These
Enterprising Sea-Rovers Piously Named It "Jesus
Fort," And An Inscription Recording This Is Still To
Be Seen Over The Main Entrance.
The Portuguese
occupation of Mombasa was, however, not without
its vicissitudes.
From March 15, 1696, for
example, the town was besieged for thirty-three
consecutive months by a large fleet of Arab dhows,
which completely surrounded the island. In spite
of plague, treachery and famine, the little garrison
held out valiantly in Jesus Fort, to which they had
been forced to retire, until December 12, 1698,
when the Arabs made a last determined attack and
captured the citadel, putting the remnant of the
defenders, both men and women, to the sword. It
is pathetic to read that only two days later a large
Portuguese fleet appeared off the harbour, bringing
the long-looked-for reinforcements. After this the
Portuguese made several attempts to reconquer
Mombasa, but were unsuccessful until 1728, when
the town was stormed and captured by General
Sampayo. The Arabs, however, returned the next
year in overwhelming numbers, and again drove
the Portuguese out; and although the latter
made one more attempt in 1769 to regain their
supremacy, they did not succeed.
The Arabs, as represented by the Sultan of
Zanzibar, remain in nominal possession of
Mombasa to the present day; but in 1887 Seyid
Bargash, the then Sultan of Zanzibar, gave for an
annual rental a concession of his mainland
territories to the British East Africa Association, which
in 1888 was formed into the Imperial British East
Africa Company.
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