Gulu District | |
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District | |
District location in Uganda |
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Coordinates: 02°45′N 32°00′E / 2.750°N 32.000°ECoordinates: 02°45′N 32°00′E / 2.750°N 32.000°E | |
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 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.
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. The coordinates of the district are 02 45N, 32 00E.
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.
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".
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.