Ankole sub-region is a region in Western Uganda

Western Region, Uganda

Western Region is a region of Uganda. It is divided into the following districts:...

 that consists of the following districts:

• Buhweju District
  Buhweju District
  Buhweju District is a district in Western Uganda. It is named after its 'chief town', Buhweju, the location of the district headquarters.-Location:...
  
  
• Bushenyi District
  Bushenyi District
  Bushenyi District is a district in Western Uganda. Like many other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Bushenyi, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
  
  
• Ibanda District
  Ibanda District
  Ibanda District is a district in Western Uganda. As is the case with most Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town' of Ibanda, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
  
  
• Isingiro District
• Kiruhura District
  Kiruhura District
  Kiruhura District is a district in Western Uganda. It is named after its 'chief town' of Kiruhura, the location of the district headquarters.-Location:...
  
  
• Mitooma District
  Mitooma District
  Mitooma District is a district in Western Uganda. It is named after its main municipal, administrative and commercial center, Mitooma.-Location:...
  
  
• Ntungamo District
  Ntungamo District
  Ntungamo District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most Ugandan districts, it named after its 'chief town', Ntungamo, the location of the district headquarters.-Overview:...
  
  
• Rubirizi District
  Rubirizi District
  Rubirizi District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most Ugandan districts, the district is named after its 'chief town', Rubirizi, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
  
  
• Sheema District
  Sheema District
  Sheema District is a district in Western Uganda.-Location:Sheema District is bordered by Buhweju District to the north, Mbarara District to the east, Ntungamo District to the south, Mitooma District to the southwest and Bushenyi District to the west...
  
  

The area covered by the above districts constituted the traditional Ankole Kingdom

Ankole

Ankole, also referred to as Nkore, is one of four traditional kingdoms in Uganda. The kingdom is located in the southwestern Uganda, east of Lake Edward. It was ruled by a monarch known as The Mugabe or Omugabe of Ankole. The kingdom was formally abolished in 1967 by the government of President...

. Milton Obote

Milton Obote

Apolo Milton Obote , Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971, then again from 1980 to 1985. He was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda towards independence from the British colonial administration in 1962.He was overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971, but...

 abolished the traditional kingdoms in Uganda in 1967. When Yoweri Museveni

Yoweri Museveni

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is a Ugandan politician and statesman. He has been President of Uganda since 26 January 1986.Museveni was involved in the war that deposed Idi Amin Dada, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...

 re-established them in 1993, Ankole did not re-constitute itself.

The sub-region is home mainly to the Ankole ethnic group. The people of Ankole are called Banyankole (singular: Munyankole). The Banyankole speak Runyankole, a Bantu language. Runyankole is very similar to Rukiga, spoken by the people of the neighboring Kigezi sub-region

Kigezi

Kigezi District once covered what are now Kabale District, Kanungu District, Kisoro District and Rukungiri District, in southwest Uganda. Its terraced fields are what gives this part of Uganda its distinctive character. Kigezi was popularly known as the Switzerland of East Africa...

. According to the 2002 national census, the Ankole sub-region was home to an estimated 2.2 million people at that time.