Gulu District

Gulu District
District

District location in Uganda
Coordinates: 02°45′N 32°00′E / 2.750°N 32.000°E / 2.750; 32.000Coordinates: 02°45′N 32°00′E / 2.750°N 32.000°E / 2.750; 32.000
Country  Uganda
Region Northern Region of Uganda
Sub-region Acholi sub-region
Capital Gulu
Government
  LCV Chairman Ojara Martin Mapenduzi, 2011 - 2016
Area
  Total 3,452.1 km2 (1,332.9 sq mi)
Population (2012 Estimate)
  Total 396,500
  Density 114.9/km2 (298/sq mi)
Time zone EAT (UTC+3)
Website www.gulu.go.ug

Gulu District is a district in the Northern Region of Uganda. The town of Gulu, which means "pot" in the Acholi language (a reference to Gulu's location in the depression of a prehistoric floodplain), is the site of the district headquarters and is its chief commercial centre.

Location

Gulu District is bordered by Lamwo District to the north, Pader District to the east, Oyam District to the south, Nwoya District to the southwest, and Amuru District to the west. The district headquarters in the town of Gulu are approximately 340 kilometres (210 mi), by road, north of Uganda's capital city, Kampala.[1] The coordinates of the district are 02 45N, 32 00E.

Overview

As of May 2011, the district was one of the seven districts that constituted the Acholi sub-region, the historical homeland of the Acholi ethnic group, known to local people (in the postcolonial context) as Acholiland.

The district is composed of Aswa County, Omoro County, and the Gulu Municipal Council.[2][3]

The economic activity of 90 per cent of the population in the district is subsistence or slightly supersubsistence agriculture.

The district has been the location of much of the fighting between the Ugandan army and the Lord's Resistance Army. Over 90 percent of the population has returned to their villages after more than two decades of living in what were known as "Internally Displaced People Camps".

Population

In 1991, the national population census was estimated the population of the district at 211,800. The national census conducted in 2002 put the population at approximately 298,500. The district population grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent between 2002 and 2012. In 2012, the population was estimated at 396,500.[4]

Notable people

The district is the birthplace of the poet Okot p'Bitek. It is also the birthplace of Canadian radio host Opiyo Oloya.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gulu.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.