Tips for a comfortable, happy and safe visit ...
Mombasa - THEN ...
Mombasa ... a small town, on a small coral island situated in a beautiful Indian Ocean bay, just south of the Equator.
Mombasa is the capital of the Kenya's Coast Province. Its significant port is the larges on the cost of East Africa, servicing many of Africa's coastal and landlocked countries. Extensive docks, shipyards, a cement works and sugar and petroleum refineries are situated in the deep water harbour on the western side of the island. The Old Mombasa Harbour, on the eastern side of the island, handles the dhows and other small coastal trading vessels.
The city stretches in a disorganised manner over to the northern mainland, to cater for residential properties and the unyielding demands of tourism. Linked from the north to the island by a causeway and bridge, the beautiful beaches and hotels on the southern coast are served by a ferry.
Mombasa's history started around the 8th century, when it was founded by Arab traders. It is believed that the first Europeans to reach the coast of East Africa were the Portuguese, sailing in on three vessels in 1498, under the command of Vasco da Gama. After an extremely unfriendly welcome, they sailed up the coast to the tropical haven of Malindi. Twice Mombasa was burned to the ground by the Portuguese (105 and again in 1528), before they fled to India with their ill-gotten loot.
Malinida, and the island of Lamu, were in constant dispute with Mombasa over supremacy. The Portuguese exploited this opportunity and weakness to force themselves, yet again, on Mombasa. In 1593, the Portuguese built Fort Jesus to protect their claim and the valuable harbour entrance. This time they secured their permanence in Mombasa. By 1631, the Fort and its people experience the horrors of the plague and slow starvation. The locals, always in search of a way to gain control of the Fort, staged a bloody and barbaric uprising on the weakened Portuguese ... and assassinated every last one of them.
Mombasa is the capital of the Kenya's Coast Province. Its significant port is the larges on the cost of East Africa, servicing many of Africa's coastal and landlocked countries. Extensive docks, shipyards, a cement works and sugar and petroleum refineries are situated in the deep water harbour on the western side of the island. The Old Mombasa Harbour, on the eastern side of the island, handles the dhows and other small coastal trading vessels.
The city stretches in a disorganised manner over to the northern mainland, to cater for residential properties and the unyielding demands of tourism. Linked from the north to the island by a causeway and bridge, the beautiful beaches and hotels on the southern coast are served by a ferry.
Mombasa's history started around the 8th century, when it was founded by Arab traders. It is believed that the first Europeans to reach the coast of East Africa were the Portuguese, sailing in on three vessels in 1498, under the command of Vasco da Gama. After an extremely unfriendly welcome, they sailed up the coast to the tropical haven of Malindi. Twice Mombasa was burned to the ground by the Portuguese (105 and again in 1528), before they fled to India with their ill-gotten loot.
Malinida, and the island of Lamu, were in constant dispute with Mombasa over supremacy. The Portuguese exploited this opportunity and weakness to force themselves, yet again, on Mombasa. In 1593, the Portuguese built Fort Jesus to protect their claim and the valuable harbour entrance. This time they secured their permanence in Mombasa. By 1631, the Fort and its people experience the horrors of the plague and slow starvation. The locals, always in search of a way to gain control of the Fort, staged a bloody and barbaric uprising on the weakened Portuguese ... and assassinated every last one of them.
Back home, the Portuguese quietly planned their revenge. Building up a fleet from Goa and Muscat, they set sail to reclaim the Fort. The invasion failed, although the terrified and powerless Sultan of Mombasa fled over to the mainland, leaving the island totally devastated, buildings in ruins and the vegetation virtually destroyed. The town was now completely and dangerously unprotected. The Portuguese once more saw an opportunity to capture the Fort ... and this time they succeeded unchallenged.
Mombasa changed hands several times before coming under the control of the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1840. In 1895, it passed to the British and was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate until 1907. In 1920, Mombasa became the capital of the coastal Protectorate of Kenya, becoming part of the newly independent Kenya in 1963.
The Arabs and Indians plied their trades with Kenya by dhow across the Indian Ocean. Regulated by the North East Monsoon, the traders would arrive in Mombasa between November and April, and return home with the aid of the South West Monsoon in May to October.
The trade in animal skins, ivory and tortoiseshell, introduced slavery to this part of Africa. The Arabs used the local people to carry their treasures from Tsavo to Mombasa, and then onto the ships to their homeland.
