untilled area belongs to the first person or family who tills it, and is passed on to sons. According to Kigangire, "land which had not been cultivated in the past could be tilled by any family, and, when once it had been tilled, the community regarded it as the property of the family whose ancestor first cultivated it." (Kihangire, p. 22). The traditional land tenure is still widely used in rural areas.
Lango have often been victims of the volatile politics of Uganda. The first Ugandan prime minister and two time president, Milton Obote, was a Lango. During the 1970s, state-inspired violence by the government of Idi Amin was used to decimate the elite of the Lango and their neighbours the Acholi. The 19-year-old war between the government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is behind a massive population displacement in the region.
1. Driberg, J. H. (1923). The Lango: A Nilotic Tribe of Uganda
2. Kihangire, Cyprianus (1957). "The marriage customs of the Lango tribe (Uganda) in relation to canon Law"
2. Curley, Richard T (1973). Elders, Shades, and Women: Ceremonial Change in Lango, Uganda.
3. Shilluk http://www.gurtong.net/
4. Tosh, John (1978). Clan Leaders and Colonial Chiefs in Lango: The Political History of an East African Stateless Society 1800-1939.