History of Mombasa Kenya
Settlement
Mombasa is situated on the east coast of Kenya and the old city was located on an island, linked to the mainland by the Makupa causeway. The modern metropolitan area spills over onto the mainland and is home to Kenya 's principal port. It is one of Africa 's oldest cities(possibly up to 2000 years old). The original settlers, the Bantu people, developed a distinct culture known as Swahili along the East African coast. Its position on the Indian Ocean meant that it became a trading centre for Arabic Merchants, who settled and intermarried with the Bantu. By the 9th century Mombasa was one of a number of trading posts along the coast and the principal gateway into the interior.
Trading post
Traders became wealthy quickly exporting slaves, ivory and timber from the interior. They developed their trading settlements into towns and by the twelfth century many of the inhabitants of Mombasa had become Moslem. The town developed into a city-state which controlled a large area of the hinterland. From 1505 Portuguese traders repeatedly attacked Mombasa leaving thousands dead. In order to establish control of the trade that ran through the city, they built Fort Jesus in 1593.
Slavery
Mombasa soon became a centre for the slave trade between Africa and the New World. In the 18 th and 19th centuries slave-ships regularly docked at Mombasa to collect their human cargoes and today many visible reminders of this horrific part of Kenya 's history remain. Local caves were used as collection points for slaves prior to transfer and many died in them. The other trade, ivory, is also saluted in another of the city's landmarks, the two giant elephant's tusks of the Mombasa gateway.
British control
Omani Arabs ejected the Portuguese in 1698 and Mombasa then fell under their domination. This trade was so valuable to the Omanis that the Sultan of Oman relocated to Zanzibar. In 1840 Mombasa was absorbed into the African Omani Empire. By this stage The British were already a presence on the Kenyan coast but didn't take over control of the city until 1895. Their construction of a railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria was the driving force in Kenya 's colonization. From 1920 it was the capital of the coastal protectorate of Kenya, a status it gave up on independence in 1963.
