Mombasa
Chief seaport of Kenya, capital of Coast Province, on a bay of the Indian Ocean, just south of the equator. The fast-growing
city, which also serves as a port for northeastern Tanzania and landlocked Uganda, includes Old Mombasa, located on a small
offshore island (16 sq km/6 sq mi), and a larger, more modern mainland metropolitan area, which is connected to the island by
causeway, bridge, and ferries. Kilindini, a modern deepwater harbor on the western side of the island, has extensive docks,
shipyards, and sugar and petroleum refineries. Old Mombasa Harbour, on the eastern side of the island, handles mainly dhows
and other small coastal trading vessels. Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese in the 1590s, is maintained as a museum. Mombasa
Polytechnic (1948) is in the city.
Mombasa was founded about the 8th century by Arab traders. It was visited in the 1330s by the noted Arab traveler Ibn
Batuta and in 1498 by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. Mombasa later changed hands several times before coming
under the control of the sultan of Zanzibar in 1840. It passed to the British in 1895 and was the capital of the British East
Africa Protectorate until 1907. It was made the capital of the coastal Protectorate of Kenya in 1920, and in 1963 it became
part of newly independent Kenya (which includes the former protectorate and colony of Kenya). Mombasa has often been a
port of call for American naval vessels. Population (1984 estimate) 425,600.
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