Mombasa

Mombasa (mŏmbă`sə, –bä`sə), city (1990 est. pop. 537,000), capital of Coast prov., SE Kenya, mostly on Mombasa island in the Indian Ocean and partly on the mainland (with which it is connected by a causeway). It is Kenya's chief port and an important commercial and industrial center. Manufactures include processed food, cement, and glass. Oil is refined and tourism is also important. From the 8th to the 16th cent. Mombasa was a center of the Arab trade in ivory and slaves. The city was visited (1498) by Vasco da Gama on his first voyage to India. Mombasa was burned three times by the Portuguese. The Portuguese controlled the city until 1698, when it was regained by the Arabs; the Portuguese briefly held the city again in 1729. It came under Zanzibar in the mid-19th cent. and passed to Great Britain in 1887. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate from 1887 to 1907. Of note are the remains of Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese in 1593–94. The city's extensive beaches and resorts attract thousands of tourists annually.

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Mombasa

City (pop., 1989: 461,753), Kenya, located on the island of Mombasa off the southern coast of Kenya. The island has an area of 5.5 sq mi (14.25 sq km) and is linked to the mainland by causeway, bridge, and ferry; the city includes a mainland area of 100 sq mi (259 sq km). Founded by Arab traders in the 11th century, it was visited in 1498 by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama. With its strategic position for the Indian Ocean trade, it was continually fought over, passing among the Arabs, Persians, Portuguese, and Turks until 1840, when Zanzibar gained control. It came under British administration in 1895 and was the capital of the East Africa Protectorate until 1907. It is Kenya's chief port and second largest city; it is also a major agricultural market.

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Mombasa

a port in S Kenya, on a coral island in a bay of the Indian Ocean: the chief port for Kenya, Uganda, and NE Tanzania; became British in 1887, capital of the East African Protectorate until 1907. Pop.: 828 000 (2005 est.)