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| 2. Interlacustrine East Africa |
| 1500–1580 |
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| Consolidation of successor states to Bachwezi Empire, beginning in about 1400. The most important of these was the Bito kingdom of Bunyoro, whose ruling dynasty was of Nilotic origin. | 1 |
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| 1500–1600 |
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| Rwanda faced by crisis, including two invasions from Bunyoro, leading to succession dispute and the establishment of a new dynasty in about 1600 by Ruganzu Ndori. | 2 |
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| 1520 |
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| Bunyoro armies defeated Buganda and Nkore but fled from latter during an eclipse of the sun. | 3 |
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| 1523–50 |
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| Bunyoro established buffer states in south to protect it against BaHima. | 4 |
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| 1588–1621 |
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| The Great Lakes region hit by a series of droughts and ensuing devastating famines. The time was remembered in northern Ugandan traditions as the period of Nyarubanga (“sent by God”). The droughts and famines led to political upheaval and mass migrations. | 5 |
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| 1600 |
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| Bunyoro was dominant state in subregion. | 6 |
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| 1600–1700 |
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| Rwanda expansionism under dynasty established by Ruganzu Ndori was stopped by new dynasty in Burundi in about 1700. | 7 |
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| 1600–1800 |
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| Rise of Buganda under centralized power of Ganda rulers and military expansion. Conquered areas were incorporated under appointed chiefs. Bunyoro's power declined as a result of succession disputes and rebellions by tributaries. By end of the period Bunyoro was still the strongest state but was one among many strong states in the region, including Buganda, a former tributary. Anti-royalist Ryangombe movement developed in Rwanda as a cult of suffering, but was co-opted by ruling dynasty. | 8 |
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| 1644–74 |
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| Buganda strengthened central rule under Kabaka Tebandeke through latter's reduction of power of religious officers. | 9 |
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| 1650–1750 |
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| Crisis in Bunyoro, leading to decline, based on the opening of kingship candidacy to all sons of the king, which resulted in a series of succession disputes and disintegration. | 10 |
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| 1674–1704 |
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| Buganda began territorial expansion under Mwanda. Mwanda appointed commoners to the bureaucracy and these outstripped the importance of territorial Bataka chiefs. | 11 |
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