Portuguese Forts in Mombasa
PORTUGUESE FORTS IN MOMBASA
FORT JESUS, MOMBASA: A PORTUGUESE FORTRESS IN KENYA
Written by Marco Ramerini
Mombasa: Fortaleza de Jesus (1593), Forte de São Joseph, Fortim da Ponta Restinga, Forte do Sorgidouro, Fortes da Macupa (three forts).
Small Forts of Mombasa, Macupa Forts, Fort St. Joseph and the Portuguese Chapel, Golf Course Fort, Horse Shoe Fort.
Portuguese: 11 Apr. 1593 Fortaleza de Jesus - 15 Aug. 1631
Sultan of Mombasa: 15/16 Aug. 1631 - 16 May 1632
Abandoned: 16 May 1632 - 5 Aug. 1632
Portuguese: 5 Aug 1632 - 13 Dec. 1698
Oman: 13 Dec. 1698 - Mar. 1728
Portuguese: 16 Mar. 1728 - 26 Nov. 1729
Oman: Nov. 1729 - 1741
Governor of Mombasa: 1741 - 1747
Oman: 1747
Governor of Mombasa: 1747 - 1828 (English protection 1824-1826)
Oman: 1828
Governor of Mombasa: 1828 - 1837
Oman: 1837 - 1856
Zanzibar: 1856 - 1895
English: 1895 - 1963
In 1498 the Portuguese explorer Vasco De Gama arrived in Mombasa on his route to India. Fort Jesus was built after the Portuguese had been masters of the East African coast for nearly an hundred years. During this time they had as main base an unfortified factory at Malindi.
The Turkish raids of 1585 and 1588 were decisive for the Portuguese to decide the construction of the fort in Mombasa. On 11 April 1593 the fortress was dedicated and named "Fortaleza de Jesus de Mombaça" by Mateus de Mendes de Vasconcelos (he was the captain of the coast, that resided at Malindi). The fort was completed in 1596, the plan was a quadrilater with four bastions: S. Felipe, S. Alberto, S. Mathias and S. Mateus. The main gate was near S. Mathias bastion. Above the gate is a Portuguese inscription that records the dedication to the fort: "Reinando em Portugal Phellipe de Austria o primeiro ... por seu mandado ....... fortaleza de nome Jesus de Mombaca aomze dabril de 1593 ..... Visso Rei da India Mathias Dalboquerque ....... Matheus Mendes de Vasconcellos que pasou com armada e este porto ....... arquitecto mor da India Joao Bautista Cairato servindo de mestre das obras Gaspar Rodrigues."
Fort Jesus, located on the edge of a coral ridge overlooking the entrance to the Old Port of Mombasa, was built by the Portuguese in 1593-1596 to protect their trade route to India and their interests in East Africa. It was designed by an Italian architect, Giovanni Battista Cairati*. Mombasa became Portugal’s main trading centre along the East Coast of Africa.
Relation between the Portuguese and the Sultan of Mombasa began to deteriorate after the departure of the first captain Mateus de Mendes de Vasconcelos. In 1626, Muhammad Yusif, who had received education in Goa and that was baptized as Dom Jeronimo Chingulia, was made Sultan. On 16 August 1631, the Sultan Dom Jeronimo Chingulia entered the fort and took the Portuguese by surprise, he killed the Portuguese captain, Pedro Leitão de Gamboa, and massacred the whole Portuguese population of Mombasa (45 men, 35 women and 70 children). A Portuguese expedition was send from Goa to retake the fort, but after two months of siege (10 January 1632-19 March 1632) they abandoned the enterprise. On 16 May the Sultan abandoned Mombasa and became a pirate. On 5 August 1632 a small Portuguese force under the captain Pedro Rodrigues Botelho, that had remained at Zanzibar, reoccupied the fort.
In February 1661 the Sultan of Oman sacked the Portuguese town of Mombasa but did not attack the fort. It was in 1696 that a large Omani Arabs expedition reached Mombasa, from 13 March 1696 the fort was under siege, the fort had a garrison of 50-70 Portuguese soldiers and several hundred loyal coast Arabs. The fort was relieved in December 1696 by a Portuguese expedition, but in the following months a plague killed all the Portuguese of the garrison and by 16 June 1697 the defence of the fort was in the hand of Sheikh Daud of Faza with 17 of his family, 8 African men and 50 African women. On 15 September 1697 a Portuguese ship arrived with some reinforcement and also at the end of December 1697 another ship came from Goa with a few soldiers. After another year of siege, in December 1698, the Portuguese garrison was reduced to the Captain, 9 men and a priest (Fr. Manoes de Jesus). After a siege of two years and nine months the Omani Arabs took the fort. They could do this because the garrison was reduced to nine soldiers the others were death by disease. On the morning of 13 December 1698 the Omani Arabs did the decisive attack and took the fort, just seven days later a Portuguese relief fleet arrived at Mombasa, but it was too late. With the conquest of Fort Jesus the whole coast of Kenya and Tanzania with Zanzibar and Pemba fell to the Omani Arabs.
The Portuguese retook the fort in 1728, because the African soldiers in the fort mutined against the Omanits, the Sultan of Pate to which was offered the fort handed the fort over to the Portuguese on 16 March 1728. In April 1729, the Mombasans revolted against the Portuguese and put under siege the garrison that was forced to surrender on 26 November 1729.
The Fort is today know as one of the best examples of 16th century Portuguese military architecture.
*Giovanni Battista Cairati: born in Milan, he was a leading military architect under the service of King Philip II of Spain, which was also King of Portugal, he worked at Malacca, Mannar, Ormuz, Muscat, Damão, Bassein and Mombasa. He probably never saw completed Fort Jesus, because he died in Goa in 1596.
Cannons and buildings inside the fort. Photo by Dietrich Köster.
This gun was salvaged from the German warship "Königsberg", used by the Germans during the East African campaign in World War I and later seized by British Empire forces, who took it as a trophy from German East Africa (now Tanzania) to Kenya. It is located next to the entrance gate of Fort Jesus. Photo by Dietrich Köster.
Fort Jesus, Mombasa: a Portuguese fortress in Kenya, Africa
Re: Portuguese Forts in Mombasa
MACUPA FORTS
Information and photos by Hans-Martin Sommer (M.A. Marine Archaeologist Fort Jesus Museum Mombasa)
MAKUPA FORTS (Pos: 04 02' 12,7" S 39 39' 09,7" E): a small fort (15 metres x15 metres) and two towers at each side in a distance of about 100 metres.
"Os tres fortes da Macupa sao tres cazas, que estao feitas em quadro, ao longo do rio, na ilha de Mombaça, pera a banda da terra firme, em hum paço seco, os quaes se fizerao pera tolher a passajem aos Muzungulos da tierra firme pera a ilha.
O de meyo he mayor, e nao tem mais que hua caza de sobrado com hua logea em baixo, a que se entra e sobe pella mesma logea (que tera sinco braças de vao tanto de largo como de comprido) cuberta por sima de terrado, onde asistem quinze soldados e hum bombardeiro portugues. Aos soldados se paga dezacete larins cada mes de mantimentos e ao capitao cento e sincoenta xerafins de ordinaria cada anno, o qual capitao o he tambem dos outros dois fortes que lhe fica cada hum de sua ilharga, distancia de hum tiro de espingarda pera cada parte, os quaes tamben sao cada hum hua caza de sobrado cuberta de terrado, mais pequena que o de meyo, que terao tres braças do vao. E asistem sinco soldados em cada hua, que pelejao com seus mosquetes por seteiras que estao feitas a rroda." Antonio Bocarro "O Livro das Plantas de Todas as Fortalezas, Cidades e Povoaçoes do Estado da India Oriental"
Actual situation: This site was destroyed between 1900 and 1920. Rediscovered on July 2006, were found small wall remains in the ground. At the Eastside of the complex (distance to the fort about 120 m) were found the remains of a "wall, made from sundried bricks". The east-tower was inside the complex. The other one is probably complete destroyed by the road and railway which leads in a distance of 120 m from the fort. The "Fortes de Macupa" were one fort with towers on each side. In Rezendes map of 1635 you can see the buildings of Makupa in nearly real shape.
Reco- Makupa. A sketch by Hans-Martin Sommer after the first excavation and additional description of a german explorer in 1865. Exist an old photo from about 1900 which shows the ruins as very similar to the recostruction sketch. '
Re: Portuguese Forts in Mombasa
ST. JOSEPH FORT AND THE PORTUGUESE CHAPEL
nformation and photos by Hans-Martin Sommer (M.A. Marine Archaeologist Fort Jesus Museum Mombasa) ST. JOSEPH FORT (Pos: 04 04' 18,1" S 39 40' 56.1" E): a horseshoelike fortification in good condition.
At about 100 metres distance to St. Joseph it was the Portuguese chapel "Nossa Senhora das Merces" (Pos: 04 04' 21,2" S 39 40' 50,7" E).
A view of the Fort St. Joseph from a tower nearby. In the foreground was the site of the Portuguese Chapel 'Nossa Senhora das Merces'
Re: Portuguese Forts in Mombasa
GOLF COURSE FORT
Information and photos by Hans-Martin Sommer (M.A. Marine Archaeologist Fort Jesus Museum Mombasa)
GOLF COURSE FORT (Pos: 04 04' 20,8" S 39 39' 07,5" E): a few remains near the Golf Course.
This photo shows the remains of the fortification on the Golf Course. This bastion is also called 'KABERAS' after a Turkish ship which hit a reef nearby and bombarded the fort
Golf Course Fort, Mombasa, Kenya
Re: Portuguese Forts in Mombasa
HORSE SHOE FORT
Information and photos by Hans-Martin Sommer (M.A. Marine Archaeologist Fort Jesus Museum Mombasa)
HORSE SHOE FORT (Pos: 04 04' 43,8" S 39 40' 20,2" E): a very small fortification in good condition.
"Os tres fortes da Macupa sao tres cazas, que estao feitas em quadro, ao longo do rio, na ilha de Mombaça, pera a banda da terra firme, em hum paço seco, os quaes se fizerao pera tolher a passajem aos Muzungulos da tierra firme pera a ilha.
Horseshoe Fort is a small bastion in good condition, no much infos available about its history.
