Kenya’s island port was British East Africa’s first capital
Mombasa sits on Kenya’s Indian Ocean shore and briefly served as colonial capital of British East Africa until Nairobi took the inland role. Strategic harbors drew successive overlords; today tourism, a state house, a huge port, and an international airport define the economy.
Kenyan textbooks date the city to around 900, making it the country's oldest, and the geographer al-Idrisi mentioned it as a thriving town in 1151. Mwana Mkisi, a pre-Islamic queen, is remembered as ancestor of the oldest lineages of the Twelve Nations and founder of Kongowea, the first settlement on the island. Both names echo Central Africa, since Mkisi relates to a Kikongo word for the holy, which scholars read as a nod to the Bantu roots of Swahili people. Shehe Mvita, remembered for his learning, later displaced her dynasty.
The Mnara mosque dates to around 1300, and the Mandhry mosque of 1570 has a minaret with a local ogee arch, evidence that Swahili stone architecture was an African development. Ibn Battuta spent a single night and found pious Shafi'i Muslims worshipping in finely built wooden mosques. Trade in spices, gold and ivory reached India, including the Chola kingdom, and China.
Vasco da Gama got a cold welcome in 1498, and the Portuguese sacked the town two years later, returning under Almeida in 1505, Albuquerque in 1522 and Nuno da Cunha in 1528. An Ottoman expedition under Emir Ali Bey seized it in 1585, the Zimba killed many inhabitants soon after, and the Portuguese came back in 1589, building Fort Jesus four years later. In 1631 the local ruler Dom Jeronimo killed the Portuguese garrison, then left the following year to become a pirate.
Oman took control in the late 17th century. Nairobi replaced it as capital in 1907, yet Mombasa remains Kenya's second city, with about 1.2 million people in 2019, and the business district's buildings are painted blue and white for the ocean.
Source: Mombasa
