Fossils indicate that apes settled in Uganda 15 million years ago. Traces of the Dryopithecus which extinct 4 million years ago were discovered in Moroto District. Other findings from the early Stone Age (more than 2 million years ago) also show early settlement phases in the current territory of Uganda. Since approximately 10,000 BC Uganda is more or less fully populated, and already since 5,000 BC Bantu people were engaged in farming. This early settlement indicates the good living conditions until today (warm humid climate, fertile soils).

Increasingly other peoples migrated to the area of the present day Uganda and already in 3,000 BC from the area of present day Congo, and from 300 BC also people of Nilotic origin from the north (present day Sudan) and Kushitic groups (present day Ethiopia).

Related Links:

• Background information on the Dryopithecus
• Background information on the Bantu people