History of Mombasa
About Mombasa Way Back When
A Brief History of Mombasa County
It’s safe to say that no town along the East African coast has had as speckled a history as Mombasa. Africans, Arabs, Portuguese, Turks, the Zimba, Portuguese, Arabs, a brief return of Portuguese, Arabs again and the British all held sway here before finally the wheel turned back to the Africans, gaining sovereignty over the hankered-after island. Very little is known of the earlier years prior to the first appearance of the Portuguese. It is since their arrival that we have many of the captivating chronicles of her history. Each newcomer to Mombasa, including the Portuguese, faced off with the formidable folk of Mombasa; the Twelve Nations.
This foremost amalgam of the descendants of Mombasa, ruled over by the Shirazi dynasty, and more recent immigrant Swahili groups, migrated south to Mombasa Island during or after the sixteenth century. These groups were later reorganized after the Portuguese destroyed the upended Shirazi polity in 1591-93. The Twelve Nations played a significant role in Mombasa’s social and political scene, more so during the period of Omani Arab takeover. It appears likely that the Shirazi dynasty and its retainers were themselves derived from older Swahili settlements along the southern Somali coast. After their fall, Mombasa’s accretions of foreign Swahili gradually reorganized themselves into the much-praised twelve mataifa or ‘tribes’.
The Twelve Nations referring to twelve Swahili communities was formed by two separate and sometimes hostile confederations: Thelatha Taifa (Three) and Tisa Taifa (Nine). Political unity was maintained by means of a loosely structured state system in which foreign dynasties of Omani Arabs, first the Mazrui and later the Busaidi, bridged the gap between the two confederations. During the Mazrui era (circa 1735–1837), Mombasa was an independent city-state, enjoying political hegemony over much of the Kenya and north Tanzania coasts. Under Busaidi rule (1837–95) the city lost its independence and was merged into Zanzibar Sultanate.
The native name of Mombasa, Mvita, means war and never was a name more justified by history. There can be hardly any other enclave along the East African coast which has been besieged, captured, sacked, burnt, and razed to the ground so often and in so short a time. Indubitably, Mombasa played a significant role in the development of the coast. Founded circa 900 AD, although its been suggested it was inhabited even earlier, Mombasa had been subject to different spheres of Arab influence, and when the Portuguese arrived, in 1498, they found that it had a series of autonomic towns, peopled by Arabs, but not united to Arabia by any ties.
By the time the Portuguese arrived in Mombasa the decline of the Shirazi era had begun. It would be an era of fragility and rapid change, with the Portuguese arrival occurring at the same time the city was attacked by the cannibalistic Zimba. With their outstanding discovery of a faster sea route to India around 1500, Portuguese, over the next 200 years, would foster new dimensions and utterly dominate the Indian Ocean trade. Their relationship with the Arabs erstwhile hostile. When the Portuguese were finally expelled from Mombasa in 1698, it was another seafaring empire, the Omani from Muscat and Suhar, under whose key influence the shoot and proliferation of Islam along the East African coast was at a steady full-stride.
The Mombasans mounted an attack on the Portuguese and their Malindi allies the year after the Omani arrived, but this was a debacle. The defeat ended forever the Mombasa Shirazi reign and led to the formation of the two-section organization, the Twelve Tribes, that dominated the Mombasa community for the three and a half centuries leading up to and including the present the Shirazi rulers of Malindi; they had been allied with the Portuguese and ruled in conjunction with them from 1593 to 1632, when the acquisitive Portuguese captains took control of Mombasa.
Unlike the Portuguese whose interests were primarily commercial, not imperial, showing little interest in exploring the hinterland of Kenya, the Arab and mixed Afro-Arab traders pushed routes into the interior, seeking inland commodities for onward transmission to Zanzibar and Oman. In 1832, and now a flourishing power under the influential Seyyid Said, the sultanate relocated its base from Oman to the Zanzibar. Shortly after, in the 1840s, European missionaries and trading companies begun to establish themselves, without approval, across Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania, and were clashing with slavers along the Congo River.
The European arrival at Mombasa was imminent. England was quite happy to keep out of East Africa so long as other European powers did the same. But in 1884 an unauthorized adventurer upended this balance. The German explorer and author Carl Peters penetrated inland and, without permission from Berlin, signed treaties with rulers in the territories of today’s Tanzania and Rwanda. Prompted by proimperialist public opinion, the Kaiser extended a protectorate over the area. The challenge having been raised, Britain moved immediately to block Germany.
During the ‘scramble for Africa’, the formidable Britain empire acquired inland colonies and eventually colonized Kenya, and yet Mombasa was still seen as a gateway hub – an access point to more important inland areas such as Lake Victoria, the Rift Valley and the fertile highlands around Mount Kenya – rather than as a centre in its own right. Indeed, the place now called Kenya was for some years to figure in the minds of the British only as the head of a rail; the Uganda Railway. They set up their first administrative station in Kenya at Mombasa in 1895; that became Kenya’s capital till 1907 when it was transferred to Nairobi.
Well-famous for its rich Swahili culture, stunning beaches, and vibrant nightlife – acclaimed as one of the top destinations in Kenya – Mombasa County is home to Mombasa City, Kenya’s second-largest city and a primary port town that has been a key trade center for centuries. Mombasa County is more than just beaches—it’s a cultural melting pot with history, adventure, and guaranteed coastal vibes.
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A Summa Digest of Mombasa
About Mombasa Way Back When
80 Destinations in Mombasa County , arranged as one would visit these - south, north then east - with the aid of in-depth narratives, images, strip maps and distance chart:
Arab Rifle's Monument , Buli Monument , Fort Jesus Curio Shop , Camel Joint, Old Town Mombasa , Fort Jesus Museum I World Heritage Site , Mombasa Butterfly House , Santo Antonio de Tanna , Swahili Cultural Center , Sanaa Gallery , Old Port Mombasa , Leven House I Steps , Forodhani Restaurant , The Mandhry Mosque , Burhani Mosque , Tulia Backpackers , Bahdala Mosque , Mazrui Cemetery , Old Law Courts , Treasury Square , Africa Hotel , Kizingo BBQ, St. Joseph's Fort , Ras Serani Lighthouse , Kizingo War Camp , Mombasa Golf Club , Mama Ngina Waterfront Park , Shelly Beach , The Likoni Floating Bridge , Mbaraki Creek, Mombasa Yatch Club , Mbaraki Pillar , The Mombasa Mbaraki Cemetery , The Little Theatre Club , Kilindini Harbour , The Mombasa Memorial Church , The Holy Ghost Catholic Cathedral , Lord Shiva Temple , The Old Mombasa Railway Station , Railways Park , Mombasa African Memorial , Mombasa’s Tusks , Fort Makupa , Kibarani Recreation Park , Akamba Handicraft Shop , Manyimbo War Cemetery , Tudor Water Sports Marina , Nyali Bridge , ACK Emmanuel , The Kengeleni Monument , Bahari Beach Resort , Tamarind Dhow Cruise , Krapf Memorial Heritage Park , Kenyatta Public Beach , Bombolulu Workshop , Haller Park , Mombasa Butterfly Pavilion , Bamburi Rifle Range , Mombasa Go-Kart , Suli Suli Fishing , Nguuni Nature Sanctuary , Mamba Village , Nyali Golf & Country Club , Wild Waters , Nyali Shopping Mall , Mombasa Marine Park I Reserve , Ngomongo Village , Shimo la Tewa Site , The Moorings , La Marina Restaurant
Know More About Mombasa County: Its Geography, Land-Use, Highlights, Population, Roads - with the aid of a distance chart, Airports, Climate & National Monuments
What’s The Lay Of The Land In C.01?
Mombasa County can be split into 3 zones: 1. Coastal plain, covering parts the Island; 2. The hilly areas rising gently from 45 ms to 132 ms asl in the west; and 3. The Indian Ocean and the shoreline.
What’s The Air Like In Mombasa?
May is generally the wettest month, then April and June. Average temperatures are always high, rarely falling below 24 o C across the year.
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