Mombasa

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Image:KE-Mombasa.png Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya. It has a major port and an international airport. The city is the centre of the coastal tourism industry. The original Arabic name is Manbasa; in Kiswahili it is called Kisiwa Cha Mvita (of Mvita for short), which means "Island of War", due to the many changes in its ownership. The town is also the headquarters of Mombasa District which, like most other districts in Kenya, is named after its chief town.

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Description

The city has a population of around 900,000 inhabitants (1999 census: 665,018) and is located on Mombasa Island, which is separated from the mainland by two creeks; Tudor Creek and Kilindini Harbour. The island is connected to the mainland to the north by Nyali Bridge, to the south by the Likoni Ferry and to the west by the Makupa Causeway alongside which runs the Uganda Railway. The port serves both Kenya and countries of the interior linking them to the Indian Ocean.

The town is mainly occupied by the Muslim Miji Kenda/Swahili people. Over the centuries there have been many immigrants, particularly from the countries of the Middle East and Indian sub-continent who came mainly as traders and skilled craftsmen and even after four or five generations, their descendants continue to contribute highly to the economy of present day Mombasa and Kenya as a whole. Recent immigrants are peoples from the interior of Kenya brought to the area by employment opportunities in the tourist industry.

Traditional dress for the Swahili women is a brightly coloured, printed cotton sheet called a kanga, which may have inspirational slogans printed on it, and type of black headdress and veil called a "bui bui". Men wear a type of sarong, which is coloured in bright bands, called a "kikoi".

There are several places to visit in Mombasa, including Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese, and the Old Town, which is by now in bad need of repair but still shows plenty of examples of the old Islamic architecture. Biashara Street in Mombasa which in Swahili means “Trade Street” is also an old part of the city where the Indian and Arab merchants set up shop and one can now find kangas and kikoys (pl. vikoi) being sold in these small authentic shops.

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History

The city was founded as Manbasa by Arab traders in the 11th century and it quickly became the most important trading centre of East Africa, mostly exporting ivory and slaves. In 1502, as Mvita (in Kiswahili) or Manbasa (Arabic) the sultanate became independent from Kilwa Kisiwani.

Vasco da Gama was the first known European to visit Mombasa, receiving a chilly reception in 1498. Two years later the town was sacked by the Portuguese who built Fort Jesus. Since the 1593 Portuguese occupation it was governed by a Captain-major. In 1638 it formally became a Portuguese colony (subordinated to Goa, as a stronghold on the route to Portuguese India).

The town came under suzereinty of the Sultanate of Oman which appointed three consecutive Governors (Wali in Arabic, Liwali in Kiswahili]):

12 December 1698 - December 1698 Imam Sa`if ibn Sultan
December 1698 - 1728 Nasr ibn Abdallah al-Mazru`i
1728 - 12 March 1728 Shaykh Rumba

Next it returned under Portuguese rule by captains-major Álvaro Caetano de Melo Castro (12 March 1728 - 21 Sep 1729), then four new Omani Liwali till 1746, when the last of them made it independent again (disputed by Oman), as the first of its recorded Sultans:

1746 - 1755 `Ali ibn Uthman al-Mazru`i
1755 - 1773 Masud ibn Naisr al-Mazru`i
1773 - 1782 Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mazru`i
1782 - 1811 Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Mazru`i (b. 17.. - d. 1814)
1812 - 1823 `Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Mazru`i (d. 1823)
1823 - 1826 Sulayman ibn `Ali al-Mazru`i

From 9 February 1824 to 25 July 1826 there was a British protectorate over Mombasa, represented by Governors. Omani rule was restored in 1826; seven liwalis where appointed. On 24 June 1837 it was nominally annexed by Zanzibar; in 1840 it was effectively taken by the sultan of Zanzibar .

On 25 May 1887 its administration was relinquished to the British East Africa Association (see under Kenya). The sultan formally presented the town in 1898 to the British. It soon became the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate and is the sea terminal of the Uganda Railway, which was started in 1896. Many workers were brought in from British India to build the railway. On 1 July 1895 it became part of Britain's Kenya protectorate (i.e., the coastal strip nominally under Zanzibari sovereignty).

Mombasa was part of the state of Zanzibar until 12 Dec 1963 when it was ceded to be incorporated into the newly independent state of Kenya.

On November 28, 2002, a suicide car bomb exploded at the Israeli-owned beachfront Paradise Hotel killing three Israelis and ten Kenyans. About 20 minutes earlier, an (unsuccessful) attempt was made to shoot down an Arkia Israel Airlines Boeing 757 chartered tourist plane taking off from nearby Moi International Airport using surface-to-air missiles; nobody was hurt on the plane, which landed safely in Tel Aviv. The main suspect for both attacks is al Qaeda (see Kenyan hotel bombing).