Away Jesus

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Fort Jesus in Mombasa
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem

Fort JesusMombasa.jpg
National territory: KenyaKenya Kenya
Type: Culture
Criteria : ii, v
Surface: 2.36 ha
Reference No .: 1295
UNESCO region : Africa
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 2011  (session 35)
Inside the Fort Jesus
inside view

Fort Jesus is a fortress in Mombasa , the largest port city in Kenya . It was built in 1593 by the Portuguese under Philip II by the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Cairato . The fortress is located on the island of Mombasa .

It protected the entrance to the lagoon and the old port of Mombasa. It also served the Portuguese as a base for the Armadas da Índia sailing to Goa .

History of the fortress

Control of the fortress changed frequently:

The Portuguese time

  • Portuguese: 1593–1631
  • Sultan Dom Jeronimo of Mombasa: 1631–1632
  • Portuguese: 1632–1698
  • Sultan of Oman : 1698–1728
  • Portuguese: 1728–1729

The Portuguese only returned to Fort Jesus in 1729 . Thereupon they limited themselves from now on to the direct connection between Goa and their possessions in Mozambique .

Arab supremacy

Thereafter control of the fort changed several times between the sultans of Oman and his governors ( liwali ) from the Mazrui family, who as local rulers tried again and again to shake off Arab suzerainty:

  • Sultan of Oman: 1729-1741
  • Liwali of Mombasa: 1741-1747
  • Oman: 1747
  • Liwali of Mombasa: 1747-1828
    • (with a small British guard in 1824)
  • Oman: 1828
  • Liwali of Mombasa: 1828–1837
  • Oman: 1837-1856

In 1856 Mombasa and with it the fort was added to the Zanzibari part of the divided Omani Sultanate.

  • Zanzibar: 1856–1895
    • British Aid Military Revolt and Recapture: 1875

Under Great Britain and Kenya

In 1895 the fort was leased to Great Britain by leasing the Kenyan coastline from Zanzibar.

  • British: 1895–1963
  • Kenya: 1963

The British used the fortress as a prison. In 1958 it was renovated and declared a national monument. With the independence of Kenya, the entire coastal strip, until then nominally administered separately, came to the Republic of Kenya.

Today Fort Jesus is part of the Kenyan National Museums. In 2011 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List .

gallery

literature

  • Charles Ralph Boxer and Carlos de Azevedo: Fort Jesus and the Portuguese in Mombasa, 1593-1729 . London, Hollis & Carter, 1960.
  • James Kirkman: Fort Jesus: A Portuguese Fortress on the East African Coast . Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1974.

Web links

Commons : Fort Jesus  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 4 ° 3 ′ 46 ″  S , 39 ° 40 ′ 47 ″  E